June 1, 2006	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 31: When Shabana joined a project of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) as teacher last year, her sole aim was to reduce poverty in Sereh village in the vicinity of Islamabad, by educating children.

One year down the road, one finds her struggling to extract herself out of the jaws of poverty, let alone helping her fellow villagers.

PPAF, that is being funded by the World Bank, USAID and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), pays Rs16.60 per day to Shabana (Rs500 monthly), an amount that puts her much, much below the Pakistani definition of poverty - that is $1 (Rs60) per day or Rs1,800 per month.

Shabana gets even less than the minimum wage of Rs3,000 fixed by the government.

Adeeba Khanum and Shazia, her seniors, are paid better - Rs1,000 and Rs1,500 per month respectively - but nowhere near the official minimum wage.

All the three teachers are employed at a primary school established by PPAF. Everyday, the three teachers spend eight hours with 54 students enrolled in the school.

A strange formula is being applied by the donors in Pakistan to alleviate poverty. Their brochures and leaflets promise all the good things on the earth, but when it comes to results, the picture looks grim.

The project in Sereh is no different. The readymade economic remedies offered by the international financial institutions were accepted unquestioningly and are failing in full view of anyone who cares to see it.

This failure is written large on the pale and malnourished faces of the children and evident from the worries the teachers have.

The quality of education provided in the school can never equip the students to compete with their counterparts in the elitist schools. And their low-paid teachers can never uplift the spirits of the students.

The project has been executed by a non-governmental organisation Community Uplift Programme (CUP) with the collaboration of PPAF.

Shazia, a teacher at the school, said it took her half an hour to reach school which was a bit tough for her. She said she was principal teacher and was drawing only Rs50 per day.

She said majority of the students were too poor to manage anything by themselves. In some cases teachers had to buy shoes for the students as their parents could not afford. Note books were not provided to children.

Shazia said students had to pay Rs20 per month as their fees which was difficult for them to manage.

The dispensary established under the project to take care of health needs of the residents of the area does not have even a qualified nurse, what to speak of a doctor. There was only one health worker with the qualification of a three-month course done in Islamabad.

The project has cost Rs4.9214 million and includes building a road, a primary school, health care facility, water supply, sewerage lines and training of women in health care and income generating activities.

The residents of the area told this reporter that they do not have facility of proper electricity and gas. They said they had access to drinking water and had the facility of sewerage system because of the infrastructure laid by the PPAF.