École Française d'Islamabad (EFI) or the École Française
Alfred Foucher Alfred Charles Auguste Foucher (1865–1952), was a French scholar, who argued that the Buddha image has Greek origins. He has been called the "father of Gandhara studies", and is a much-cited scholar on ancient Buddhism in northwest Indian subcont ...
was a French international school in
Diplomatic Enclave I in
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...
, Pakistan, serving ''maternelle'' (preschool) through ''lycée'' (senior high school).
Students in the secondary levels used the distance education programme of the
National Centre for Distance Education
The National Centre for Distance Education (''Centre national d'enseignement à distance'' or Cned in French) is a French public institution under the oversight of the Department of Education dedicated to providing distance learning material.
It ...
.
The school was affiliated with the French embassy and the French cultural centre.
[Baabar, Mariana.]
French school closed down in Islamabad
Archive
. '' The News''. Thursday 30 October 2008. Retrieved on 12 October 2015.
History
The school was established in 1979 and moved to its final facility in 1993.
[
After the ]September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
in the United States, 26 families with children that were enrolled at the EFI left Pakistan by the end of that month. By November 2001, the student body had recovered somewhat, with 14 new students enrolled.
In 2002, after an attack at a convent school in Murree
Murree ( Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is about ...
, the French school and the cultural centre were closed for one year. In October 2008, the French government had the school and the cultural centre closed for an indefinite period. Adrien Arbouche, the embassy's press councillor, stated that there were security concerns over the operation of the school. The closure was criticised by the Pakistani government and the parents of the school's students.[
]
Student body
In 2006, there were 63 students at the school, of whom 59% were non-French and 41% French. At the time, 49 were primary students and 14 were secondary students.[
]
See also
* French people in Pakistan
There are a small number of French people in Pakistan, consisting mostly of expatriates, employees, French spouses married to Pakistanis and French people of Pakistani descent who moved back into the country, along with Pakistani-born people of ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole Francaise d'Islamabad
French international schools in Asia
International schools in Islamabad
1979 establishments in Pakistan
Educational institutions established in 1979
2008 disestablishments in Pakistan
Educational institutions disestablished in 2008
France–Pakistan relations
Diplomatic Enclave, Islamabad
Defunct schools in Pakistan