Report from BHW Pakistan Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key people: Barbara Gill 

Recent Events

Horizon School (PAK06)

A huge underlying issue here is that this started as an income generating activity, well at least that is what I was lead to believe, but after some time it became obvious that most of the children could not pay for their school fees so, in Barbara’s mind, this became a charity. 

However, they now say that they need to get to 200 students so she can begin taking a wage. Last time I was there I reported the following and told them the same. I recommended that:
- They increase in the number of older students, even if they are not entirely up to 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 2 or 3. 
- They have to increase the fees incrementally every year. 

From visiting this time it’s obvious that the class sizes are still too small to be self-sustaining. Even some of the younger classes do not have enough students although it wasn’t the best time to visit as they are in the process of signing up new students and 17 have recently signed on. However, they do require a lot more. They are running at around 120 at the moment and need to get well over 150.  

It is pretty frustrating that Barbara has decided to increase the number of grades and move into secondary school classes as this is going to add many more costs with little increase in income. She did it because the parents were crying that they would now have to take their children to government schools. 

She has been trying to be more strict on the parents who are not paying however the fees are not high enough to make much difference even if they were paid. After talking with them we made three more suggestions:
1) Change the name of the school: The word Christian is a significant barrier in a society when there are already many barriers to running a successful school. They also make themselves a target for extremists, this has already happened. If they are truly part of the community then people will know where they are coming from. They are seriously working on this.

2) Advertise: The name change provides a good opportunity to do this. The community is growing, not quickly but still growing. They have a good reputation for academic results with a 99% pass rate last year. 

3) Reduce teacher numbers and staff: Even Azam is saying this to Barbara but she is stubborn and I don’t know if she can do this. 

There are a number of reasons the numbers have still not increased as they had hoped but the most recent one is that three people opened schools in the area to make money. They made concessions on fees to gain their first students. However, the quality of education was bad and all three closed within one year so some of the children have returned. 

The other side of this coin, of course, is that there are a bunch of mainly Muslim kids being exposed to Christian faith. Some of them and some Christian families too are so poor they literally live in cardboard houses so it’s not like they aren’t needy. They would have no hope of a future apart from sweeping streets without this input. So, there is huge value in that is going on here, it is just that it could be done in a self-sustaining way. 

School

They currently have 125 children enrolled;
Pre-nursery – 15
Nursery – 10
Prep – 15
1 class – 18
2 class – 15
3 class - 10
4 class – 10
5 class – 8
6 class -8
7 class – 7
8 class - 9 

Teachers

Barbara’s passion is to provide education for all children, to give them the best education, and to this end she is passionate about good high-quality teachers. All the teachers have an M.Ed and then are trained by Barbara in the Oxford system.

The three key components of her focus are reading, writing, and dictation. They are known for having strict discipline and good education.

There are currently 10 teachers, one pre-nursery worker who assists with feeding and changing, and two guards.   

Government Registration

Every five years they renew their Punjab government registration. Government inspectors check, visit classes and test children. They received a good report last month with the following all being noted in the report positively: playground, washrooms, classrooms, good water and education quality. There was nothing negative reported, just one recommendation - the water was considered a weakness although I don’t know what the problem was. The report stated they were the best school in the district. 

Computer Training (PAK06a)

These are of real help to those involved in learning. The course in Rawat has finished and now the computers are being used at the school. We saw the older students being taught how to use them and they are a major reason why the school has such a high reputation for education. Once the final payment for these has been made in 2019 there will be enough computers. 

Ideas for the Future

Barbara would like to extend the school to year 9 although this would require specialised teachers and classrooms for science, physics and chemistry. The third floor is ready for this development when the time comes.

Comments

I clearly stated that the funding programme we have will not be extended and we will not be providing any extra support past April 2020 so they have to make it work. I also warned them that if they do not make changes this will ruin them financially.