Recognized as one of the upcoming cities of Punjab is Sahiwal. It is the 21st largest city in Pakistan with a population nearing to 400,000 people as per the latest census. Sahiwal was not known as a major education center until year 2000. In late 1990s, a separate educational board with the name of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Sahiwal was also established, which is commonly known as BISE Sahiwal. It is the administrative center as a separate Sahiwal division exists now and it lies between major cities of Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan with one 100 KMs away and other 180 KMs. Sahiwal was known as a small village on the Karachi – Lahore railway line and was named after Sir Robert Montgomery as Montgomery. Afterwards in 1966, it was renamed as Sahiwal again.

Sahiwal has a huge educational potential and that is the main reason of existence of Top Colleges in Sahiwal and Top Ranking Universities in Sahiwal. Despite all the hardships, the educational landscape gets further better owing to HEC Recognized Institutions in Sahiwal. Sahiwal has been a late comer as far as modernization is concerned but talking about its literacy rate, it stands among the top ranked cities of the country. At present, Sahiwal has a literacy rate of 61% in urban centers and 31% in rural areas. The divisions which Sahiwal covers are Pakpattan, Okara and Sahiwal itself. Sahiwal is known for its quality crops including wheat, tomato, cotton, tobacco and oil seeds. As Faisalabad is known to be Manchester of Pakistan, similarly, Sahiwal is a twin city to the town of Rochdale, Greater Manchester in UK.

Educational landscape of the region and Sahiwal has been enhanced due to top colleges in Sahiwal. Some of the leading colleges are Army Public School and Colleges, Division Public School and College, Maarifa College, Punjab College, CFE Group of Colleges, Superior College, Quaid-e-Azam College of Engineering and Technology and Government Degree College for Boys and Girls. These institutes have been instrumental in promoting the positive image of Sahiwal. Due to presence of these colleges, intellectuals keep coming from Sahiwal and make the name for themselves and their city. In fact, getting admission in these colleges is highly competitive. The admissions are granted on the basis of performance in matriculation exam. All of these colleges have their own merit list which is then used as a criterion for the selection of students. Candidates, who are successful in getting their name in the merit list are called for an interview. After the passing out of interview, the candidates are notified regarding their admissions.

The system of education in Pakistan is based on progression system with its strong link to the previous and future education. Identical to the intermediate system, university education is based on successful passing out of intermediate level. However, the leading universities have a rigorous process of selection in Sahiwal as entrance tests are conducted based on the standard eligibility of the universities. Candidates who are able to pass out of entrance test are then examined based on their marks in matric, inter and entrance test. Those who meet the eligibility criteria are then called for interview. Once they pass in the interview, they are able to secure a seat for themselves. This highly competitive culture is being built due to presence of top ranking universities in Sahiwal, such as, University of Sahiwal, Sahiwal Medical College, Ripah International University, Institute of Chartered and Management Accountants, Hamdard University, Government College University Lahore, Pakistan Institute of Quality Control, COMSATS, Jamia Farida, Allama Iqbal Polytechnic Institute and Barani Institute of Sciences. International universities are also offering their programs in affiliation with other universities and such international universities are Middlesex University Dubai and Newcastle Group of Colleges UK.

Students usually don’t have the guidance for selecting a career of their own choice, hence, they are stuck in either going for their parents’ choice or what society feels is right for them. Although, this is one of the most important decisions as an independent human being this is about choosing one’s own career. This is taken quite seriously in the western countries and even in a country like India, there are educational consultancies for making such decisions. In order to bridge the gap for the students of Sahiwal, all education related information can be obtained from our website.