Educator Engin Yiğit wrote about Multan also known as “the Konya of Pakistan” and his memories there. While describing the growth process of the PakTurk Schools, he also narrated the responses given by the guests from Turkey.

PakTurk Educational Institutions started to be mentioned academically shortly after their founding and attracted great attention. Over the years, schools took every opportunity for responding to the demands and improving the educational facilities, gradually increasing the student strength, and transforming each branch into a purpose-built campus.

In Multan, PakTurk Educational Institutions had two campuses at Ali Chowk and Bosan Road. The Ali Chowk branch was opened in the part of the city with low-income families and catered to students with very nominal tuition fees. This 250-student capacity branch was the school with the best educational standards in its district. The school building which was almost from the ground rebuilt by PakTurk, provided all educational opportunities. On Bosan Road, the school building was smaller and a new campus was needed. In 2013, PakTurk rolled the sleeves for a large school campus project comprising a dormitory, state-of-the-art laboratories and other physical facilities.

Thanks from the Punjab Minister for Education

Preparations for the groundbreaking ceremony have begun to implement this project at a central junction in Multan. It was decided to hold the groundbreaking ceremony on the same day with the inauguration and key handing over ceremony of the Allama Iqbal Town in Muzaffargarh, a district close to Multan, so as to facilitate the incoming international guests’ participation to both auspicious programs.

Pakistani and Turkish state officials who graced the key handing over ceremony of the Allama Iqbal Town built and equipped by the Kimse Yok Mu Solidarity and Aid Association also attended to the groundbreaking ceremony of the new PakTurk School campus in Multan and received briefing about the Schools’ activities. Punjab Minister for Education presided over the ceremony as the Guest of Honour and thanked PakTurk Educational Institutions for every service and investment they made for the education of the young generations in Pakistan. During the program attended by the Turkish Grand National Assembly MPs from the AKP, MHP and CHP, former AKP Samsun MP Birnur Sahinoglu had said “I liked the name of the schools the most! What a beautiful name is PakTurk, meaning ‘Clean Turk’!”

The Baghdad of the Subcontinent: Multan

Multan is the City of Sufi Saints and Shrines also termed by some as “the Konya of Pakistan”. It is cherished by the people of Pakistan with the title Multan Sharif due to this saintly distinction. The city, which hosts the tomb of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya, also embraces many other saints in its soil. Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya, a descendant of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), lived in the 12th century and travelled across the Southern Punjab to finally settle in Multan. After Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya’s settlement in Multan, Multan was started to be called the “Baghdad in the East” due to the saint’s keenness on learning and disseminating knowledge and has always been associated with Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya.

Known for its heat and dust

Multan is famous for its unbearable heat and dust. This originates from an old Persian saying on Multan that it is a city of ghard (dust), garma (heat), gada (beggars), and goristan (burial grounds or tombs). People of Multan are exquisite by their warmth and clemency. Our local and international guests who would visit us in Multan would also appreciate the city, always expressing their commendations on the educational services our schools provided to the city.

Our school campus, which had been started to be built on a plot behind the Bahauddin Zakariya University in the downtown, was meant to become an educational institution to add value to the city both in terms of architecture and facilities. With this construction, PakTurk Schools, which gained the appreciation of everyone in the region, also attracted the attention of the local government with their work.

PakTurk Educational Institutions in Multan were not only renowned for their quality education but also as a chain of institutions with half of graduates in recent years opted for having their higher education in Turkey. While the graduates continued their education abroad, the upcoming graduates waited for their turn to follow their seniors on that path.