About Us

The Beaconhouse group is an international private school system with over 146,000 students in eight countries. It is the largest education system of its kind in the world.

As a global network, Beaconhouse aims to give students a quality education and to prepare engaged citizens who shape not only the communities they live in, but also the wider world. Students study in a range of systems, including Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and the O and A levels, and enroll in either the group flagship programme – Beaconhouse School System, with 71,000 students – or its parallel system of franchise schools – The Educators, with 75,000 students.

Opening with the Les Agnes Montessori Academy in 1975, Beaconhouse School System has now grown into an international company with schools in the following countries: Bangladesh, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

Beaconhouse's contributions to education were internationally recognized in 1996 when the World Bank Group, in its first ever investment in private education, financed the construction of several new Beaconhouse campuses. At that point, Beaconhouse had already started collaborating with institutions worldwide.

One example was the in-house teacher training programme established in 1993 with the help of Bradford University in the UK. Today, this full fledged programme trains teachers across the group, some at universities in the UK, and others in-house.

So, with its rigorous standards which insist on up to date teaching skills and its range of challenging programmes, the Beaconhouse School System brings success within the reach of every student.

Our Mission

Beaconhouse aims to provide quality education of an international standard. We aim for excellence through quality management, quality training, and quality teaching. By doing so we hope to benefit our students, their communities, and the wider world.

Founder

Nasreen Kasuri is the Chairperson of the Beaconhouse School System, which she founded in 1975. The Beaconhouse School System is now the largest school system of its kind in the world, and it recently opened its 125th school.

Apart from playing a significant role in developing the private education sector in Pakistan, Mrs. Kasuri has also played an important role in women’s empowerment in the country. 62 percent of Beaconhouse employees are women. This includes a very high percentage of women in upper management.

Mrs. Kasuri is also actively involved in a number of non-profit and charity organizations. The non-profit Beaconhouse National University is Pakistan’s first liberal arts university. She also sits on a number of boards including Queen Mary College for Women; National College of Arts; Education Advisory Board, Pakistan; Pakistan Chapter of the World Wide Fund; Sanjan Nagar Education Trust; and Punjab Education Foundation.

Mrs. Kasuri earned a Bachelor’s in Applied Psychology and History from Kinnaird College, Lahore, and an MBA from TRIUM, the graduate programme of New York University, London School of Economics, and École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris.

Corporate Citizenship

Beaconhouse is a socially responsible organization committed to providing community services through educational projects.



Beaconhouse National University

Beaconhouse has contributed $6 million in seed money to establish the not-for-profit Beaconhouse National University in Lahore. While Beaconhouse is the original sponsor of the university, other stakeholders, public and private, have also contributed money and resources.

Beaconhouse National University (BNU) opened in 2003 as Pakistan’s first broad-based liberal arts university comprised of schools of Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, Media and Communications, Education, Architecture and Design, Visual Arts, and Information and Computer Technologies. BNU faculty come from a range of countries, including England, Holland, Canada, France, Germany, and Pakistan.

The University’s Vice Chancellor, Sartaj Aziz, is a former Finance Minister of Pakistan, and its board of governors includes Beaconhouse Chairperson Nasreen Kasuri, social activist Parvez Hassan, industrialist Hussain Dawood, and Shahid Kardar, another former finance minister of Pakistan.

Currently housed in a temporary campus in Lahore, the University will start relocating to a permanent, purpose-built campus on a 35-acre estate on the outskirts of the city this fall.



Earthquake aid

Beaconhouse acted urgently after the October 2005 earthquake that devastated Pakistan’s northern areas. It immediately donated Rs10,000,000 to the President’s Earthquake Relief Fund; of this sum Rs3,000,000 was contributed by Beaconhouse staff who donated a day’s salary. Furthermore, by mobilizing its staff and students to organize school-based activities throughout the country, Beaconhouse has so far raised a further Rs30,000,000 for the reconstruction of a school in earthquake-hit areas.

These funds have been used to build a government school in Chinari, a village that was very badly hit by the earthquake. The school has been built and transferred to the Government of Azad Kashmir.

Other initiatives

Beaconhouse has forged a culture of community service. Recent initiatives include supporting NGO and government schools in teacher training, and also an ongoing programme of donating computers, furniture, books, and other equipment to underprivileged schools. Senior students in Beaconhouse are also actively encouraged to participate in local community service programmes.

