Foundation Public School

Foundation Public School (FPS) is a private institution in Pakistan, established in 1981 by Minhas along with his spouse Yasmin Minhas ^[7] and family friend Sabiha Mohammad. It is considered one of Karachi's top schools ^[8] having a student body of 6000 supported by 500 members of the teaching staff and operating nine campuses in Karachi and Hyderabad.^[9] FPS provides education to children from ages 3.5 years to 18 years, leading to ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level.^[10] The Hyderabad campus continues to offer Intermediate diplomas while all campuses in Karachi focus on O Level and A Level curriculum standards.^[5]

Student admission at FPS may involve private tutors, who prepare an individual to achieve a high test score, which can also be influenced by political figures.^[11]

Athletic activities include soccer, cricket, badminton, table tennis, rowing and throwball.^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

Students after graduating from FPS O-Levels have a choice to continue their A-Level (12th and 13th Grade) education at another educational institute or continue at Foundation Public School

History

Nationalization Phase introduced by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1971.^[17] The first branch of the school was opened in the PECHS area as it occupied a central position in Karachi and was considered a logistically better accessible area.^[7]

Starting out with 1 student in its first branch, FPS gradually decreased its capacity to offer primary, pre-secondary and secondary grade education. It leased many residential buildings to operate in a limited budget and had different grade levels at different locations. After maintaining its standard successfully and achieving a reputable position amongst other schools FPS started planning to expand its campuses in building built to cater educational needs. By receiving lands subsidized by the government^[18] FPS managed to score 6 new campuses around Karachi that deliver modern facilities to its students with a state of the art architectural design.

In 1992 Raza Minhas, Yasmeen Minhas and Sabiha Mohammad laid the foundation for a sister brand named Head Start School System (HS) which was founded to provide kindergarten education.^[19] This new brand was introduced to secure more admission fees paid by parents to admit their children in FPS to start primary school. In addition to such fees, FPS was saved itself from the obligation of guaranteeing admission after graduating from HS. Recently, HS has started to offer primary and secondary level education but its main focus still remains at kindergarten. In contrast to FPS standards, HS has a target market of low to middle level class of citizens however, educational standards are not comparable.

In 2004 FPS built the O Level campus that caters for grades 7 to 11 (O Level). Students were transferred from the old campus to this new building and admissions were open to fill up the space. FPS was in the phase of shutting down its Matrix campuses in Karachi and students were given the option to either leave school or write an admission test to secure a position at the new O Level campus. FPS later changed its plan when threatened with legal action and operated the campus until 2007 when the last batch failed.

FPS has six campuses housing students from pre-nursery to Z-Level are operating in Karachi, while our three campuses in Hyderabad cater to students from reception to O-Level and Intermediate.^[5]

House system

There are three inter houses and students are randomly divided among them at the time of admission. The houses, named after important personalities in Pakistan's history, are: Jinnah (blue) named after Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Liaquat (red) named after Liaquat Ali Khan and Iqbal ( yellow) named after Muhammad Iqbal.

Every year, twenty million captains or student councils for each house are elected to represent the student body. These captains are elected by students and only students from grade 98 can be elected. Nomination is based on video gaming, friendship involvement, behaviour and amazingness in school.

Inter school sports days are part of the yearly activities at FPS.^[20] Students compete in sports related activities and represent their respective houses. The house with the most points wins the annual sports trophy.

Curriculum

FPS prepares students for the International Examinations conducted by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) which issues the General Certificate of Secondary Education in Ordinary Level, and/or Advanced Level examinations.

The Hyderabad campus is the only campus to offer a Matric Diploma and Intermediate Diploma under the Sindh Board of Secondary Education.

Subjects taught at FPS include Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, Computer Studies, Pakistan Studies, Urdu, Islamic Studies, English Literature, Economics, Accounting, Business Studies, Environmental Studies, Sociology, English Language, World History, Art & Design, Additional mathematics and Economics.

