At schools damaged by recent floods: Sindh govt seeking help of NGOs, charities for revival of activities: minister

KARACHI: “The Sindh government is seeking cooperation from the concerned non-governmental organisations and charities for the early revival of education at the schools damaged by recent floods”.

This was stated by Sindh Labour and Human Resources Minister, Saeed Ghani while speaking at Orphan Support Programme (OSP) Fun Gala, organised by the non-profit Green Crescent Trust (GCT) at Dreamworld Resort for over 1,100 orphan students enrolled in its charitable schools. The orphan students from Karachi, Gharo and Thatta attended the event.

The minister said that around 20,000 school buildings had been damaged due to recent floods in the province as the provincial government alone didn’t have the resources to restore these educational premises.

He said the support from the concerned international donor agencies and local NGOs would be vital for the revival of education for the students of the affected schools in Sindh.

He told the audience that the Sindh government had the desire to make concerned NGOs and charities partner in its drive to revive schooling in the shortest possible time in the areas affected by the floods.

Saeed Ghani said the concerned NGOs had been actively partnering with the Sindh government in its drive to enroll out-of-school children in the province.

He appreciated that several NGOs and charitable organisations in the education sector continued with their academic activities without any interruption during the coronavirus pandemic and recent flood catastrophe.

He said the Sindh government would also get assistance from the charities like GCT for providing quality school education to underprivileged children of the labourers.

The minister appreciated that the GCT had been running a support programme for orphan students at its schools as the OSP fun gala was held annually as part of this assistance package.

He said the genuine charities in the education sector like the GCT had been fulfilling one of the fundamental duties of the state as defined in the constitution i.e. provision of quality education to children of deprived communities.

GCT CEO, Zahid Saeed, said that his charity was more than willing to join hands with the Sindh Government for the revival of schooling in the backward rural areas devastated by recent floods.

He said that similar fun galas would also be organised in Hyderabad and Sukkur for entertaining orphan students at the GCT’s schools in other areas of the province.

He said the GCT had been running a network of 160 charitable schools having an enrollment of 29,000 students from the underprivileged areas of Sindh. He said the GCT had the aim to increase the number of its charitable schools to 250 with an enrollment of a total of 100,000 out-of-school children till 2025.

GCT’s patron-in-chief, Sardar Yasin Malik also strongly acknowledged and appreciated the dedicated on ground efforts for school education for underprivileged communities in extremely remote areas by thousands of GCT’s school teachers.

Trustees of GCT, concerned donors, philanthropists, well-wishers, and patrons of the GCT attended the event in large numbers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022