Support a TCF School in Pakistan for a Year

TCF-UK 2013

Being a  leading organisation in the field of education in Pakistan, TCF continues to provide high quality education at low cost for communities in rural and urban slums across every province of Pakistan. In the context of the current international development agenda with education in Pakistan being a leading issue, TCF’s reach in the field cannot be overstated. At the end of 2013, TCF now educates over 126,000 underprivileged children across 910 primary and secondary school units. This is the largest private network of schools in Pakistan and next year the NGO will reach a landmark of 1,000.

One of TCF’s main aims is to have 50:50 gender equality amongst the children and at 46-47% female enrolment it is very close to its goal.  One of the most inspiring stories of TCF’s work have been the achievements of TCF alumni, Anum Fatima. Growing up in a slum area of Karachi, the eldest of five siblings, she excelled in academic performance at a TCF school. Being the first in her family to continue education beyond matriculation, she went on to complete her degree and then her MBA.

Demonstrating a social mobility unheard of in Pakistan, Anum’s outstanding achievements earned her a scholarship to complete a summer programme at Harvard University. This opened the way to completing an internship at a US think tank and to a speaking opportuinty at the US State Department. Returning to Pakistan, she is now working on a micro-finance project for the impoverished area of Ismail Goth in Karachi, where she grew up. In an interview with a national newspaper she attributes her unusual success to TCF, saying that her life changed when she enrolled in their school.

Our work to empower women goes further still with our full female teaching faculty which is now 6,300 strong. Within this, in 2013 alone, TCF has recruited around 165 alumni teachers, described by the notable academic Dr. Marie Lall from the University of London as “the most important legacy that TCF leaves in a community where education was not previously available”. Furthermore, understanding the importance of working with the community, our Female Adult Literacy Programme, known as ‘Aagahi’ has allowed 19,446 women within the most deprived of communities to attain vital literacy and numerical skills, later in life.

Your School

Donations made through our Global Giving campaign go directly towards the TCF ‘KFC Pakistan Campus’ secondary school that educates 142 students. Currently there are 73 male students, and 69 female students.

The school is located in Saiful Goth, Karachi in Sindh, a province where more than two million children are currently not in primary school -  the majority of these  being girls. As Sindh is Pakistan’s second largest province and Karachi being one of the world’s largest cities, the development of education here can have an influential contribution to the country’s overall development.

Furthermore, with a lack of access to clean drinking water in Sindh being an increasing problem, it is significant that this school is part of TCF’s ‘water project’, providing safer, filtered, drinking water to the poorest communities.

Meet a Young Poet

“…duniya banai iss liye kay her banda 
Araam say reh sakay 
Sub insaan uss mein 
Khush rahain sada…”

(… He created the world just so every person 
May live in peace 
Every human being may 
Live in happiness….) 

11-year-old Mubbashir Maroof writes poems on peace and happiness. He lives in one of the many urban slums sprawled in the industrial area of Karachi. This young poet is a brilliant student of your TCF Secondary School – KFC Pakistan Campus, Saifal Goth. 

Mubbashir enjoys walking to his school every day; it is a 15 minute walk. Thousands of children like him, all over Pakistan, are widening their horizons and perspectives, encouraged by TCF to think critically and be responsible citizens.

The support that you provide for TCF ensures that young children like Mubbashir can have easy access to quality education.

The Citizens Foundation (TCF) is Pakistan’s leading education charity with a nationwide presence in 93 towns and cities across 51 districts in Pakistan, with 830 school units teaching over 115,000 underprivileged children regardless of ethnicity, gender, caste or religion. TCF schools are built in deprived areas, urban slums and poor rural villages where the need is most dire and where most children would otherwise not receive an education.   The Citizens Foundation (UK) raises funds for the construction and on-going support of TCF schools, contributing approximately 12.5% of TCF’s total budget. Funds are raised from individuals, corporates, matched giving, Trusts and events.

TCF's achievements:

• Our schools have a balanced gender ratio: close to 50% female students
• TCF has created more than 8,800 jobs of which 5,800 are female faculty positions
• TCF has gained certification from PCP (Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy). TCF is amongst the highest scoring organizations certified by PCP to date
• We have raised public awareness about the dire illiteracy problem in Pakistan

Each year increasing numbers of our grade X students have achieved A+, A and B Grades in the external State Board Matriculation examinations. In the most recent academic year, 49% of students attained A+ and A Grades - 10% more than last year and well above the national average with some of our students ranking in the top 10 in these exams. A commendable result considering that TCF’s students come from some of Pakistan’s poorest communities.

