Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The PakTurk International Schools and Colleges network has issued a clarification denying any political affiliation with the Fatehullah Gülen- inspired Hizmet Movement after accusations on social media left hundreds of students and their parents in dismal condition in Peshawar.

The allegations have forced the PakTurk International Schools and Colleges network to issue a public notification on their official website. “We are deeply concerned by the allegations by certain section in the social media, who is trying to connect the PakTurk International Schools and Colleges in Pakistan with Mr. Fethullah Gülen or the political movement ascribed to him in wake of the recent unfortunate and reprehensible events in Turkey,” the clarification reads.

The network came under fire in Pakistan when news in social media spread that the Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan had urged the federal government to close down the chain of the educational system because it was allegedly backed by Fethullah Gülen’s Hizmet Movement, which the Turkish government is blaming for the failed coup on July 15.

The PakTurk International Schools and Colleges has a chain of 28 schools and colleges in Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Karachi, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Jamshoro and Peshawar with staff strength of 1,500 who teach around 10,000 students from pre-school to A level. The network is operating two outfits in Peshawar. A senior section of school at Hayatabad and a junior section school at University Town. The total strength of both schools is around 600 students and more than 70 teaching staff.

Officials of the schools in Peshawar told Daily Times that they were not authorized to comment on the recent developments. “We are not allowed to comment on the issue publicly until the fate of the network in Pakistan is decided,” said an official.

Pleading anonymity another official of the junior section said that they have clarified in the notification that the PakTurk International Schools and Colleges in Pakistan are a philanthropic and non-political endeavor in the country organized and established for human development.

He added that the network had nothing to do with the allegations spread through the social media. He reiterated that the network was not connected to any political movement and called it a bad time for the network across the country and in Peshawar.

He said that the official of the Peshawar campus held a meeting with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government that was headed by the Provincial Law Minister Imtiaz Quarashi to clarify the stance of the network and its role in the field of education in Peshawar.

“Parents, students and other teaching and non-teaching staff of both sections in Peshawar are in dismal condition after the rumors spread in Peshawar that the Turk ambassador has called on the Pakistan government to close down the network institutions in the country,” the unnamed official added.

Razaullah, has recently admitted two children at junior section in University Town. He informed this scribe that he was worried about the fate of the school in Peshawar. “My children are going well at the school and if it is close down the study of children would be affected badly,” he opined.

He added that he was satisfied with the junior section curriculum and extracurricular activities and the school was also affordable in terms of fee payment schedule.

PakTurk International Schools and Colleges are the members of a chain of pioneer Turkish educational institutions established in 1995 and running under the auspices of the PakTurk Education Foundation for the pursuit of excellence in education in Pakistan.

The institutions are outfitted to provide the groundwork studies right from Pre-School to College Level for the achievements in the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education and other Provincial Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education for Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary School Certificate Levels in Pakistan.