Dua Fatima
Unprivileged communities are defined to state the society of its original form of undeveloped columns. Inflations cause and effect are just interconnected with undeveloped literacy rate within these sectors, thus to ensure the fundamental right of education, a private organization named “Pehli Kiran School” (PKS) is serving its best.
Pehli Kıran School (PKS) picks up children’s of any age from the street and sends them to school. Morethan15,000 children have enrolled since the first school opened in 1995, and 90% have passed state exams. Currently 4300 students are studying in their all schools.
PK Schanges perceptions and changes communities to understand the value of education. Sabira Qureshi, Founder and Managing Trustee is an international development expert with more than four decadesofexperienceingenderequalityanddevelopmentissues, people and relationships.
Her work also includes important volunteer work, from human rights that services to non profits. His passion form a king a”change” led him to go to PKS.
Pehli Kıran School (PKS) is managed and operated by a special team under the super vision of the Board of Trustees. Pehli Kıran School sisa project of JAQ Education Trust , a trust registered in Pakistan under the Pakistan Trust Act II of 1882.
The Trust is managed by a seven-member board of directors composed of diverse Pakistani professionals,most of them with international experience. The total number of schools are 10 in which each school has its own principal, vice-principal and teac her who provide morning and afternoon classes for disadvantaged and needy children and they are sum up to 130 total staff members with 93 teachers. The requirement for noon classes were always there because of child labor in morning that is alternate issue in our country Pakistan. The timings to school is 8:00 A.M To 12:30 P.M for Montessori and 12:30 P.M TO 4:30 P.M for Primary courses.
Using an approach,PKS brings schools to “katchi Abadi” (urbanslum) communities and resettles with them when they are evacuated by local authorities. To respond to the needs of temporary nomadic communities,PKS established mobiles choolsin slum areas of Islamabad. These schools make big dreams come true even in the most modest homes like children born in these slums now want to beteachers, doctors, and engineer as usual.
Wherever the children go, the school will follow. Ms Zainab Qureshi said, “Our school sare bustling. When the Development Bank started building as ite, the slum residents were evacuated, we had to move schools to places where communities were returning.”
CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Theschoolalsolaunchedmanyextracurricularactivities. Last year, the Pehli Kiran school launched a”civics” program that teaches students social and moral values through art, music, drama and sports. TheiterationoftheprojectwascreatedforthePehliKıranschoolsystem,anetworkofinformal,open-airschoolsinIslamabad,Pakistan.Thelong-termgoalhereistoincreasethemotivationofstudents,teachersandparentsandtodeveloptheschoolasagoodplaceforchildren.
AsecondprojectisunderwayinIslamabadincollaborationwithSPARCStreetChildren’sShelter.OnbothHanstiBastiprojectsweworkwithvolunteersfromtheCommunitySupportProgramofBahriaUniversityinIslamabad.
Programs E.g. Women’s Skill Development is another step up of PKS that includes Stitching Centers known as Silaee Centre in local language that guides the girls the art of fashion designing and a helpful knowledge to lead with wealth. Also Girls are guided with beauty parlor courses.
FACILITIES
Community Mobilizers are available that surveys those respective slum communities for enrollment of their children’s and later on, they visit weekly in case of absent students who were studying but not coming up for 3, 4 days.
Other than educational program proceeded by PKS, they also guided that slum (KachiAbadi) Community to the fundamental documentations within a state E.g. NADRA registration. For being a part of a state you obviously should have the CNIC registration but that issue also came up with that slum communities, 25% of them were alien to our whole population of Pakistan as they were sifted and settled there from a previous urban areas like provinces of Punjab, Kpk and Baluchistan and they didn’t have their national ID from many years. With a helping hand of PKS, NADRA was able to locate them and provide them NADRA registration and B-Form for the children’s studying there.
PKS also supports those communities by Rashan providing facilities who are such needy for that.
Relating to educational facilities PKS provided the textbooks to students and a uniform once in a year. Career Counselors also propagate their interest to students to convey the message of upholding capabilities of respective student that will lead their life.
Food drives also provoke student to be a part of school as they were needy community and were apart from basic right of food due to inflation. MS Naveed MUSARAAT quoted, “ After each one month we follow the food drives within school thus if a student is coming without breakfast and lunch then he/she could be heal up by that and moreover we are working on it to measure at every month.”
TEACHERS’ ENROLLMENT AND TRAINING
To educate the children’s, they use to have high efficient staff of teachers and their respective coordinators as counselors. In view to this PKS has established wide ranges of programs that deal with teacher training workshops and a continuous staff development.
Alumnus of under discussed institute also use to serve back as teacher in PKS. They are facilitated by tuition fees that can lead there life to suitable measure and they are surely provoked to keeps their studies continuous.
DONATIONS
Less amount of money is set as tuition fees that is about RS-30 to RS-120 according to the affordability of student family. This amount of money is set so to reduce that cure of a family that they are not sending their child as a free rather they put some interest in their child’s development.
Theeducationfoundationismainlyfundedbydonationsfromindividualdonors,somesmallorganizationsandreligiouspeople and these total sum up to 550+ donors. Program Manager Stated that few of them are leading with the donation for whole school as well. Atfirst,theschoolwasfundedbytrusteedonations.Thisisasuccessstory,butthelackoffundsoftenmakesitdifficultforeverythingtogoaccordingtothefoundation’sneeds.
In live interview conducted with Ms Naveed Musarrat who is serving as Program Manager quoted, “We are always pleasure to accept the donation approach and we ensure them the right use of their money.”
