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School Motto & Name

In Pakistan, most prestigious schools, prefer European names and have mottos in Latin or English, whereas schools meant to impart religious education use Urdu, Arabic, or Persian names and mottos. This represents a colonial mentality that has no place in modern Pakistan.  Hence Maktab’s name and motto were chosen from Arabic and Persian. We certainly have a global and modern outlook, yet we are also a school rooted firmly within Pakistan’s rich historical and cultural context.

The name Maktab was chosen because on one hand one of the meanings of maktab is “a school”, a generic school, and on the other hand Maktab with its tightly knit, intensely creative community, is a truly unique educational experience. This dichotomy in our name represents a hope that one day such maktabs will blossom all over Pakistan, and every child in Pakistan will have access to a meaningful, intense yet caring educational experience that Maktab offers.

The school takes inspiration from the philosophy of Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan’s national poet, that life is defined by constant struggle. The school motto is taken from Muhammad Iqbal’s Persian ruba’i in “Payam-e-Mashriq”. It means “the pleasure of struggling against headwinds” and represents Maktab’s educational philosophy.

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