The stuff that Dreams are made of... DFT Model Street School..
The dream of a 6 year old child who saw her infant cousin die, the 12 year old girl who used to go from class to class asking for loose copy pages to give to poor children, and the teenage girl who painted the un-plastered walls of her two room house to teach street children - has today grown into a Model Street School.
The brain-child of Dream Foundation Trust, is a flagship school, built in "Moach Goth", a small semi-rural settlement on the outskirts of Karachi. There was no affordable school in the area to accommodate children of this under-privileged community. These beautiful children did not have any schooling facility, and would either spend their time playing in streets or working to make some income for their impoverished families. The parents were also not interested in educating their children. In fact due to abject poverty in area, parents were keen on encouraging children to work and contribute to household living expenses. A few Private schools in adjoining areas were too expensive for the people where income of the family remains around 1 US Dollar a day.
Dream Foundation believes that positive social change is based on a healthy and educated society. In that respect, Dream Foundation focused on "education" as its first and primary initiative. At that time Dream Foundation consisted of just a handful of school mates. Furthermore, being led by a woman (Humaira Bachal), introduced added constraints of tribal and rural social stigma at that time. It was an uphill battle, but here is where "faith" in their dreams kept the small band of merry girls and boys hopeful. Initially the handful of them just ran a school from a broken down four-walled room. But with time, seeing the young one's unflinching faith and determination, some of the elders of the community started to give emotional support and showed acceptance for the efforts. The small but much-needed support added fuel to the young team's fiery ambitions.
Over the initial two years (from 2010), the big-hearts of the young team made up for the lack of resources. No good deed goes un-returned, and their consistent efforts, were able to garner support from a small local NGOs, and in 2011, the team was able to get a plot donated to the trust by the ENGRO-VOLPAK foundation.
The brain-child of Dream Foundation Trust, is a flagship school, built in "Moach Goth", a small semi-rural settlement on the outskirts of Karachi. There was no affordable school in the area to accommodate children of this under-privileged community. These beautiful children did not have any schooling facility, and would either spend their time playing in streets or working to make some income for their impoverished families. The parents were also not interested in educating their children. In fact due to abject poverty in area, parents were keen on encouraging children to work and contribute to household living expenses. A few Private schools in adjoining areas were too expensive for the people where income of the family remains around 1 US Dollar a day.
Dream Foundation believes that positive social change is based on a healthy and educated society. In that respect, Dream Foundation focused on "education" as its first and primary initiative. At that time Dream Foundation consisted of just a handful of school mates. Furthermore, being led by a woman (Humaira Bachal), introduced added constraints of tribal and rural social stigma at that time. It was an uphill battle, but here is where "faith" in their dreams kept the small band of merry girls and boys hopeful. Initially the handful of them just ran a school from a broken down four-walled room. But with time, seeing the young one's unflinching faith and determination, some of the elders of the community started to give emotional support and showed acceptance for the efforts. The small but much-needed support added fuel to the young team's fiery ambitions.
Over the initial two years (from 2010), the big-hearts of the young team made up for the lack of resources. No good deed goes un-returned, and their consistent efforts, were able to garner support from a small local NGOs, and in 2011, the team was able to get a plot donated to the trust by the ENGRO-VOLPAK foundation.
The Dream Foundation Model School
Continued efforts, and foot-work and it took another two years to collect fund enough to build a brick-and mortar school building on that donated plot. It was long but fruitful journey. There were times, when the community elders and young boys themselves were digging the foundation and plastering the walls due to lack of resources, but those times also added to the community bonding and faith.
In Sept, 2013, the school building was inaugurated. A first of its kind experimental school, built brick-by-brick, by the people of this Goth for the chance of an educated future for their children.
In May 2014, the school building stood at 3 stories high, and the team was working on finding and building the school furniture and different amenities. The school is planned to be open 24x7; functioning as a school from morning to evening, and a community center otherwise.
Dream Foundation is constantly making efforts to provide quality education by introducing latest teaching techniques and learning through innovative software including available IT tools. The students are encouraged to participate in learning process and they are also taught various skills. Children are taught Socio-economic enhancement education, Gender, Social and Civic responsibilities as well as Minority Right’s education. As child abuse is common in the area, the children and elders are provided appropriate counselling to create child friendly environment. Our team of counsellor spends time with children and make conscious attempt to learn about problems and solve them accordingly. The children are also provided safety guidelines to avoid abuse.
Presently around 1200 children study in school in 4 shifts and the classes are conducted at a student to teacher ratio 30:2 in order to maintain quality of delivery.
In Sept, 2013, the school building was inaugurated. A first of its kind experimental school, built brick-by-brick, by the people of this Goth for the chance of an educated future for their children.
In May 2014, the school building stood at 3 stories high, and the team was working on finding and building the school furniture and different amenities. The school is planned to be open 24x7; functioning as a school from morning to evening, and a community center otherwise.
Dream Foundation is constantly making efforts to provide quality education by introducing latest teaching techniques and learning through innovative software including available IT tools. The students are encouraged to participate in learning process and they are also taught various skills. Children are taught Socio-economic enhancement education, Gender, Social and Civic responsibilities as well as Minority Right’s education. As child abuse is common in the area, the children and elders are provided appropriate counselling to create child friendly environment. Our team of counsellor spends time with children and make conscious attempt to learn about problems and solve them accordingly. The children are also provided safety guidelines to avoid abuse.
Presently around 1200 children study in school in 4 shifts and the classes are conducted at a student to teacher ratio 30:2 in order to maintain quality of delivery.
