> CHEADLE MOSQUE ASSOCIATION SUPPORTING VITAL EDUCATION FOR 500 VULNERBALE CHILDREN
Education plays a fundamental part in lifting children out of poverty. With over 250 million children currently out of school in the world, something needs to be done, otherwise entire generations and communities will suffer.
Cheadle Mosque has partnered with READ Foundation to build a primary school at Hazara, District Gujrat, Pakistan and help 500 children in the region get a top class education.
READ Foundation not only builds a school for the children and orphans in the area, but the advanced curriculum means that the children are constantly high achieving. Because the quality of education is excellent, the school starts to take in fee paying students, which actually covers the running costs. This means that once we have raised funds for the school it will keep on going, year after year, with all the children benefitting and the local community improving too!
The school we are building will cost £154,000 and take 18 months to complete. The project will start once we have raised the funds. Once the building starts we will get monthly progress reports, so we can stay up-to-date on the build.
This is an exciting project for us, because it is a Sadaqah Jariyah for anyone who donates to this cause. We will be helping orphans, providing education, supporting the local community, empowering female teachers and really giving a lifeline to a community in need.
Every little adds up and can really make a difference. So please donate today.
Here are some details below:
Education remains to be the cornerstone of the poverty reduction strategy of the READ Foundation. READ Foundation subscribes to the approach that Pakistan’s problems today, including its economic challenges, are directly or indirectly related to the uneven distribution of educational services and a lack of access to quality education. It believes that education is one of the most critical factors that can transform Pakistan’s future; education boosts the economy, broadens outlooks, and offers a brighter future.
READ Foundation is a leading provider in the non-profit and private sectors in Pakistan with 390 schools, 5,948 teachers, and an ever-growing student population of over 112,006 from kindergarten through undergraduate level.
READ Foundation has prepared this proposal to help address the problems of access, quality and equity for underprivileged children by establishing a seismic-compliant and fit-for-purpose school at the target Hazara village.
At present, there are only 5 public sector and three private schools in the project area, commonly called as Jaba Valley, with a cumulative enrolment of about 4,544 boys and girls. There isn’t a not-for-profit sector schools in this area. The major challenge the children of this area face today is the non-availability of opportunities for quality education – unavailability of the required classroom spaces, a lack of learning materials, inadequate and untrained staffing, and a struggling performance management system, among other challenges. Children from low and middle income families often fail to attend good quality schools located in nearby towns or Sarai Alamgir and Kharian cities owing to high tuition fees, their inability to pay for travel to schools and safety concerns because of the large distance many children must travel to school, especially young girls. Many children from these villages travel to READ Foundation Schools at Sokasan and Dheri Wattan Villages in Bhimber district of AJK for their primary and high school education that involves a roundtrip journey of up to twelve kilometres. Both of these READ Foundation Schools operate from purpose-built campuses with more than 1,100 pupils. READ Foundation is the single largest not-for-profit educational provider in district Bhimber with 68 schools, 1,103 teachers and 21,098 pupils, including 1,663 orphans.
The proposed school at Hazara will have the capacity to enrol about 500 pupils in kindergarten and primary grades (up to 5th grade). Hazara is a central location of four union councils, namely Dandi Besa, Peer Khana, Mandi Bhalwal, Bolani with a population of about 75,000. The establishment of the school at Hazara will help children from 40-plus villages of Gujrat and Bhimber districts, including Hazara, Baisa Kalan, Bulani, Gurrah Heeran, Gurrah Dheri, Gurrah Shadarya, Ghayal Bala, Baisa Khurd, Phularwan, Daak Jattan, Daak Chibban, Pothi, Maira, Moja, Thill Lar, Bakohal Jattan, Bakohal Chibban, Ghayal Zair, Ghayal Darmyana, Chak Qaim, Nandna, Sokar, Chaar, Gurrah Habib, Leenda, Shani Dhoke, Thalla Kalan, Thalla Khurd, Naali, Paghli, Mandyal, Sheikh Pur Androni, Gurrah Farman, Chakhraal, Pir Khana Jattan, Pir Khana Chibban and Balobanian.
The medium of instruction in the proposed school shall be English. The school shall be registered with the relevant authorities. It will help underprivileged children access their right to education enshrined in Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Dakar Framework of Action, and guaranteed through Article 25A of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The curricula at the school shall follow the National Curriculum Guidelines and ensure a rigorous and activity-oriented learning process suitable for all children.
The school is envisaged to start with enrolment in Play Group, Nursery, Prep, and possibly Grades 1 and 2, and will grow gradually as full-fledged primary schools enrolling about 500 children from playgroup through 5th grade. It shall enrol up to 35 children in each grade. In future, READ Foundation shall upgrade this school as college by building a separate campus for students in grades 6th to 12th.
The school shall run as a not-for-profit (self-supportive) educational institution. It will charge appropriate tuition fees from the students who families can afford to help with the teacher salary and the facility upkeep. Orphan students shall get a full educational sponsorship in the form of tuition fee, textbooks, stationery and school uniform under READ Foundation’s Orphan Sponsorship Programme.
We want to build an 8,700 sq.ft. seismic-compliant and fit-for-purpose school for 500 boys and girls in nursery/kindergarten (play group, nursery and prep) and primary grades. The local community has already donated a 27,200 ft2 freehold land worth £45,000 GBP for this project.
The proposed building will consist of:
- 16 classrooms – two classrooms for each grade.
- 1 Staff room
- 1 Principal office
- 1 Accountant room
- 10 toilets for students and staff
- Safety fencing of the school premises
The following basic provisions are also proposed to be covered under this project:
- Syllabi-based teaching-learning materials
- Classroom furniture for 500 students
- Staff furniture
The key objectives envisaged for the project are:
- To provide a quality primary education to 500 boys and girls in a safe and supportive environment – the quality of education, faculty, physical facilities, curriculum, discipline and extracurricular activities;
- To allow children to build an individual social, emotional and educational base that shall afford them social and professional choices in future challenges and opportunities;
- To impart poverty relief to the families of the beneficiary children by relieving them of the responsibility of their children’s educational expenses in terms of development needs of the school.
The project compliments the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
- SDG 4: Ensuring quality education for all and promoting lifelong learning
- SDG 5: Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls
- SDG 10: Reducing inequality
- SDG 1: Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere