HOPE Team Visits Home School in Kashmir (DAY 2)

Education is a basic right of every child. The right to education ensures access to quality schools and to an education that is directed towards the full development of the human personality.

Education is a neglected field in Pakistan and data shows that primary school enrollment is very low in Pakistan. In addition nearly 30% of children drop out from the 3rd class onward. Generally parents cannot afford to send their children to school. Parents with five to six children cannot afford school fees, books and uniforms. The situation gets even worse for the young girls who make up much less than half of that number.

Hope an educational NGO in Pakistan aims to provide high quality and free of cost education to children in rural and urban setting all over Pakistan mainly concentrating on girls’ education. Providing education is one of the priority areas of HOPE an NGO in Pakistan, which is vital for the economic, social and cultural development of all societies.

Azad Jammu and kashmir is a mountaneous area comprising of various districts, located in the nothern areas of Pakistan. This area is underdeveloped and in much need of proper medical and health facility. On ther other hand, illiteracy is also prevalent here and if insitutions exist, its harsh weather make it impossible to approach them.

 To eradicate this issue, HOPE initiated by running Home Schools in different areas of AJK and NWFP. These schools are located in the remote mountain areas, some which are highly inaccessible by road. There are no other schools in the area. Presently, there are over 1000 children studying in the home schools, primarily girls. These schools are supported by Barclays Bank and HSBC Bank.

Every year HOPE team visits its projects installed under the leadership of Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla- Child Specialist in Karachi. This visit is one of the most awaited days through out the year for not only the HOPE team but also the children, who are keen to see Dr. Mubina-Child specialist in Karachi, because of whom their lives started going down a much brighter path.

On day 2 of the visit HOPE team continued its visits in heavy rain to its three schools in Hattian Bala- District of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The team distributed sweaters and stationary among all the students. Not only students, teachers were also taken into consideration during this visit, which are the pillars of HOPE’s school. Teachers were provided with books, which will help them to strengthen their knowledge and to increase the quality of education.

With all of HOPE’s endeavors the children of AJK are being provided with quality education that they had previously being deprived of and these annual visits encouraged them to excel in their potentials and elevate their living standard.