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The new building of the Government Girls High School Chamtalai in Swat district of Pakistan |
Featuring five classrooms and a science laboratory, reconstruction work began in August 2011 and was completed in April this year.
In addition to the 260 female pupils who will continue their education in the newly constructed building, the school employs 11 female teachers.
After dismantling the old school and replacing it with the new two-floor building constructed in accordance with provincial regulations, the school provides high quality education the pupils were denied, initially by militants in 2009 and then by flash floods in 2010.
Taking part in the inauguration ceremony was Naseer Iqbal, Rota international programme specialist, and from Save The Children were Ishfaq Ahmad, director programme implementation; Khurshid Khan Khalil, education specialist; Rizwan Ul Haq, programme manager and Shamas Khan, additional director P&D.
“Rota is proud to provide new educational facilities for the children of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Children’s right to education must be a priority, especially in communities where education is key to the future,” said Essa al-Mannai, Rota director.
“We now have a school where children will want to study, a school supported by teachers with abilities. The school has all the qualities necessary to make it a successful school.”
Inauguration of the school represents the latest milestone in Rota’s ambitious educational and community development work in the Swat Valley.
In total, Rota is committed to reconstructing two secondary schools, rehabilitating 40 primary, middle and secondary schools, supplying educational materials to 50 schools, implementing a training programme for 200 teachers and operating youth development
initiatives through sports.
“Beside physical damage to school infrastructures, children were traumatised. Rota understands that the students need a protective learning environment with psychosocial support to enable them to focus on their studies,” added al-Mannai.