Kashmir Education Foundation
Education is the corner stone of any successful nation. At
the heart of most thriving global economies lies a dynamic educational
system which prepares their youth to compete with the best in
the world. There is no doubt that prosperity of nations now
depends solely on the intellectual quality of its human resource
and investing in high quality education is synonymous with investing
in the future of a nation. Unfortunately, this aspect in Pakistan
has been ignored ever-since its independence. Quality education
remains the prerogative of children drawn from a thin layer
of upper crust of Pakistani Society. 70% of our people living
in villages are totally deprived of any quality schooling and
consequently can play little role in national policies and its
development. This educational apartheid, with a tiny little
elite perpetually dominating country’s social life, its
polity and economy, is a sure recipe for social conflicts between
the masses and the elite.
The current social and sectarian tension and resort to fundamentalist
tendencies by the youth, specially from remote and under-developed
areas are manifestation of the impact of prevailing archaic
system of education for vast majority of our youth in underprivileged
areas. It was these harsh realities that motivated the Founders
of Kashmir Education Foundation to make a beginning towards
educating and grooming the brightest children from rural areas
in the hope that these children will one day become role models
for their communities by emerging as high class citizens who
can demonstrate quality leadership in diverse fields. The Foundation
of Pearl Valley Public School was thus laid in a remote village
Khirik, near Rawalakot in AJ&K in 1996. The Foundation was
extremely fortunate to have volunteer educationist from Volunteer
Service Overseas (UK) who laid the Foundation of PVPS on most
modern lines.
However, due to extremely poor educational standards in the
area, there was an acute dearth of competent teachers. The Foundation
arranged the training of initial batch of teachers with Ali
Institute of Education but this proved to be a non-starter as
most graduate teachers had extremely poor educational background
and could not cope with the standard of training set for teachers
from urban areas. The Trustees decided to set up own Institute
of Teacher Education under the guidance of volunteer educationists
with intimate guidance provided by University of Gloucestershire
and educationist trustees of KEF UK. The ITE became a success
story in not only ensuring quality teachers for our schools
but in improving the educational standards in Rawalakot and
later in other parts of Pakistan.
Kashmir Education Foundation - Aims & Objectives
Kashmir Education Foundation (KEF) is an established educational
trust registered in Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and United Kingdom
and United States. It is a non-political, non-commercial, non-governmental
organization whose primary aim is to make quality education
accessible to talented girls and boys belonging to poor sections
of the society, with emphasis on female education in rural areas.
The main objectives of the Foundation are:
- To set up English medium schools and colleges in Pakistan
and Azad Kashmir to impart quality education for girls and
boys of poor families particularly from the backward and rural
areas.
- To set up Teachers Training Institutes for female graduates
particularly from rural areas to enable them to become high
quality English medium primary school teachers.
- To use the established schools and Teacher Training Institutes
as resource centers for replicating quality schools throughout
the country.
- To upgrade the skills of teachers from other schools in
the respective areas.
|