International schools in Pakistan

Are you looking for an international school in Pakistan? Search for the best international schools in Pakistan; you can find a list of selected schools at the bottom of this page. Use the search filters to select only girls' or boys' schools, prep schools, senior schools or sixth forms; or you can search for schools that offer a particular curriculum, such as the International Baccalaureate, the UK or US national curriculum or the International Primary Curriculum.

A large international school sector that spans Pakistan’s major cities caters to the children of expatriates and the country’s burgeoning middle class. Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Hyderabad all have sizeable clusters of schools.

Most are coeducational day schools offering the curriculums of Britain, America or the International Baccalaureate Organisation and many form part of chains run by Pakistani foundations or companies such as Roots Millennium Schools and the Beaconhouse Group.  

Pakistan has 31 IB World Schools, which all teach in English. A total of 14 schools are authorised to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma, while eight offer all three IB programmes.

TNS Beaconhouse in Lahore, which offers the IB Diploma alongside IGCSEs and SATs, is one of 10 Beaconhouse schools that deliver IB programmes, while the Roots Millennium Schools group has four. Other notable schools following the IB curriculum include the International School of Islamabad and The International School, Karachi.

In 2007, two embassy schools in Islamabad, the Oaks British School and Ecole Francaise Alfred Foucher, closed down following an outbreak of political unrest. 

Under Pakistan’s constitution, education is compulsory from age five to 16 and free in state schools, which teach in Urdu or English. Yet the country has some of the highest rates of illiteracy and out-of-school children in the world.

In 2015, more than 11 million children and teenagers were not in school and, in 2019, more than 11.5 million young people aged 15 to 24 were illiterate. Gross enrolment was 95 per cent at primary level and 45 per cent at secondary level, while gross tertiary enrolment stood at 12 per cent.

Primary school takes five years, middle school three and high school two. A further two years at intermediate college leads to the Higher Secondary School Certificate, which provides access to university. The school year runs from April to March. 

If you are looking specifically for International Baccalaureate World Schools in Pakistan, you can find selected schools on our sister website: www.ibyb.org.