Pakistan is facing a serious challenge to ensure all children, particularly the most disadvantaged, attend, stay and learn in school. While enrollment and retention rates are improving, progress has been slow to improve education indicators in Pakistan. Currently, Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children (OOSC) with an estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 not attending school, representing 44 per cent of the total population in this age group. (Source UNICEF Pakistan)
Pakistan Week UK is a student-led iniative as part of Shahid Afridi Foundation (SAF) that aims to connect UK universities to create a week of fun fundraising events to help educate underprivileged children in Pakistan.
After the success for Pakistan Week in March 2019, the SAF Student Forum was established which comprises current and recently graduated students who have all held positions of influence with their respective Pakistan societies at their universities. SAF is an integrated community aimed to improve the lives of the underprivileged through various efforts aimed at refining the state of healthcare and education within Pakistan and providing clean and safe drinking water. With their joint efforts amongst 10 UK-based universities, the students managed to raise a total of £20,000 within the week.
Numerous events promoting Pakistani culture were hosted across major UK institutes, including University of Cambridge, LSE, UCL, King’s College London and many more. Attracting not only Pakistani students but those from various ethnic backgrounds, these events ranged from social gatherings such as, traditional dholki nights, qawwali nights, delicious halwa puri breakfasts to insightful talks discussing the challenges and opportunities in modern Pakistan with renowned guest speakers, including Nighat Dad, Khadija Siddiqui, Amber Darr, Jibran Nasir, Aisha Siddiqa and many more. After a successful year, Pakistan Week has returned in 2020 with double the number of UK universities involved, modelling the project into the SAF UK Youth Wing.
Saima Khan, SAF UK Southern Lead said: “We believe the youth are our future leaders and believe by working collectively with them we can make a positive impact for the underprivileged in Pakistan. Pakistan Week is running from 3-15 February 2020 and sees 21 UK universities unite to both raise awareness and fundraise for our projects in Pakistan. This is our second year of Pakistan Week running and are proud that we are working closer and more aligned with diaspora communities in the UK.”
Bakhtaver Mohammad, Co-Founder Pakistan Week and SAF UK Youth Wing Lead added: “As former president of the UCL Pakistan Society we identified a gap in our overseas student community and needed a connected platform for a long-term solution, we want to mobilise cross university forces and utilise diaspora to play our part in contributing to Pakistan.” Sohail Rafiq, Co-Founder Pakistan Week and former president LSBU Pakistan Society said: “We may not live in Pakistan but Pakistan lives within us and this is a way of giving back to our country and supporting a fantastic cause with the Shahid Afridi Foundation.”
Zulfi Bukhari, Minister of Overseas Pakistani, amongst many Pakistani and UK influencers, have also extended their support to SAF Pakistan Week and invite everyone to get involved and attend events hosted at their nearest university.
Make a difference today, you could be the reason a child in Pakistan has access to the gift of education! Reach out to your closest educational institute to join us on this journey and help build for a better Pakistan! For more information please visit www.pakistanweek.co.uk.