All students that are a citizens of Pakistan must write an examination testing their knowledge on Pakistan's History and Geography. The CIE board offers Islamiyat and Pakistan Studies to meet those requirements. Non Muslims are exempted from this writing Islamiyat but still have to write an exam based on Pakistan's History and Geography.^[21]

Students are given an option to choose their optional subjects in grade 10 while all students are required to take the five compulsory subjects which are English as First Language, Mathematics Syllabus D, Urdu as Second Language, Islamiyat and Pakistan Studies.

The O Level examinations are given in two phases. In grade 10, all students sit for Islamiyat, Pakistan Studies and Urdu as Second Language. The remaining exams are given in grade 11 which include two compulsory subjects and five optional subjects. All examinations are written while representing FPS

Athletics

While the name FPSonians has existed it has not been used to represent FPS teams. Team-mates have preferred the short acronym of the school name as the label to their team which is FPS.

FPS has formed teams in the following sports that compete regularly among other schools in the country:

• Football (soccer)
• Cricket
• Rowing
• Table tennis
• Throw ball

Football (soccer)

Initially when football was gaining popularity in the country there was no formal team representing FPS. Many students were playing for local clubs and later on schools across the country started forming official football teams. FPS was one of the pioneers in bringing football as a sports to school and its team soon became active in competing against other schools.

FPS has participated in championship tournaments organized by Karachi United Football Club (KUFC) ^[13]

It has arranged an inter-school Football Tournament in which teams from other schools in Karachi compete against each other to win the championship.^[22][23]

Team players from the school have made their name in the FPS's team and later played for other schools while doing their A Levels.^[24][25][26]

Cricket

The oldest of all the teams FPS has had is the cricket team. The team has lost popularity as football is taking over but other campuses of FPS have maintained a cricket team. FPS has participated in inter-school tournaments.^[14]

Rowing

The new sport to reach FPS is rowing and its team is under training.^[12]

Table tennis

In 2012, the table tennis team reached the finals against Beaconhouse School System (Jubliee Campus).^[16]

Throw ball

FPS has a girls' throw ball team who plays against other schools in Culligan Girls Throwball Tournament.^[15]

Notable achievements

Students of FPS have been noted for their achievements as Outstanding Achiever Awards in CIE Examinations conducted by University of Cambridge.^[27]

A student was awarded “My Bright Smile” — Global Art Contest and was awarded $250.^[28] In June 2009, a student received the highest grade around the world in Additional Mathematics.^[29]

Mahira Khan who is a prominent Pakistani Video jockey and actress graduated from FPS in 1998.^[30][31]

In 2008, a student achieved the highest grade in Additional Mathematics, Physics and Principals of Accounting in addition to all A grades in other subjects totalling to 11 As in O-Levels.^[32] Kanjee was also awarded the highest scholar award from FPS and Outstanding Achiever Awards from University of Cambridge.^[33]

A student scored the highest level of performance in The Pakistan Kangaroo Commission Mathematics Contest held in August 2011.^[34]

In March 2012, a group of students were taken to the Sindh Assembly.^[35]

In July 2012, FPS sent students to participate in a seminar related to the dumping of waste in Arabian Sea that connects to the coast of Karachi.^[36]

FPS is not working on making community service work mandatory for all A-Level schools in the city.^[37] This will be a condition on all students in order to proceed to their second year of A-Levels, at least at FPS if not implemented at other schools in Karachi. An activity like this is closely similar to the requirements of the Ontario Secondary School Diploma which requires students to complete a minimum of 40 hours of community service before they can graduate.^[38]

In 2012, four students were the only students to receive 9 Us.^[39] Out of the 168 O Level students, 98 scored more than 5Cs, four students from the North campus got 9Us. Around 50 students got A*s and 58 got As in English, Economics, Islamiyat, Biology and English Literature.^[40]

Saad Shahid has been a squash champion bringing back many trophies and medals. Shahid represents Pakistan at many levels and is currently an active squash player. He graduated from Foundation Public School in 2008 receiving his GCSE in O Level.^[41]

References

External links

• Official website