PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department is planning to launch a campaign for seeking support of the expatriate Pakistanis and well-off people in the country to adopt government schools and fund provision of missing facilities there, according to official sources.

They said that the individuals and donors would be requested through a proper campaign inside and outside the country for adoption of the schools where the government could not provide the needed facilities in its limited resources, said the sources in the education department. For this purpose, the Elementary Education Foundation (EEF), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has specifically devised ‘adopt a school’ programme.

Initially, four components of the missing facilities have been selected to be ensured in the schools, which include construction of additional classrooms, boundary walls and washrooms; provision of drinking water; establishment of computer labs; and provision of computer teachers.

Of the total 28,472 government schools in the province, 10,340 are without electricity, 7,554 have no drinking water facility, 4,904 lacks boundary wall and 3,941 schools are without washrooms, according to the education department data.

The sources said that the programme would be launched as a pilot project in five districts, including Peshawar, Mardan, Abbottabad, Nowshera and Dera Ismail Khan.

Later, it would be extended to other districts. The officials said that 50 schools lacking the required facilities had been selected in each of the five districts.

The officials said that ‘adopt a school’ programme would be launched by end of March during a ceremony where Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan would be chief guest.

The EEF would hire an information technology firm for developing a web page, and videos and pictures of the schools lacking facilities would be uploaded on it for information of the donors and individuals who could provide support to the respective schools.

The officials said that the estimated cost of each missing facility would be displayed on the website. Answering a question, one of the official said that an individual or a donor agency could provide support for even a single facility like construction of washrooms in a school.

They said that every school would have an identity code on the website and by clicking it the entire data of the respective school could be seen.

They said that a separate bank account would also be opened for transfer of the donated money, which would be spent through the parent-teacher council (PTC) of the respective school. The fund would be directly transferred from the bank to the PTC account.

The officials said that on completion of construction work such that of additional classrooms, the pictures and videos would be shared with the adopters through the website to ensure transparency. Besides, engineers would be hired for monitoring of construction work, while the donors would be issued a certificate for adopting a particular work.

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