SCHOOLS TO HAVE BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE
The Pakistan Consulate in Dubai is working with the Government of Ras Al Khaimah to get more land for the community school, which will help accommodate more students, said Ahmed Amjad Ali, Consul-General of Pakistan in Dubai. The current problem with some of the community schools under the jurisdiction of the consulate is the lack of space. The number of admissions are on the rise, though, limited space remains a struggle. “We have more than 2,500 students in three community schools. This year, we have more than 450 new admissions. Our school in Ras Al Khaimah is the best Pakistani school in the UAE. It had an increase of over 200 students. With the land that was given in the late 90s, the school is becoming small for those kids,” Ali said. “We are in talks with the government about a bigger plot and we’ll start reconstruction of a bigger campus. Similarly in Fujairah, the school was inaugurated in 1988. We will be starting phase 2 of that school. We will be soon making a multipurpose ground there, which can be used for football, basketball, volleyball and as a cricket pitch.”
The consulate has also started a scholarship scheme for deserving children with high academic merit, who cannot afford fees. A total of 50 students from each school will receive scholarships every year. “Other than that, in the last eight months, the consulate has helped the schools to come out of financial crisis. Since they are community schools, mostly children from notso-high income families go there. Economically, these schools are non-profit and go into financial crisis. We’ve tried to reduce that. We’ve tried to improve the infrastructure,” Ali said.
“With the help of the Pakistani community, we have helped the children who are out of school because they cannot pay the fees. There are many philanthropists from the Pakistani community who have taken care of those children now, so that they can go to school. There are a lot of kids who cannot pay fees and are out of school. The number is a bit high and it’s alarming. But we are trying that the consulate could help them.”