Facts and Figures

Branches: 131
Pakistan: 118* (15 new branches will be added this year) in 30 cities
Malaysia: 5 in 4 cities
UK: 4 in 2 cities
Philippines: 1
Bangladesh: 1
Oman:1
Thailand: 1

Students: 71,107
Pakistan: 69,305
Malaysia: 934
UK: 472
Philippines: 238
Bangladesh: 62
Oman: 52
Thailand: 44

Teachers: 5,713
Pakistan: 5,400
Malaysia: 102
UK: 139
Philippines: 41
Bangladesh: 15
Oman: 5
Thailand: 11



note: statistics are updated till June, 2008

Group Profile

The Beaconhouse Group is involved in a range of education, infrastructure, and technology products. The following companies are part of the Beaconhouse Group:


Beaconhouse School System

The Beaconhouse School System is the flagship educational institution of the Beaconhouse Group. It began as a small nursery in a private house in Lahore in 1975 and has now grown to 71,000 students. It is the largest school system of its type in the world. Beaconhouse schools are present in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.


The Educators

Established in 2002, The Educators is a franchise-based system of affiliated schools that caters to Pakistan’s growing middle class. With 236 schools and 75,000 students, it has vast reach.

The Educators’ schools aim for a quality, standardized, learning experience for students at one third the cost of Beaconhouse School System schools. The franchise has also started branching outside Pakistan, starting in Saudi Arabia.


The Discovery Centre

The Discovery Centre engages young students through new technologies like robotics, digital filmmaking, computers, and the Internet. Launched in 2002, the Centre is based on the educational theories of visionaries like Seymour Papert. The philosophy of the Discovery Centre is to use technologies to enhance the intuitive understanding of abstract school concepts.


Beaconhouse National University

The Beaconhouse National University is a liberal arts university that opened in Lahore in 2003. This is a unique institution in Pakistan that aims to provide a through and rounded humanities, science and social science education at both the graduate and the post-graduate level.

The University is composed of the schools of Architecture and Design, Computer and Information Technology, Education, Liberal Arts, Media and Mass Communication, Social Sciences, and Visual Arts. Students can currently earn bachelors and masters degrees.


TNS Beaconhouse

From Aristotle to Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci to Bertrand Russell, the greatest thinkers of our time have lamented the shortcomings of our schools: too much abstract knowledge with too little emphasis on learning by doing, too much testing but only partial assessment, and too many facts but few ‘real-life’ skills.

After years of engaging with some of today’s most unconventional thinkers like Roger Schank, and exchanging views with others like Noam Chomsky during an international conference organized to mark our 30th anniversary in 2005, Beaconhouse decided to establish TNS Beaconhouse – a new school aimed at a new generation of parents that too has come to suspect that ‘education’ and ‘learning’ are not always the same.

The learning experiences offered by TNS Beaconhouse provide children with an ideal springboard for a lifelong journey of learning, equipping them to be leaders in an increasingly competitive global workforce where success is ultimately determined by lateral thinking and problem-solving, not merely the acquisition of facts. TNS aspires to be a beacon of hope in a world of information and testing-obsessed schools, lighting the way for the future of schools in Pakistan and the wider world.


The Early Years

The Early Years: Child Development Centre opened in 2004 in Lahore. It enrols children aged 12 to 36 months in either its bridge or its playgroup programmes. The programmes use play, music, and excursions to facilitate early childhood development.


Beacon Energy Limited

Beacon Energy Limited is a power generation company and the first Public Limited Company within the Beaconhouse group. The company, established in 2005, is the first to introduce wind generation technology to Pakistan.

Beacon Energy Limited is currently setting up a 50 MW (Megawatt) wind power farm. Electricity from this farm will be sold to Pakistan’s National Transmission and Distribution Company (NTDC).


Premier Trading Services

Premier Trading Services is engaged in a range of businesses including hire purchase services, printing and distributing stationery and school uniforms, outdoor publicity, cafes and other trading ventures.


Premier Bus Services

Premier Bus Services was started in 2003 and provides transport services to the general public in Lahore, Pakistan. With over 240 buses running on exclusive routes, it is the largest public transport company in Pakistan. The buses are currently being converted to CNG for both environmental and economic reasons.

Curriculum

Early Years
Beaconhouse follows the Montessori system at this level. There are a few exceptions: the Reggio Emilia, as well as a technology based curriculum based on Samuel Papert’s philosophy, are also followed by some schools.


Primary
Students in Pakistan follow the in-house Beaconhouse School Curriculum, modeled on the British and Scottish Curricula.

In Bangladesh students follow the in-house Beaconhouse School Curriculum for core subjects like Math, Science, and English. Language and Social Science courses are taught using local resources.


Secondary
Students continue with the Beaconhouse in-house curriculum till 8th grade. After that, most students enroll in the British O and A level examinations – Beaconhouse students take these exams through the Cambridge International Examinations.

Some schools offer the Pakistani Matriculation and Intermediate Examinations and curricular, which cover grades 9 to 12.