press releases
USAID Builds Transitional Schools In Allai Valley; Relief Camp Students Return Home And Continue Quality Education
03/25/2006Islamabad - USAID and its partner, Save the Children, have established 18 transitional schools with teaching staff and provided teaching materials for students returning from Mehra Relief Camp to their homes in the Allai Valley. Another 32 schools will be established by the end of May.
A total of 1,550 students have attended three schools at the Mehra Relief Camp near the Indus River. Now that Allai residents have begun to return to their homes, USAID is ensuring that these students will continue to attend school. Many students say they hope their schools at home will be restored. Those from remote areas hope to have schools built for the first time.
Until permanent schools can be rebuilt, classes will be held in transitional schools housed in tents and other provisional structures. Each transitional school has been supplied with a "school-in-a-box" kit that includes flip charts, globes, maps, colored paper, scissors and other teaching materials.
Student records kept at Mehra Camp have assisted USAID in selecting sites for transitional and permanent schools. USAID carefully assesses the need for schools based on student population concentrations and community willingness to keep schools open throughout the winter.
Students who are still at Mehra Camp are assured that their schools will stay open until the camp closes. Aamir Mirza, a USAID-funded education manager, assured the remaining students, "We’ll keep the schools open until the last day."
The United States, through USAID, is providing more than $1.5 billion in development assistance to Pakistan over the next five years to improve education, health, governance and economic growth. In addition, the United States has pledged a total of $510 million in earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts to assist the people of Pakistan and to support Pakistani government relief and reconstruction efforts.