The Citizens Foundation (TCF) celebrated the long-term impact of education at a recent event titled 'Inspiring Hope through Education', held at the Institute of Business Adminstration's (IBA) JS Auditorium.

TCF — which operates 1,441 school units across the country and educates more than 200,000 boys and girls in urban slums and rural communities — had invited its alumni at the event to recount their educational journeys in the face of extraordinary social and financial difficulties.

Ateed Riaz, the co-founder and chairman of TCF, led the discussion with three TCF alumni: Uzma Salim — now assistant accountant general at AG Sindh; Mehreen Khan — a student enrolled in the Social Development and Policy programme at Habib University; and Asad Sajid — a Computer Sciences student at IBA.

The students spoke at length about the challenges they faced in their quest to acquire a quality education and also discussed their hopes and aspirations on extending the privileges they were lucky to receive through TCF to other young men and women from their communities.

“Education is the silent revolution we need to turn around the future of our country," Riaz observed during the event. "It can make the difference between temporary alleviation and long-term solutions."

"In terms of priorities, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and healing the sick will always seem to take priority over teaching the basics of literacy," he added. "But illiteracy as a hindrance to development needs to be acknowledged if long-term economic and social changes are to be affected."

The event was part of a series of three dialogues between TCF alumni and the organisation's leaders, held in Dubai, Lahore and Karachi.

TCF is a non-profit organization set up in 1995 by a group of citizens who wanted to bring about positive social change through education.

Today, TCF is one of Pakistan’s leading organizations in the field of education for the less privileged.

The TCF model is providing quality education to 204,000 children through 1,441 purpose-built schools located in the heart of Pakistan’s urban slums and rural communities.

The organization ensures that girls represent nearly 50% of overall student enrolment.

To magnify its impact, improve enrolment and quality of education, TCF is now adopting government schools across Pakistan.