Froebel's vs Roots in Islamabad: A Parent's Evidence-Based Comparison

Begin by working out which 'Roots' is meant, because in Islamabad four organisations trade under that word, each presenting itself through its own website and campus list. Roots International Schools & Colleges (RISC) names eight Islamabad entries on its campuses page, from Wellington in H-8/4 to Richmond on the GT Road. Roots Millennium belongs to The Millennium Education (TME), whose campus map marks 11 Islamabad sites under that brand and four more under Future World School, a sister brand; its About page claims 48 campuses, more than 20 cities and over 20,000 learners nationally. The Roots School System, whose history page puts its first school at 74 Harley Street, Rawalpindi, in April 1988, gives one Islamabad address in DHA Phase I. Roots IVY's contact page, which carries a 2017 copyright notice, names three Islamabad sites; one of them, on First Avenue in Sector A of DHA Phase I, is the same address, with the same 5788380 telephone number, that the Roots School System gives for its Islamabad campus. On its About page, TME describes its own network as growing out of the Roots School System, using the word extension. So the groups are linked by history and, in one case, by a shared address, but each publishes its own campus list. Froebel's International School has no such split: a single website covers all its campuses. When this guide says Roots, it names the group each fact belongs to. Two earlier SchoolNama guides, /news/roots-millennium-vs-beaconhouse and /news/roots-vs-city-school, look at the Roots groups against other networks.

Froebel's tells its own story on its About page. It says the school opened in 1975 with 10 students and four teachers in part of a house, reached its golden jubilee in 2025, and now employs more than 400 educators teaching children from age three to A Level. That page still describes 8 campuses in 3 cities, but the contact page now lists ten entries across four: five schools in Islamabad (F-7, F-11, Gulberg Greens, Soan and Peshawar Road), Lake City and Ring Road in Lahore, Wah Cantt, a DHA Karachi campus that is enrolling its first families, and Froebel's International College on the GT Road opposite DHA Phase II. ICT-PEIRA, the regulator for private schools in the capital, holds six Froebel's records, matching the five schools and the college by address. Every size number quoted here is self-reported by the organisation concerned; none has been checked independently.

The early and primary years are where the teaching models differ most visibly. Froebel's says it uses the International Early Years Curriculum from Playgroup to Prep and the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) in Years 1 to 5, calls itself an IPC pioneer in Pakistan, and teaches Islamiyat and Urdu alongside English-language support. Years 6 to 8 form its Lower Secondary stage, which adds History and Geography as separate subjects. Among the Roots groups, TME's FAQ puts Roots Millennium on Edexcel through primary and on Cambridge from lower secondary up. RISC describes its own Early Years, Primary Years and Lower Secondary programmes; RISC brands its primary course RIPYP and does not describe it as an IB programme. The Roots School System's menu lists Pearson Edexcel Early Years and iPrimary for Classes 1 to 6. On any visit, request the textbooks and test timetable used in the class your child would join.

At secondary level, the clearest difference is that, on the evidence of its own website, Froebel's teaches international exams only. Its curriculum page says Years 9 to 13 lead to IGCSE and A Level from Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge, with Medical, Engineering and Business or Humanities tracks. The college's page adds BTEC, which it calls a professional qualification, and its enquiry form lists IGCSE Years 9 to 11, AS and A2 Level with separate Cambridge AS and A2 options, and 'Level 3' Years 1 and 2. We found no Matric or FSc anywhere on Froebel's website, and the four schools that file senior classes with PEIRA label them IGCSE I to III and A Level rather than Grades IX and X. The Roots groups mix both systems. RISC lists Cambridge O Level, IGCSE through Cambridge or Edexcel over two to three years, Matric, A Level and HSSC streams in FSc, ICS, ICom and FA, and both of its Islamabad filings price Grades IX to XII next to the IGCSE and A Level lines. TME's FAQ says Roots Millennium offers IGCSE through Cambridge and Edexcel and SSC through FBISE, but adds that parents should re-confirm with the campus, and its Matric page names only one Islamabad site for SSC: Future World School in H-11. The Roots School System describes its DHA Phase I campus as running from Montessori to O Level and 'Inter'. If your child may need the board route, Froebel's is not an option and only some Roots campuses are. If you are torn between the international and national tracks, our explainer at /news/o-levels-vs-matric-in-pakistan sets the board route against Cambridge, and a second explainer, /news/igcse-vs-o-levels-pakistan, unpicks the difference between the two Cambridge-style certificates that families here usually weigh up.

