Osman Shoukat, president of the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, hosted a charity dinner at his residence to mobilise the Rawalpindi and Islamabad business community in support of the Green Crescent Trust. The event drew prominent figures from the city’s trade and civic circles, underlining a growing corporate interest in education initiatives for underserved areas.
The prime guest at the gathering was Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, adviser to the prime minister on tourism, who urged business leaders to take an active role in social reform. He asked companies to dedicate at least one percent of their profits to charitable causes, highlighting the Green Crescent Trust’s goal of enrolling more than 26 million out-of-school children across Pakistan and noting that private-sector support could significantly increase access to quality schooling.
Speakers at the dinner included RCCI group leader and former president Soheil Altaf, Green Crescent Trust CEO Zahid Saeed, Station Commander Brigadier Ali Anjum Syed, SVP Khalid Farooq Qazi, VP Fahad Barlas, former RCCI presidents, executive committee members, Border Chamber president Junaid Altaf, and other business representatives and notable entrepreneurs.
Osman Shoukat praised the Green Crescent Trust for its work constructing quality schools in disadvantaged areas and reiterated RCCI’s commitment to support the trust’s mission as part of the chamber’s corporate social responsibility efforts. The gathering emphasised local collaboration to scale educational outreach within Rawalpindi and Islamabad and beyond.
In his remarks, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan highlighted the Green Crescent Trust’s plans to expand operations outside Sindh beginning in 2026, a move he said would strengthen nationwide efforts against illiteracy. CEO Zahid Saeed noted that federal and provincial governments together spend a record Rs3.2 trillion on education and health—exceeding the defence budget—and stressed that transparent use of these funds, paired with private-sector partnerships, can drive substantial national progress.
The Green Crescent Trust’s impact over the past 31 years was underscored during the dinner: the trust now operates 173 charity schools serving 34,660 students, with girls comprising over 40 percent of enrolment. The network supports 2,150 orphans with special educational and welfare assistance and is run by more than 2,000 qualified teachers, a record that event speakers said merits expanded business backing to meet Pakistan’s urgent educational needs.
