A mother’s effort transforms into a movement

LAHORE: Starting with just 19 children, including her two little boys, Mrs Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri opened a small Montessori school in Lahore in 1975. Nearly 50 years later, that modest beginning has grown into one of the largest school systems in the world, known as Beaconhouse School System, which today has a global network of over 400,000 students.

While many in our society take pride in seeing international education brands open campuses in Pakistan, Beaconhouse turned the story around. It became one of the first and few Pakistani institutions to take its own model abroad, proudly raising the Pakistani flag in education across Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, the UAE, and Oman.

The News sat down with Mrs Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri as the Beaconhouse School System marked its Golden Jubilee–50 years of growth, vision, and transformation.

The conversation unfolded in connection with the 50-year celebrations and the 25th edition of the School of Tomorrow (SOT) conference, where she reflected on a lifetime of success, determination, courage, and unwavering commitment to education.

From Montessori school to schools across the country and abroad, colleges, and even a university, Mrs Kasuri’s journey reflects a lifelong belief that education is the most powerful way to change lives.

‘It wasn’t easy to begin. The 1970s were not a welcoming time for private education.

After the nationalisation of schools by the government, people were afraid

to rent out their properties for any educational venture,’ Nasreen Kasuri recalled and explained how she struggled to find a building. ‘No one wanted to rent to me,’ she said, ‘they feared the government might take over.’ Yet she persisted–driven by a mother’s determination to find the best start for her children when good preschools simply didn’t exist.

Her first school opened its doors on November 4, 1975, with a beautiful French name, Les Anges Montessori Academy. Les Anges soon became a model for early learning and laid the foundation for what would become Beaconhouse.

According to her, when the government lifted its ban on private schooling beyond kindergarten in 1978, she seized the opportunity and launched Beaconhouse School. The response was overwhelming. Parents lined up for admissions; classrooms overflowed. ‘It wasn’t that I was exceptionally smart,’ she said with her usual modesty, ‘it was simply that there was an acute shortage of good private schools.’

Her journey, however, began even earlier, and in a very different arena. In 1977, as Pakistan was engulfed in the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) movement, she found herself pulled into politics, though it was never her ambition. With political leaders, including her father-in-law and her husband Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, imprisoned, the movement’s supporters needed leadership. So she had to lead processions, face tear gas and she was even placed under house arrest.

With her sheer dedication, commitment and passion, Beaconhouse expanded into a diverse ecosystem over the years. Mrs Kasuri went on to explain how the Beaconhouse story gradually expanded into multiple models to serve children from different financial backgrounds. ‘We recognised early on that one size could not fit all,’ she said. For families able to invest more in schooling, there are the full-fee campuses under Beaconhouse. Then came The Educators, launched in 2002, a franchise-based network that offers education at a fraction of the cost of the flagship schools– ‘a standard of education across the country at a fee that many more families could afford,’ she recalled.

She also spoke about The New School, Beaconhouse Newlands, Homebridge, United Charter Schools (UCS) offering specialised learning models; Concordia Colleges and the Beaconhouse National University (BNU), which is widely regarded as Pakistan’s first not-for-profit liberal arts university.

Mrs Kasuri credits her entire team for success since the very beginning, who helped to establish the system leading to Beaconhouse’s steady national and international expansion over the years.

When asked about the key focus, Mrs Kasuri said a hallmark of Beaconhouse from the start was its emphasis on teacher training, an area often neglected in Pakistan.

In the mid-1980s, she was able to partner with a UK institute to train teachers abroad. Every year, a group of Beaconhouse teachers would go to the UK and return as trainers. Later, Beaconhouse developed its own master trainers and set up the Premier Diverse Learning Concepts (PDLC). Today, Premier DLC offers continuous professional development and educational management training to thousands of teachers across Pakistan, a commitment she calls ‘the backbone of Beaconhouse’s success.’

Talking about Beaconhouse to be able to secure a World Bank loan, Mrs Kasuri said her focus on transparency and financial discipline made Beaconhouse a model for sustainable private education. In 1995, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, approached Beaconhouse for a $10 million loan–the first of its kind for a private school in Pakistan. She remembers her amazement: ‘Until then, banks wouldn’t lend to schools. The IFC’s confidence changed everything.’ When Pakistan faced sanctions after its 1998 nuclear tests and the rupee plunged, she made the difficult decision to repay the IFC early, avoiding risk. ‘That move showed our integrity,’ she said, ‘and afterward, every Pakistani bank was willing to lend to us.’ It became a turning point for both Beaconhouse and the entire private education sector in the country.

Today, Beaconhouse is among the highest tax-paying institutions among the competitors in the education field, a point Mrs Kasuri mentions with pride. ‘We’ve always believed in clean books and doing things the right way,’ she said. Her vision of education extends beyond Beaconhouse’s private classrooms. Beaconhouse has adopted 50 public schools in Punjab and four in Sindh under public-private partnerships, investing its own resources to hire trained teachers, furnish classrooms, and even build new ones where needed.

Though known for English-medium education, Mrs Kasuri insists on nurturing a sense of national identity. ‘We’ve always encouraged love for Urdu,’ she said, ‘because language shapes how we think about who we are.’ She also takes pride in how Beaconhouse encourages civic responsibility, making students aware to help mitigate the effects of natural disasters and take action on climate change.

What started as a mother’s effort to create a better learning space for her children and few others has evolved into a movement that transformed education across Pakistan and beyond. Today, Mrs Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri’s lifelong commitment stands as a testament to how one person’s vision can nurture countless futures. Her story reflects a lifetime dedicated to education, empowerment, and national progress. Her legacy continues to inspire educators and students alike.