Battagram: Having a history of evolving innovative education initiatives in Pakistan, Save the Children held the inauguration ceremony of newly constructed Government Girls’ Primary School in DagerMera village, on Wednesday. The Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan Mr. Ross Hynes visited the Union Council of Kozabanda to honor the inauguration of the school. This school is a part of a larger program implemented by Save the Children and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to support the primary education in Battagram following the earthquake of 2005.
Through this project, Save the Children trained over 300 teachers and 232 women PTC members, constructed 6 schools, improved the quality of 100 project schools, provided school health and nutrition (SHN) facilities among 28,000 children and provided safe drinking water facilities for 29 schools. This has already resulted in 37% increase in school enrolment, and a marked increase in school completion rates in this district.
While praising the efforts of Save the Children, and promising a long-term relationship to help improve lives, The Canadian High-Commissioner, Mr. Hynes said: “On behalf of Canadian people and Canadian government, we are thankful to the children, community elders and teaching staff for their efforts of development in the earthquake affected Battagram. We expect that people will utilize these newly constructed schools and that will ultimately improve their lives conditions in future. We acknowledge the good work done by
Save the Children, Government of Pakistan and we are thankful for the support of Pakistan Army in the reconstruction process. Friendship of Canada with Pakistan is completing its 60 years and we will continue to support the developmental activities for people of Pakistan.” Apart this, Mr. Mushtaq Jadoon, Secretary Elementary &SD KPK and local MNA Prince Muhammad Nawaz Khan was also delivered speech as guest of honor in this function.
Save the Children Deputy Country Director Program Implementation Dr. Amanullah Khan was also there. He thanked the Canadian High Commission for their support and acknowledging the Save the Children Family efforts, Mr. Khan stated “we are grateful to the Government of Canada for their generous support. Save the Children is committed to continue with its long term development programs in Battagram to help rebuild lives of children and their families on sustainable basis. In this endeavor the Government of Canada is a key partner and a significant supporter and we hope this partnership will continue for the cause of promoting rights of children.”
Save the Children is working since October 08, 2005 in District Battagram. After emergency relief, Save the Children in 2008 embarked upon long term program in education sector i.e. “Support to Primary Education in Battagram”. Through community mobilization Save the Children was able to increase the children enrollment from 11,150 to 15,306 in the targeted 100 schools. The project having been implemented successfully has so far reached out to 100 Schools, 100 Parent Teacher Councils, and 35,844 Children as direct beneficiaries.
