Over two dozen govt schools in Baldia Town to be handed over to non-profit

Baldia Town’s administration has sought the urgent help of a leading education sector non-profit, the Green Crescent Trust (GCT), to revive over two dozen non-functional public schools in their jurisdiction to enrol a greater number of out-of-school children in the backward suburban area of Karachi.

Baldia Town Chairman Abdul Karim Askani on Sunday inaugurated the extension of a charitable school of the GCT in the town’s Umer Farooq Colony during a ceremony he attended as the chief guest.

The new building of the school has more than doubled the institute’s capacity to enrol children from destitute families in the locality. The school will now educate 670 children from class one to class 10.

During his speech at the ceremony, Askani assured the GCT of the town’s complete support for expanding the footprint of their schooling network in the area to impart quality school education to children belonging to low-income families.

He said that the over three million people of Baldia Town require a greater number of such quality schooling facilities to brighten the academic future of thousands of children from deprived families, mostly of labourers.

He also said that Baldia Town would provide the available amenity land for launching more such schools. “The more such quality schools are built in our area the more we can secure the future of our children.”

He opined that the public-private partnership arrangement with bona fide non-profits in the education sector is the most viable method of improving the existing government-run schools and reviving the non-functional educational facilities.

Speaking on the occasion, GCT CEO Zahid Saeed expressed his deepest gratitude to prominent businesswoman Seher Dharani for lending extraordinary financial support to his non-profit to speedily expand the enrolment capacity of the school in Baldia Town.

Saeed said that with the overwhelming support of committed donors, the GCT would revive the non-functional schools in Baldia Town to resolve the issue of illiteracy in the underprivileged locality.

He said the GCT is fully committed to working shoulder to shoulder with the federal, provincial and local governments to resolve the gigantic issue of out-of-school children.

The donor, Seher Dharani, said that both her father and mother had belonged to underprivileged families who had worked hard to gain higher education for their economic stability.

Seher said her parents had also ensured that all of their children were properly educated before stepping into their practical lives. She added that the ambition and commitment of her parents to the cause of education motivated her to fully support the educational facilities being built for children of deprived families.

She also said her extended family members based in many developed countries would extend overwhelming support to the GCT to resolve the issue of illiteracy in Sindh for the good of the country.

She praised the GCT’s drive against illiteracy in the province that has been continuing without a break for the past three decades, under which 170 charitable schools have been built in the most neglected and faraway parts of the province, seeing an enrolment of over 32,000 from deprived communities.

She announced her complete support to the GCT’s Vision 2025, which stands for increasing the non-profit’s educational network to 250 schools in Sindh, with a total capacity to enrol 100,000 out-of-school children.

She also announced the adoption of a nearby public park, which is in a poor state, so that it can be built and beautified as a playground for the students and as a recreational spot for the area’s residents.

Lahore-based businessman Irfan Saleem, who had especially come to Karachi to attend the inauguration ceremony, urged donors and philanthropists to extend their complete support to charities like the GCT to resolve the issue of illiteracy in Pakistan and to transform the destiny of the country’s people in the shortest possible time.

Saleem urged the government to seek support of committed charities in the education sector to build quality schooling facilities for children belonging to backward communities.

Later, the Baldia Town chairman, accompanied by the GCT’s office-bearers, patrons and donors, participated in a tree planting activity at the nearby park to commence its uplift work.