Pakistan 1
Helping girls in Pakistan learn their ABC’s and 123’s.
DIL Schools: During the past twelve years, DIL has worked diligently to establish, adopt and maintain 124 schools in Pakistan. DIL canada proudly operates 5 community schools in Orangi Town and North Nazimabad in Karachi and Kingri in Khairpur. DIL also works in partnership with local NGOs in some regions that are responsible for the day-to-running of some of its schools. Orangi Town is a small densely populated town in the northwestern part of Karachi. The population was estimated to be more than 720,000 at the last census and is the largest slum in South East Asia. Poverty is rampant, roads non-existent, and healthcare almost unheard of. Before DIL opened schools in this area, most children had no access to quality education.
DIL Canada Schools:
Schools Operated by DIL Canada: DIL Canada supports five schools located in rural Sindh, North Nazimabad and Orangi Town, Karachi. The beneficiaries are children of low income communities who would otherwise remain deprived of education because of their inability to pay private school fees. Orangi is one of the largest urban projects run by DIL. Although the area is part of the largest city in Pakistan, it is deprived of many basic amenities such as water, gas, sewage systems and garbage disposal. The area has also been deprived of public schools. To compensate for these shortcomings, DIL stepped in and for the past nine years has been providing quality schooling at minimal or no cost to the students.
Orangi’s urban status makes it one of DIL’s most important projects — the children of Orangi are growing up on an urban environment and therefore need a different skill set than that of their rural counterparts in order to qualify for jobs that require a minimum level of educational competency.
Orangi is home to a multitude of ethnic groups, including Pathans and Balauchis, who tend to be very conservative with regards to educating their women. In response, as per DIL policy, preference has been and will continue to be given to girls, not only for enrolment but for other support services such as fee waivers, and the provision of books and supplies.
While North Nazimabad is an urban town there is a scarcity of quality schools for the poor. DIL Ghazi schools opened in 2015 and is progressing extremely well. Kingri is a remote union council in the Khairpur district of Sindh. Fifteen years ago DIL started schools in the Khairpur villages when it was noted that the majority of them had no school facilities, especially for girls. The Orangi and Khairpur projects, like all others, aims to empower the girl-child who has traditionally been neglected in the Pakistani society.
DIL Primary School (Orangi, Karachi)
- Grades: Kindergarten to Grade 4
- Students: 187 (Girls: 116)
- Teachers: 10
DIL Junior 5 School (Orangi, Karachi)
- Grades: Kindergarten to 6
- Students: 136 (Girls: 67)
- Teachers: 10
Hamid Bhutto School (Khairpur, Sindh)
- Grades: Kindergarten to 5
- Students: 194 (Girls: 134)
- Teachers: 14
Bhatyoon School (Khairpur, Sindh)
- Grades: Kindergarten to 3
- Students: 215 (Girls: 178)
- Teachers: 15
DIL Ghazi School (North Nazimabad, Karachi)
- Grades: Nursery to Grade 2
- Students: 72 (Girls 32)
- Teachers: 5
IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS OF DIL
Cooperation for Advancement Rehabilitation and Education (CARE)
In 2002, DIL began a partnership with the Cooperation for Advancement Rehabilitation and Education (CARE) to adopt five government schools in the Sheikhupura and Gujranwala Districts. This number eventually increased to six schools. DIL-CARE schools are situated in densely populated, poverty-stricken areas, inhabited mostly by poor tillers. Children often have to work to contribute to their family income leading to high dropout rates and even lower enrollment rates. Through the years DIL and CARE have made significant improvements to teaching quality, student enrollment and student dropout rates.
Khwendo Kor(KK)
In 2001, DIL partnered with Khwendo Kor (KK) to open a girl’s school in the district of Dir in a neglected region of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). KPK is the most conservative and under-developed province of Pakistan. The difficult mountainous terrain, lack of proper roads and conservative tribal traditions pose great challenges to female education. <br/ Living conditions of the local women are dire due to illiteracy and poor health. In Lower Dir, the female literacy rate is between 10% and 20% and in Upper Dir between 8% and 10%. In partnership with KK, DIL established the first-ever secondary schools for girls in Upper Dir in 2007.
Indus Resource Center (IRC)
DIL began a second partnership in the Khairpur area with the Indus Resource Center (IRC) in 2001 to provide quality primary and middle school education to girls. In 2005, DIL and IRC set up the Beyond Middle School program. This program provides scholarships and educational assistance to middle school graduates who want to attend high school.
Naz High School Old Boys Welfare Trust (NOWA)
Naz High School Old Boys Welfare Trust (NOWA) was established and registered in 1981 as a non-governmental organization to improve the education sector in Khairpur. NOWA was founded by a group of dedicated professionals – alumni of Naz Old Boys High School in Khairpur. DIL began working with NOWA in 2001, making this one of DIL’s longest-running projects. The DIL-NOWA schools have provided rich experience for other project partners to learn from. Apart from the NOWA Pirbhat DIL Project, NOWA is involved in running a private English-medium school and has recently finished a formal education fellowship program for the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF).
