Sabaq

Sabaq (Sabaq.pk) is a free video lecture and practice test library for Pakistani students from kindergarten to class 14, run by the Sabaq Foundation, a self-funded nonprofit with its offices in Islamabad. It serves learners and their parents directly, and it serves schools through a blended learning setup that runs without an internet connection. The about page calls Sabaq "Pakistan's largest and most popular eLearning content provider," and the home page promises that it is "Free now and forever through Sabaq.pk website." The site counts 17,000+ video lectures and more than 5 million users a year.

Who runs it

The about page says Iqbal Mustafa Khan founded the Sabaq Foundation in Islamabad in 2012 and registered it as a nonprofit Trust with the Government of Pakistan. In 2023 it was re-registered as a Charity under the Islamabad Charities Act, 2021, and Iqbal became Chairperson, with his brother staying on as a Trustee. Iqbal's wife oversees all content development. Iqbal studied computer science at Indiana University, Bloomington, and ran software companies in the United States before returning to Pakistan, a background the about page credits for combining IT entrepreneurship with education.

How the lessons work

The teaching approach is simple to describe. Students watch video lectures on demand, as often as they need, and then check themselves with practice tests the about page calls "thought-provoking." The foundation names its main objective as student learning built on concept development instead of traditional rote learning. Lectures are delivered in simple Urdu but use English-medium terminology, so a student who studies in English at school still meets the terms used in class. The about page adds that while the topics fully map to Pakistani curricula, the content in the videos "is world-class and not from Pakistani books."

The content team, according to the about page, is made up of full-time teachers with MSc, MPhil or Ph.D. level education in their subject, working through a video development process with multiple quality checks. The home page also lists a Learning Dashboard for students alongside the videos and tests.

What the catalog covers

Students pick their education board and class, then a subject. The boards are Federal, Punjab, Sindh, KPK, Balochistan and Cambridge/Oxford. The class-by-class list on the home page shows how deep the coverage runs:

• KG to class 5: English, Math and Urdu throughout, General Knowledge in classes 1 to 3 and General Science in classes 4 and 5.
• Classes 6 to 8: Math, General Science, English, Computer Science and Urdu, with Geography in class 6.
• Classes 9 and 10: Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, General Math, General Science, Computer Science and Urdu, plus practicals, solved board papers and end-of-chapter exercises in math.
• 1st and 2nd Year (classes 11 and 12): Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science, English, Statistics, Accounting and Urdu, with practicals and solved board papers.
• O Levels (Cambridge): Math D 1 to D 4, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Computer Science.
• 3rd and 4th Year (classes 13 and 14): Statistics, Accounting, Advance Accounting and Cost Accounting.
• BBA / BSCS (university): Finite Mathematics, Advance Financial Accounting and Management Accounting.
• Entrance and exam prep: ECAT Prep in Physics, Chemistry and Math, MCAT Prep in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and CSS Prep in English precis and composition and the English essay.

A skills section adds Microsoft Office courses in Excel and Word (core, expert and by topic) and PowerPoint (core), and a teacher training course on teaching with blended learning methodology. The home page notes that more videos are coming.

The app and offline use

The Sabaq Android App is free and holds the same videos and practice tests. Students and schools can download videos and tests upfront and use them later with no internet at all, which the about page describes as a powerful feature given how unreliable internet services are in Pakistan. For schools, the app also supports classroom lectures on a TV.

Sabaq for schools

Sabaq Blended Learning for Schools is offered free, and the school page lays out four parts: classroom lectures on a TV or multimedia projector driven by an Android Chromebook, a study lab where students use Android tablets to fill learning gaps and take practice tests, self-study at home on an Android phone or tablet, and teacher self-training, where teachers watch the videos before each lecture to strengthen their knowledge, especially if they prefer to teach the lesson themselves.

Schools have two ways to set this up. In the pre-configured option, a school registers with Sabaq and buys a Chromebook already loaded with offline content for one board, priced on the school page at estimated market cost plus a small service charge: Rs. 30,000 plus shipping for the KG to 10 version with a 128 GB memory card, and Rs. 35,000 plus shipping for the KG to 12 version with a 256 GB card, each with an HDMI-to-USB Type-C cable. Sabaq says these prices are estimates as of August 2026 and may change, and that the Chromebooks are sold to simplify setup, not to earn a profit. In the do-it-yourself option, the school buys the one Chromebook model Sabaq supports, an HP Chromebook 11 G8 at approximately Rs 20,000 in the market, and Sabaq sends one content-loaded memory card per Chromebook: 128GB for KG to 10, 256GB for KG to 12. A regular TV of 40 inches or more, or a projector, is enough; a Smart TV is not needed.

Internet is needed only for the first setup, signing in with a dedicated Google account per school. After that, everything runs offline. When a school does have a connection, even a slow one, the Chromebook periodically uploads learning activity data to Sabaq's cloud server, so a principal or administrator can track classroom usage remotely. The school page says Sabaq still likes to work closely with schools to make sure the setup is used effectively.

Reach beyond the website

In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sabaq gave its content free of cost to the Federal Ministry of Education for PTV Teleschool. The about page says that of the videos PTV Teleschool airs from several EdTech providers, approx. 70% are from Sabaq, and 100% of the videos for classes 9 to 12. The home page has a PTV Teleschool section in its catalog. A success stories page collects accounts from parents, teachers and students, and the site invites families to share their own.

Terms of use

Everything on the site is free, with no paid plan. The footer sets two limits: videos may not be copied without written permission from the Sabaq Foundation, and schools may link to the site free of cost at subject and grade level, but not to individual videos.

Who it suits

Sabaq suits Pakistani students from KG to university who want free, board-matched video lessons and tests in Urdu, and parents who want a no-cost way to help a child catch up or revise for board exams, ECAT or MCAT. It suits schools short of qualified teachers or internet access most of all, since the offline Chromebook kit puts the whole library into a classroom for the cost of the hardware. It is not a course-building platform and is built around Pakistani boards and Urdu delivery, so families following another country's curriculum, or students who need instruction fully in English, will get less from it.