141 Schools for Peace

2015–2024 social campaign in Pakistan November 2025 November 2025 thumb|upright The 141 Schools for Peace was a 2015 social campaign founded by a Canadian-based Pakistani couple, Zaki Patel and Syeda Zaki, and accomplished by The Citizens Foundation. The aim was to dedicate one school to each of the victims of 2014 Peshawar school massacre, which was achieved by their tenth anniversary in 2024. Background On 16 December 2014, six gunmen attacked inside the Army Public School, Peshawar, killing 132 children and 9 school staff members, making it one of the world's deadliest school massacres. The children were forced to see their teachers dying, including their principal, Tahira Qazi. Pakistan Army's Special Service Group (SSG) launched a quick rescue operation and killed the terrorists. They rescued an estimated 960 people, though 139 were injured.No hostages: Terrorists wanted to inflict maximum casualties, says DG ISPR https://tribune.com.pk/story/807683/n 21 November 2025 The Express Tribune 16 December 2014Arifa Qazi Halima Mansoor Tahira Qazi: To mother, with love https://tribune.com.pk/story/883731/t 21 November 2025 The Express Tribune 10 May 2015 The school reopened on 12 January 2015 under strict security. One week was dedicated to the prayers and remembrance of the victims, and the students and staff attended psychological counselling sessions, though they had shown resilience.Zahir Shah Sherazi After deadly Taliban attack, Army Public School reopens today https://www.dawn.com/news/1156533 21 November 2025 Dawn 12 January 2015 17 June 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250617013547/https://www.dawn.com/news/1156533 live Mateen Ahmed Inconceivable courage https://www.dawn.com/news/1157206 23 November 2025 Dawn 17 January 2015 10 December 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221210090836/https://www.dawn.com/news/1157206/ live Founders 20% "Storytelling is going to be a really important part of this where we can perpetuate positivity out of something quite horrific". Zaki Patel, founder of 141schools.org Zaki Patel, a computer science graduate from McGill University, with his wife, Syeda Zaki, a social entrepreneur, started a web campaign to collect the funds to build the schools. The couple is from Karachi, Pakistan, but resides and works in Canada. The idea that inspired him was from the social media response, that the best reply for the terrorism is to build schools. Consequently, he founded a not-for-profit organization and created a webpage for it, 141schools.org, and used the hashtag #141SchoolsforPeace for marketing on Twitter. He hoped that 141 people would join him, though a greater number of people signed up from many countries, including Pakistan, the U.S., India, etc. Reportedly, they had received 15,000 pledges within just three days.Amna Khawar 141 of them https://www.thefridaytimes.com/13-Feb-2015/141-of-them 21 November 2025 The Friday Times 13 February 2015 20 June 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240620051437/https://thefridaytimes.com/13-Feb-2015/141-of-them live Essa Malik Hurmat Majid Schools for Peshawar victims: Building for peace https://tribune.com.pk/story/829014/t 23 November 2025 The Express Tribune 1 February 2015Zareen Muzaffar Healing Pakistan's Wounds by Building 141 Schools for Peace https://thediplomat.com/2015/05/healing-pakistans-wounds-by-building-141-schools-for-peace 21 November 2025 The Diplomat 5 May 2015 15 August 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250815121352/https://thediplomat.com/2015/05/healing-pakistans-wounds-by-building-141-schools-for-peace/ live Timeline upright|thumb 20% "Only education has the power to enlighten minds, instill citizenship and unleash the potential of every Pakistani". Syed Asaad Ayub Ahmad, CEO The Citizens Foundation The mission was magnified after a partnership with The Citizens Foundation (TCF), an educational nonprofit organization that builds schools for underprivileged children in Pakistan. TCF planned the locations across Pakistan depending upon the availability of students, teachers, and the land, and the budgetary cost was estimated to be 2.07 crore.See Indian numbering system. In 2015, 1 was equivalent to average 102.70.US Dollar (USD) To Pakistan Rupee (PKR) Exchange Rate History for 2015 https://www.exchange-rates.org/exchange-rate-history/usd-pkr-2015 Exchange-Rates 21 November 2025 27 February 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250227170504/https://www.exchange-rates.org/exchange-rate-history/usd-pkr-2015 live Zaki Patel had pitched this idea to TCF so they took over the management and planning in late December 2014.TCFpak The Citizens Foundation 549535449459736576 29 December 2014 28 November 2025 Those of you who've heard of http://141schools.org will be happy to hear, we have officially partnered with them for #141schoolsforpeace TCF spokesperson Ayesha Khatib said that each unit would take six months to erect the building, and one year to one-and-a-half to make it fully functional. Their initial goal was to complete the mission by three years.Madiha Waris Qureshi Education in Pakistan: building more schools to combat extremism https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/jan/08/education-in-pakistan-building-more-schools-to-combat-extremism 24 November 2025 The Guardian 8 January 2015 Ali Zafar also committed to donating all proceeds from the song "Urain Ge" to the cause. Their collective aim was to build 141 schools and dedicate each school to a victim of the Peshawar attack.Pakistan needs a drastic change, says Ali Zafar https://www.dawn.com/news/1169925 21 November 2025 Dawn 16 March 2015 31 July 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150731085021/http://www.dawn.com/news/1169925 live Although, the number of deaths were increased, the campaign remained to 141.Teenaz Javat 141 schools: An Academic milestone https://tribune.com.pk/story/897053/1 24 November 2025 The Express Tribune 7 June 2015 Reportedly, 23 schools were constructed by the first anniversary in December 2015,'Urainge' rises to the occasion https://tribune.com.pk/story/1011097/u 21 November 2025 The Express Tribune 16 December 2015 and 40 schools by the second one in 2016.علی ظفر اتنا عرصہ کہاں تھے؟ بولی وڈ کا سوال https://www.dawnnews.tv/news/1040917 23 November 2025 Dawn News 26 July 2016 ur 29 July 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160729085537/http://www.dawnnews.tv/news/1040917 live By the tenth anniversary in 2024, TCF announced that the mission to establish 141 school units had been completed.The Citizens Foundation TCF has successfully established 141 school units https://www.facebook.com/TCFPak/posts/1016286050537864 Facebook 21 November 2025 16 December 2016 By the first anniversary of the attack, then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif approved the renaming of 122 schools and colleges to the names of the victims, in their honour.Honouring the martyrs: 122 schools, colleges named after APS victims https://tribune.com.pk/story/1010167/h 23 November 2025 The Express Tribune 14 December 2015 Notes References collapsed collapsed Category:2010s fads and trends Category:2015 in Internet culture Category:Advertising campaigns Category:Viral marketing Category:Education in Pakistan Category:2014 Peshawar school massacre