Construction of Schools’ Project
Friends Welfare Association Pakistan is implementing a three year project, “Reconstruction of Schools in the Earthquake Affected areas of District Mansehra” with the support of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan through KnK Japan. The educational institutions in District Mansehra had sustained severe damages in the Earthquake of October 8th, 2005. Unfornutanly, the educational system has not been rehabilitated fully in term of educational infrastructure in District Mansehra. Out of nineteen hundred and forty seven (1947) completely demolished schools, the schools (1268) are to be reconstructed by the governmental institution ERRA. But there was no governmental strategy for the rebuilding of (679) remaining demolished schools which were not included in the strategy of ERRA in District Mansehra.

The children of these schools were having their education in highly vulnerable situations without the availability of any school building in the tents (mostly torn apart) which were provided to these schools during the emergency phase for the continuation of schools’ operation just for six months. During the extreme chill of winters and scorching heat of summers, it had become almost impossible for the teachers and the students to continue the regular academic activities. Hence the children studying in these demolished schools suffered magnanimously academically and mentally as these children were not be able at any level to compete academically with the children of other districts. In such a morbid situation, the parents preferred to withdraw their children from the schools posing highly insecure and unfriendly environment. As a result, the dropout rate and ratio of child labor rose to alarming levels in these areas.

Children who lost school buildings by the Earthquake

The most perturbing fact about the reconstruction of demolished schools of six hundred and seventy nine(679) schools in District Mansehra was that their was not any likelihood of the reconstruction of these schools in the near future as the government had no line of action or the defined strategy for the reconstruction of these schools. Friends Pakistan acted as a spur organization and brought into the practice the aggressive advocacy for the realization of this issue of schools at the govemental level. Under the scope of the current reconstruction project, the first greatest milestone that Friends Pakistan achieved was the framing of the strategy for the construction of these 679 schools with the involvement of District Education Department Mansehra and provincial government of Khyber-Pakhtoon Khawa Province.

This construction project is to be completed in six phases, five schools in each phase, during three years time frame. The first phase of this project was initiated in March, 2010. In the month of August, 2010, four schools will be completed and will be handed over to the Education Department in the record time period of five months.

The activities included in the reconstruction project includes the assessment of the demolished schools, Construction of thirty (30) schools (permanent structures) in compliance to Earthquake resistant approved ERRA designs through qualified construction firms with build back better approach, capacity building of teachers, PTC members & Student representative Councils, Provision of necessary supplies (Furniture, bags, supplies) at the target schools and the rehabilitation of the requisite physical facilities at the target schools.
The assessment process for the reconstruction of the schools started in the month of January 2010. The areas of high vulnerability were identified and Union Councils of Dhodial, Datta, Baffa, Malikpur, Trangri Sabir shah, Mungan Machi Pole, Pairan, Ichrian and Battal were selected for the assessment. Initial assessment process completed in one month and thirty schools were identified for the reconstruction.

For the efficient execution of the construction project, professional technical team comprising of the project manager and site engineers are responsible for the site supervision and ensuring the construction as per specification. For the monitoring of the construction project, the monitoring tools employed include site visits, soil tests, concrete tests, steel tests, daily and weekly reports. In addition to the monitoring system of Friends Pakistan, District and provincial authorities regularly monitor the construction activities. Technical representatives from the Work & Services Department Mansehra makes monthly visit to sites and share their feedback.

The construction activities at all the four (04) schools are rapidly approaching towards its culminations as finishing activities (site clearance, prime coat, boundary wall, electric work and toilet block) are in progress. Along with the reconstruction activities special focus is laid to improve the capacity of Parent Teacher Councils (PTC) & Student Representative Councils (SRC). Trainings of SRCs have been conducted to make the students responsive to the issues of their schools’ environment. In the same way, the training of teachers and PTC members will be conducted and awareness posters will be displayed on walls at each school.

The statistical outcomes of the reconstruction project are very encouraging. After the completion of first phase, more than 600 school children will get their education at safe learning environments. Similarly after the completion of thirty schools, about 9000 school children will be the beneficiary of the educational support. With the support of esteemed Partner organization Knk Japan, Friends Pakistan is dedicated to complete the construction of thirty schools by 2013.

Training Sessions for the Students Representative Councils
The scope of construction of Schools’ Project is not limited to only the development of the physical infrastructure but bringing the overall behavioral and attitudinal improvements to ensure the learning friendly environment at the school level is one another important part of the project.
Children learn best when they are exposed to situation when they act as contributors and leaders in their schools. They can demonstrate and contribute as they are engaged with school development activities.

In this regard Friends Pakistan constituted Students representative councils (SRCs) at all its target four (04) schools of phase 1. The purpose to constitute the SRCs is to provide the students the opportunities to demonstrate their talent, skills and interest while continuing to develop new skills and to provide a platform to the students to practice and develop their leadership skills. In total Four SRCs were constituted and Training sessions for these four (4) SRCs consisting of forty (40) participants i.e. thirty (30) girls and ten (10) boys were held at GGPS Girwal Dhodial, GPS Girwal, GGPS Khabal Mohri Data and GGPS EidGhah Bafa on June 29, 2010 and June 30, 2010.
In these training sessions, after the introductory session the facilitator asked all the students to make the drawings of an ideal school. In response to this, students made beautiful drawings and put colors in their drawings as well.

With the help of the pictorial demonstrations, the facilitator brought the students at the stage, where they could see the basic units of an ideal school. Through the activity of the brainstorming, the facilitator jotted down the characteristics of an ideal school.

By using the distinctiveness of an ideal school the facilitator asked the students that “what are the steps to develop an ideal school”. Students shared very beautiful and unique views like taking care of School building, improving school hygienic condition, maintaining hygiene register, helping teachers in conducting assembly etc. The facilitator wrote down all the views on writing board. At the end of this session all the participants had very clear understanding about SRC’s roles and responsibilities. The major achievements of the sessions are given as under,

Major Achievements:

• Students participated actively and shared their experiences with each others.
• The confidence level of all participants was enhanced.
• Students shared their ideas and suggestion to improve the overall atmosphere of the school.
• Students were convinced and motivated to implement the learning, as what they acquired during the training session.
• Ｔhey got the comprehensive understanding about the SRC’s roles and responsibilities.