Some of the programmes that TCF increasing number of TCF school buildings which are put to use in the evenings, weekends and school holidays:

• Female Adult Literacy Program: This is an accelerated three-month program using specially designed books and learning material. At the end of the program participants should be able to read and understand a newspaper, write a simple letter, plus acquire some basic maths skills. Over 9,000 women have now benefited from this programme. A seventy-something year old woman thanked TCF at her ‘graduation’: ‘we were blind – now we can see’;

• Vocational Training Program: Since there was always going to be a significant number of TCF children unable to further themselves academically after matriculation, a key object for TCF has been to develop a robust platform for these students to acquire relevant vocational skills. The following courses are tailored to skills in short supply and run for six months and one year: General electrician; General fitter and fabrication; Plumber and pipe-fitting; Refrigeration and air-conditioning; and Car and motor-cycle repairing. Separate courses are designed and run for women;

• Mentoring programme: The mentors are often officers in large companies. The programme is structured around an 8 week course with clear milestones developed to build the confidence of participating TCF students who will have had very little exposure to the world of their mentor. Results show that the students learn to trust their mentor, calling him or her for advice even after the end of the programme. This programme has now been running for four years during which over 250 mentors have helped more than 5,000 TCF students. This programme is on target to meet its target of 2012, having 2,500 mentors matched with all 8,000 Grade VIII students on their voyage of self-discovery by 2012;

• Water pumps have been installed in over 60 schools as a pilot project providing clean water to the local community in the mornings and evenings. Designed to help with hygiene and community building, the programme is still in its early stages;

Student and Learning Outcomes 2012:

We are proud to announce that 35% of TCF students continue to study beyond Class I2 (past intermediary, or ‘A Level’ education) as compared to the national average of just 5%.
We continue to defy national averages in primary education also.

•  Urdu/Sindhi; Literacy has been gauged by evaluating students’ ability to ‘read a sentence in Urdu [or Sindhi]’.  As per the Annual Status of Education Report 2011, about 41% of Class III can read a sentence in Urdu / Sindhi. As compared to this, nearly 80% of TCF students can do the same. 
• Numeracy; For numeracy, students' ability to perform simple subtraction (two-digit) has been assessed. The national average in this regard is 37.5% while 9 of every 10 TCF students are able to perform the same.

In essence, we build quality schools, we staff them with well-trained, committed teachers, and we make sure that our students receive a modern, well-rounded education. To us, education is about more than just academic training – it’s about learning to be confident, to think critically, and to be good citizens. And because TCF is transparent at every level and managed professionally, its template is easily replicable.

Thanks to your continued support, TCF is opening the doors of education, ambition and success to thousands of disadvantaged children from Pakistan's most deprived areas, where the need is most dire.

We hope that with news of TCF's expansion, you will renew your much needed support. It is only with the help of our supporters that TCF is able to grow successfully and transform the lives of deserving children and their families across Pakistan.

We are pleased to share with you just one of the many uplifting stories TCF students have to tell.

Murad –The Next Football Hero
14 year old Murad Karim Baksh has dreamed of becoming a footballer since he was a little boy. Karim has made substantial steps towards realizing this dream. A few months ago, he made it into the Under 14 National Football Team and has since played in a tournament held in Islamabad. This was the first time that he had stepped outside Karachi.
From the congested, polluted lanes of one of the many neighborhoods of Lyari Town in Karachi, Murad reached Pakistan’s much greener and cleaner capital city to spend 13 exciting days playing his favorite sport and making new friends.
Murad is a grade VIII student at TCF Secondary School – Cowasjee Campus. He has been studying there since grade I. Last year he read about football trials in a local newspaper and decided to compete.
In January last year, he participated in Youth Challenge held by the Pakistan Football Federation and his confidence continues to grow.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to find out more about TCF-UK.  We look forward to hearing from you.

The Citizens Foundation

Grove House, 2 Orange Street, London WC2H 7DF

T: 020 3585 3011/ 12 I F: 020 7183 7085 | E: info@tcf-uk.org I W: www.tcf-uk.org

Links:

• TCF-UK