Report from BHW Pakistan Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key person:  Barbara Gill 

Recent Events

I visited for two days in October and spent some time at the school. It was the 7th anniversary of the commencement of the school. The children participated with singing, dancing and speeches. 

A number of people protested about a Christian school in the area and a number of parents removed their children from the school. This put a lot of pressure on the school financially and affected the morale. However, many have returned as the opposition has gone and they are attracted by the quality of the education. 

A number of families are refusing to pay fees and are being quite disruptive. Some of these are Christians who will be told that they will not be able to continue at the school. It has taken some time for Barbara to understand the need to be much more objective in terms of dealing with defaulters. 

The numbers have increased throughout the year and have now reached 150. 

Last year was extremely difficult but this year is shaping up to be much better. 

There are 12 teachers in the school, four are fully trained and the others are trainees and studying as they teach. The Cambridge curriculum is such a great resource and people like to come to this school because it is English medium. 

The building is slowly developing. They do not need to develop more classrooms immediately but it will become an issue within a couple of years as the number of older students increase over time. They have managed to make a down payment on a neighbouring property so they can eventually have a playground. On the same property they have the church hall and they have extended this for the use of the church, school and for the Wazir sewing programme (PAK01d).

Personal Stories

Nazreen is a widow and has five daughters and one son. She is not from the area and has shifted to the area to live with her parents. Her father has retired and she lives in one room with her children. Barbara has allowed her to run a canteen in the school and she is able to make a small income from that. 

One of her daughters is also a teacher at the school so this is a real help to the family. She studies in the afternoons and has learned sewing with her mother at the Wazir sewing programme. They are very poor. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

There has been a fair amount of resistance from a group of extremist Muslims who objected to having a Christian school in their community. However, some sense has returned and at the moment it is quiet. A number of high profile Muslim leaders have withdrawn their children because of the pressure but they are not opposing the school and realise the value it brings to the area. 

Plans for the Future

The difficult year of opposition affected two academic years and put them into financial difficulty. They need to be generating over US$1,000/month in school fees but it is sitting around US$700/month at the moment. Because of this neither Azam nor Barbara are taking any salary or income and in fact it is costing them to operate. This has to change. 

There will be more students coming into the school early next year which will help as long as they do not take in more non fee paying students. There are a number of measures they should take:

- Increase the number of older students even if they are not entirely up to the academic standard. There are not enough students in the top grades so their expenses in the higher grades are more than the income. 

- They have to address the non fee paying students and this will mean sending some away until there is payment and not taking on any more non fee paying students.

- They need to increase the number of students in each class, even by two or three. 

- They have to increase the fees incrementally every year. 

Current Issues and Challenges

Some of the parents have no idea about their responsibility. One father says that because external donors are involved then he does not have to pay. Azam and Barbara are now aware that they cannot continue without addressing this issue.

Prayer and Praise Points

1) The development of the school over the past seven years. This is an important milestone for them. 

2) The settling down of the opposition from within the community. 

3) The growth of the school after the issues that some people made for them. There will be a lot more children joining the school early in 2018. 

4) Prayer that the financial situation will improve and that Azam and Barbara will be able to implement a plan to address the issues to improve the situation. 

5) That the community will be positive about the contribution the school is making to the community. 

Comments

This is at a critical stage. I think there is a strong case to continue supporting it so it has the chance to become self-sustaining. It is almost there despite the issues they have faced in the last few years.