Friendship School was inaugurated in August 2016 at Faqeer Colony Gwadar
In Gwadar, the Chinese government is not only improving economic opportunities but also educating the poor by building schools in the region. One of the newly built schools is China-Pakistan Government Primary School Faqeer Colony Gwadar.
Recently, China-Pakistan Friendship School, Gwadar has attracted 450 children from underprivileged families of Baluchistan, which was inaugurated in August last year.
The school flaunts modern architecture and facilities like no other government primary school in Baluchistan. Government funds are used to finance the running expenses, with some assistance from local government and COPHC.
The high-quality education, dedicated staff along with modern state of the art facilities, has compelled more families are enrolling their children. The original capacity of the school increased from 150 students to 3 times as much.
Despite existing challenge, all students, staff and administration are committed to making the best of everything they have. The students keeps very much discipline in the classrooms, and display high levels of commitment to learn.
China-Pakistan Government Primary School is located in Faqeer colony, which is a little farther from the main city of Gwadar but still a recently developed colony.
There was no school in a 10km radius which became a barrier, especially for girls whose drop-out rate was much higher than boys. And the government of Baluchistan has a policy that for any school to be constructed and run on government funds, the local community first needs to provide the land.
The dilemma was that people were either wealthy enough to send their children to private schools and so lacked the incentive to donate the land. Or they weren’t wealthy enough, and lacked the resources. But around 2 years ago China Overseas Ports Holding Company (COPHC) expressed interest in projects for the uplift of the local community. And the idea of a school came up, but the local community would have to provide the land.
When the time came to decide the location, a Baloch family from Faqeer Colony, despite limited family resources decided to step up. They not only mobilised the local community, but also donated their own land for this purpose. And so, COPHC was responsible for the construction of the school’s infrastructure. The local family provided for the land. With the government and local NGOs ensure sustenance of the school and running expenses. And these families are able to send their children to school- free of any cost.
Surely, Pak-China Friendship School sets a higher precedent for effective mobilisation and team work between private companies, the government, NGOs and civil society.