MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 11: Four school cluster partnerships connecting educational institutions in Mirpur Division and the United Kingdom have been developed under a British Council's campaign for a cause, a community event held in AJK's southern city of Kotli was told the other day.
The event was organised by the British Council to create an opportunity for the local community to learn about its recently launched initiative 'Apna Forum' which aims at bringing together all educational, cultural and community work linking Mirpur division and the UK.
Mirpur division comprises Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber districts which are native areas of around 70 per cent of British Pakistanis. Around 10,000 people from these areas migrate to the UK every year.
Hundreds of people from different walks of life, including representatives of local education department, local and UK partner schools from Kotli, Voluntary Action Rotherham and Rotherham Ethnic Minority Alliance (REMA) along with young people and the wider community attended the event for a shared learning experience.
Each participating group had established a stall and explained what work they were doing in connecting and developing their communities.
A similar community event was held in Mirpur on December 2.
The audience at the Kotli event was reminded that the Apna Forum intended to forge lasting partnerships between schools in their area and the UK, develop trust and understanding between young people in different societies and create a safer and more connected world for the future.
“Working with the AJK ministry of education and UK local authorities, we have developed four school cluster partnerships connecting Mirpur-Bury, Kotli-Rotherham, Chakswari-Oldham, and Dadyal-Bradford, each bringing together a diverse mix of public, private and faith-based schools,” British Council's official Hina Zaidi said, adding, five schools in Kotli had so far been linked to schools in Rotherham in this way.
These partners created and ran joint curriculum projects so as to enable pupils in both countries learn together and share their knowledge, culture and aspirations, she said.
The forum, she continued, also aimed at strengthening and raising the profile of technical and vocational education by creating closer links between education and industry, promoting youth enterprise in the community, and institutional links between AJK, Pakistan and the UK.
“We are promoting technical education reform in collaboration with the National Vocational and Technical Education Commission and AJK Technical and Vocational Training Authority,” she said, adding, a new partnership linking Rawalakot College in AJK and the City of Sunderland College was sharing best practice to bring about industry-led curricula in construction and IT.
Of its English language work with the AJK government, she said it focused on developing teacher education and training and discussing how English could be more effectively built into schools, colleges and universities.
At the event, Active Citizens youth from Kotli and Rotherham also shared learning from their experience in setting up and running social action projects.
Speaking on the occasion, British Council's Programmes Development Manager in Pakistan, Martin Daltry, said: “We are impressed by all the fantastic work that the people of Kotli are doing already with schools, young people, and with partners in the UK, and we really hope Apna Forum can further bring together all the excellent connections and initiatives that link Mirpur Division and the UK.”