For A Level, check which campus actually has senior pupils, not only what the brochure offers. Alongside fees, the PEIRA register carries a class-by-class head count that each school submits about itself. Of Froebel's five schools, three reported A Level classes in returns marked 2025: F-7 (98 pupils in the first A Level year and 68 in the second), Peshawar Road (44 and 35) and Gulberg Greens (32 and 18). F-11 stopped at Grade VIII and Soan at the third IGCSE year, and the college had no return on file. Among the Roots-named schools, RISC's Wellington campus in H-8/4 (2023 return) showed 143 and 102 A Level pupils plus 249 in Grade XI and 195 in Grade XII; RISC Richmond showed 33 and 20 at A Level plus 134 and 91 in Grades XI and XII; the Roots School System's DHA Phase I campus (2023 return) showed 158 and 138 at A Level; and Roots IVY's River View campus (2026 return) showed 40 in its first A Level year. None of the ten Roots Millennium returns had an A Level class, which fits TME's own list of A Level principals: for Islamabad it names only Future World School & College. One Roots Millennium return does list a class after IGCSE, though; it is labelled IBDP and is covered in the next paragraph. Several of these returns are three years old, so ask each campus for this year's numbers.

The IB is a minor factor here. According to TME, its E-11/4 One World Campus holds IB authorisation for the Middle Years Programme; on the PEIRA register, that campus has filed a fee row marked IBD, and its 2025 head count places 74 pupils in a class named IBDP after the third IGCSE year. TME's IB page claims authorisation only for the Middle Years Programme, so ask One World which programme and which final exam that class is following. Froebel's does not claim any IB programme on the pages we read, and nor do RISC or the Roots School System. Families who want IB should look the campus up on the IB organisation's own website; /news/ib-vs-cambridge-pakistan weighs it against Cambridge.

On fees, neither Froebel's nor any Roots group publishes a current class-wise fee table on its website that we could find, so Islamabad's regulator is the best public guide. ICT-PEIRA's register shows the class fees each school filed for up to five years. The register is silent on whether these are monthly sums, and PEIRA's disclaimer puts responsibility for any error on the school that filed them. The five Froebel's schools filed the same class fees, except that F-7's IGCSE and A Level lines are slightly higher. The latest, for 2024-25, shows Rs 30,608 for Playgroup, Rs 34,883 for Grade I, Rs 36,250 for Grades VI to VIII, Rs 47,383 for each IGCSE year (Rs 47,633 at F-7) and Rs 49,750 for A Level (Rs 51,167 at F-7), with a Rs 30,000 admission fee. Almost every line rose by about 10% in each of the last two filings (Playgroup was flat in 2023-24, and the Rs 30,000 admission fee did not change); Grade I went from Rs 28,825 in 2022-23 to Rs 31,708 and then Rs 34,883. No 2025-26 or 2026-27 filing appears for any Froebel's school, so ask what the current figure is rather than assuming the 2024-25 one still applies. The college filed a single 2024-25 line of Rs 22,500 for Grades XI and XII with a Rs 50,000 admission fee, which is far below the schools' A Level line; ask the college what that figure covers.

The Roots filings are patchier and spread over different years, which makes a fair comparison harder. The newest Roots Millennium figures come from One World in E-11/4, which kept its 2024-25 amounts for 2025-26: Grade I at Rs 31,850, every IGCSE year at Rs 43,980, admission at Rs 35,000, registration at Rs 5,000 and Rs 29,500 of other yearly charges. Mayfair, Hammersmith, Greenwich and Waterloo last filed for 2024-25, putting Grade I at Rs 23,300 to Rs 24,290, and none of the four lists a class above Grade VIII. Roots IVY's River View campus filed for 2025-26: Rs 46,615 for Grade I and Rs 49,793 for IGCSE, O Level and A Level alike, with Rs 45,000 each for registration and admission. For the two RISC campuses and the Roots School System's DHA campus, the register shows nothing after 2022-23. Comparing like with like for 2024-25, Froebel's filed Rs 34,883 for Grade I, One World Rs 31,850, River View Rs 42,378 and four other Roots Millennium campuses between Rs 23,300 and Rs 24,290. Froebel's filings list no registration fee or annual charges, while most Roots filings do; that does not prove Froebel's has none, so ask for every line in writing. To understand what every column of a filing means, from class fees to one-off charges, see the walk-through in our Islamabad cost guide at /news/school-fees-in-islamabad.

Supplies are a second bill that families on both sides should plan for. In November 2025, Dawn reported that the Competition Commission of Pakistan had served show-cause notices on 17 private school systems, and the systems it named included Froebel's, Roots International and Roots Millennium. According to the commission, parents had to purchase notebooks, workbooks and uniforms bearing the school logo from outlets the schools had authorised, and its inquiry put the mark-up on many study packs at as much as 280% over comparable goods sold elsewhere. A show-cause notice is an allegation that the school can answer, and we found no report of a final order. At RISC, the admissions page sets out what is payable on joining: registration and admission fees that are not returned, a security fee that is, tuition payable 'bimonthly', and an annual resource charge, with tuition billed over 12 calendar months and reviewed each year. TME's FAQ says uniforms and course books are bought online through its sellers page. We found no fee or supplies policy on Froebel's website, so ask its admissions office for both.

