Today is International Women’s Day, a good moment to explain one of the aims that sits at the heart of the schools we support. Our partner, the Kashmir Education Foundation (KEF), aspires for girls to take at least 51% of the places in its schools.
An aspiration with a clear purpose
The schools we support with KEF, Pearl Valley Public School in Rawalakot, Soan Valley Public School in Bassali and Banjosa Valley Public School in Banjosa, serve rural communities in Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). In each school, places do not depend on a family’s ability to pay.
The aim of giving girls at least 51% of those places turns a belief into a clear intention. It tells families, clearly and from the start, that their daughters are as welcome as their sons.
An aspiration, not a quota
It is not easy to reach. Cultural expectations, and families’ concerns for the safety of girls and women, mean that not every family chooses school for a daughter, particularly as she grows older. KEF does not force the point. Its role, and ours in supporting it, is to help make sure there is a good school close enough for girls whose families choose it. In the schools we support, girls and boys learn side by side.
A pupil paints during an art lesson at Pearl Valley Public School.
From pupil to teacher
KEF’s support for girls does not stop at the school gate. KEF’s college at Bassali trains women as primary teachers, through a Diploma in Primary Education. Training women as teachers opens a professional career for them, and it brings good teaching to children in rural communities.
Girls’ education and women’s employment go together: girls who learn today can become the teachers of tomorrow.
How you can help
Quest for Education (now Quest for Education Foundation) raises funds in the UK for KEF’s schools and college. Your gift helps keep places open to girls and boys whose families could not otherwise afford a good education, and helps train the women who teach them.
Read more about girls’ education in the schools we support.
Editor’s note (October 2026): according to KEF, girls make up 49.7% of pupils at Pearl Valley Public School, 31.2% at Soan Valley Public School and 53.7% at Banjosa Valley Public School.