FREE MASHAL PRIMARY SCHOOL
| SAVE’s first educational project has been successfully operating in a village called Chararpind in Lahore, Pakistan since Sep 2008. This English-medium school is being run in a rented building. The school teaches the Punjab textbook board curriculum, supplemented by books and materials used in private-sector primary schools. Currently, the school is filled to capacity (with a waiting list) and has over 200 students enrolled. Due to the diligence of the teachers and the hard work of students, students are promoted to higher grades after an annual exam that is administered every 6 months (instead of the usual 12 months) with the help of external examiners. |  |
The academic year at Mashal school is thus 6 months. This enables us to make up for precious school years that many of the children have lost early on and will help the children progress to grades that correspond with their ages quickly. The school currently has the following classes:
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The school has a full-time, on-site dispensary/clinic, which provides medicines and medical check-ups to students and their families totally free of cost. For some of the poor families we provide for, this is as reassuring and comforting a support as life insurance. We do all that we can to improve the living standards of our students and help their families as well. We maintain student health cards and family health cards, recording all check-ups and visits. To date, the school has recorded over 3500 visits since its inception in September 2009. An experienced, full-time dispenser works under the supervision of two volunteers, MBBS doctors who oversee the operations of the dispensary. Recently, our school has received official affiliate status from the Children’s hospital Ferozpur Road Lahore as well as General Hospital Ferozpur Road which means that patients referred to these hospitals from our school’s dispensary (students and their families) are eligible for free treatment (including surgeries and vaccinations, if required) and check-ups at these well-established hospitals.
The school has an on-site kitchen facility. Students are given wholesome, home-cooked meals everyday at a subsidized rate of Rs. 7 [approx 10 cents] per serving. Meal items include peas and rice, shami Kabab and chicken sandwiches, French fries, nan [bread], milk and fruits. Since parents are increasingly willing to provide meals for their children from home, we might discontinue the kitchen facility after March 2009, depending on on-going needs assessment by our team on the ground.
The children are provided uniforms (two sets each, one of them free), textbooks, notebooks and stationery free of charge.
The school is run with the help of 7 full-time teachers, 4 staff members including childcare personnel, a security guard and a cleaner. A full-time principal/teacher trainer manages the day-to-day academic and administrative matters under the supervision of the director (Masood Javed Sheikh) of the school who is also the president of SAVE Pakistan, and who is responsible for running the entire project. Children are also being introduced to computers and are being taught simple word processing and spreadsheet operations. (see Teacher’s Profiles)
Summer School 2009
The School will remain officially closed between June 1, 2009 and August 31st, 2009 for vacations. However, students are encouraged to attend a summer program at the school for a small fee (flexible so that those who want to attend and cannot pay will still be able to attend) of Rs. 350 per month. The summer camp will ensure that students, who do not have any support at home, will not entirely forget what they have been learning at school over the past year. Also, it will keep the children gainfully engaged in healthy activities in an educational environment instead of roaming the streets or wasting time otherwise.
Parent Sponsor Program (Starting April 2009)
After extensive discussions and interactions with parents of students at Mashal school, our Lahore team has concluded that these parents feel proud and satisfied if they are able to pay for their child’s education, instead of accepting charity AS LONG AS the fee is within their limited means AND the smallness of the fee does not compromise the standard of their child’s education. In view of this realization, we are planning to set up a Parent Sponsorship Program wherein a parent will be able to voluntarily pay any amount of their choosing towards their child’s education (and/or for another child’s education) every month. This will also ensure that parents have a stake in their child’s education and take it seriously.
Syllabi & Curriculum
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Phone Numbers at School: (Between 8am and 2pm local time)
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Physical Address of Mashal School:
House #
1065
Hadayat
Market
Near
Darbar, Chararpind
Lahore,
Pakistan
Contact Email for Save Pakistan:
masoodjsheikh@gmail.com