Commute is where the two names differ most in Islamabad, because Roots-named campuses are scattered across far more sectors. Froebel's five schools sit in F-7/2, F-11/4, Block C of Gulberg Greens, on the GT Road opposite Gate 1 of DHA Phase II (Soan), and on Peshawar Road (at Golra Morh, according to its PEIRA registration), with the college on the same GT Road stretch as Soan. Its website lists no school in the G-13, G-15, H-8, I-8 or PWD areas. Roots Millennium has campuses in G-13, G-15, G-11, I-8, F-8, E-11, B-17, PWD and elsewhere, and RISC lists G-13, G-15, H-8/4, two sites in the Police Foundation area and Richmond, which RISC places opposite Gate 1 of DHA Phase II, the same landmark Froebel's gives for Soan. In F-7, Froebel's is in F-7/2 and TME lists a Trafalgar campus in F-7/1. On transport, the schools say little: TME's FAQ says it will share details of outside transport services and parents must give the school their driver's documents, and we found no school-run transport on the Froebel's or RISC sites. RISC's usual day runs 8:00am to 2:30pm (Early Years to 12:30pm), and Roots Millennium's runs to 2:00pm or 2:30pm with a 12:30pm Friday finish. SchoolNama has not yet checked any pick-and-drop operator in Islamabad, so ask the campus office and other parents which drivers already serve your sector; area pages such as /islamabad/f-7, /islamabad/g-13 and /islamabad/dha-phase-2 show other schools nearby.

Admission timing matters now that the 2026-27 session has begun. RISC says its campuses admit students from March to August, keep registration open all year and start the session in August or September, so on its own calendar the main intake for this year has closed; ask about vacancies or plan for 2027-28. TME's FAQ says Early Years places go on a first come, first served basis and the classes stay open all year to fill any vacancy, while applicants for Grades 1 to 8 sit papers in English, Urdu and Mathematics and/or Science with a 70% pass mark. As we read it on 2 October 2026, the Roots School System's site still carried a banner advertising admissions for 2025-26, so phone the campus for current dates. Froebel's website offers an online admissions enquiry form but, on the pages we read, publishes no test, criteria or deadline. On scholarships, TME says it offers them only at AS and A Level, and RISC says it has scholarships at selected campuses and on merit at AS, A Level and HSSC; we found no scholarship policy on Froebel's site.

We cannot yet tell you what parents think of either name. SchoolNama does not hold enough verified parent reviews of these campuses to report a fair picture, and we found no published parent survey covering them, so we have not quoted ratings or testimonials. What we can report is what each school says it emphasises. Froebel's says an inclusion coordinator works with teachers to support pupils with learning difficulties, communication needs, autism and sensory needs in mainstream classes, and that university counselling starts in Year 9. TME caps Roots Millennium classes at 25 learners, it says, and its About page points to Mandarin teaching via a Confucius Classroom and German via the PASCH schools network. RISC describes a daily assembly with Quran recitation and translations in English and Urdu. Treat these as the schools' claims, then test them: ask current parents at the gate about homework load, communication with teachers, fee rises and how bullying is handled.

Our own directory shows how much of this map we still need to tidy. A script over SchoolNama's 6,687 campus records found 47 Islamabad listings with 'Roots' in the name: 8 linked to our Roots International network record and 7 to Roots Millennium, while the rest are unlinked and include unrelated schools such as Golden Roots and Kinder Roots Montessori. For Froebel's, 9 Islamabad listings carry a Froebel's-style name, several of them duplicates around F-11, and only 2 are linked to our Froebel's network record; one of those carries a Bahria Town area label in our data, yet its map pin is within roughly 60 metres of our Soan campus record on the GT Road, so it is probably a mislabelled duplicate of Soan rather than another campus; Froebel's own website lists nothing in Bahria Town. None of these counts measures quality or size. Useful starting profiles include /schools/froebels-international-school-gulberg-greens-campus-islamabad, /schools/froebel-s-international-school-peshawar-road-islamabad, /schools/roots-international-wellington-campus-islamabad and /schools/roots-millennium-schools-one-world-campus-one-world-campus-islamabad, while /islamabad covers the rest of the capital.

To decide, take the choices in order. First settle the exam route: if Matric or FSc may be needed, look only at the Roots campuses that teach them; if your child will stay on IGCSE and A Level, both names are in play. Second, check how far each campus goes, because Froebel's F-11 and Soan and most Roots Millennium campuses stop before A Level, which means a change of campus later. Third, list the campuses your child can reach every day. Fourth, ask each one for its full 2026-27 fee schedule in writing and set it against its latest PEIRA filing. Then visit both finalists on a school day, set them side by side on /compare, get written transport quotes from drivers the campus or current parents recommend, and use /tutors if a change of syllabus leaves gaps.