Ashrafuddin Pirzada
LANDIKOTAL: Officials and philanthropists have appreciated the efforts of the administration of a lone private school providing free schooling to orphans and deserving students in district Khyber.
On Sunday, a joint visit of philanthropists, bureaucrats and journalists was arranged to The Dawn Harvard Schools system in Shakas locality of Jamrud tehsil in district Khyber.
The school had been established in a well-furnished and well-equipped building of Jamia Al-Farooqia seminary where hundreds of students are enrolled.
The delegation was led by Director General Peshawar Development Authority Capt(R) Khalid Mehmood, who is also the head of the Board of Governors(BoGs).
Officials including Income Tax Commissioner Saeed Khan, Account General PDA, Nadeem Khan, president Al-Baraka Bank Atif Mehmood, Legal consultant PDA Bakhtyar Ahmed and member National Highway Authority(NHA) Amjad Ali were also present.
The delegation visited the online computer lab, books library and classrooms at The Dawn Harvard Schools system.
Director Dawn Harvard School Dr, Hafeez Khan briefed about the admission criteria and students selection process. He said they purely allow admission on merit to deserving students. He said initially only orphans were enrolled but later they also allowed admissions to poor families and the children of drugs addicted persons.
Hafeez said 16 master’s degree holders and well-trained teachers were hired for the school. He said they would double the number of teachers with time.
He said priority was given to orphans and children of drugs addicted persons. He said so far 166 students have been enrolled from class 1st to 6th grade. He said a state-of-the-art online books library and computer lab had been established for students where students could read books and search online.
When asked why the school was named after a Western type of name “The Dawd Harvard” while it is being run under the auspices of a seminary, Dr, Hafeez Khan remarked that they wanted to bring an unmatched combination of religious and modern schools together so that they could help wipe out radicalization and all other differences from the society. Adding that it was also a message of brotherhood and tolerance for those who want to be a good religious scholar cum-IT expert and doctors.
Hafeez said the school would be upgraded up to the ondary level after the new under-constructed building gets completed. He said the school is registered with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Schools regularity authority and teaches the government schools syllabus.
“We give free books, notebooks, stationary, uniform and a stipend to each enrolled student as we want not to put the burden on the poor families of the students”, said Hafeez Khan
The delegation applauded the efforts of the school administration and urged philanthropists and other rich people to come forward and contribute to a noble cause.
