ISLAMABAD — Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli, Director of UAE Assistance Project to Pakistan, has stressed that the UAE, under the leadership of the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has been keen to support the education sector at all levels in Pakistan.
He said, by doing so the UAE seeks to provide appropriate education environment to the students in Pakistan to keep pace with the advanced education system.
Al Ghafli added the UAE focuses on upgrading the basic education worldwide in line with the United Nations Millennium Goal on provision of primary education for all.
He said the accomplishment of the education projects reached 54.5 per cent, adding that the UAE government, which supervises over 22 education projects, earmarked $26 million as part of the UAE Assistance Project to Pakistan.
The move, continued Al Ghafli, comes in line with the directives by the UAE President, to support education and combat poverty.
He added that 51 education projects have been renovated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Region, South of Waziristan area and Bajaur Area.
Dr Kozue Kay Nagata, Director/Representative, UNESCO, in Islamabad, told Emirates News Agency (WAM) in an interview that in view of frequent recurrence of disasters in Pakistan costing many lives and huge economic losses, the Government of the UAE and UNESCO can work very closely to promote and ensure disaster preparedness, and mitigation at all levels to increase the resilience of the community to manage various disasters in general, schools and other educational institutions in particular.
“We would like to thank the government and people of the UAE, for their generous assistance to Pakistan in badly-needed development sectors, including education, health and basic infrastructure. UNESCO can contribute to enhance the outcomes of the donation by providing technical support and our expertise to the rebuild damaged education system, building community resilience in emergencies, and ensuring the quality of education, through teacher’s training, provision of teaching materials and development of appropriate supplementary curriculum and extra-curricular materials on key issues like disasters, health and hygiene, introduction of competency based technical and vocational skills for youths, peace education, conflict resolution, provision of literacy and Non-formal Basic Education opportunities,” she added.
Nagata said there are two dimensions in UNESCO role regarding devastation of flooding in Pakistan: one is immediate humanitarian response and second is recovery or reconstruction.
“Recovery part includes reactivation of schools, temporary schools in camps, distribution of food, powder milk, clothes and other basic necessities to children in schools through material donations to schools in the affected areas,” she added.
Nagata said UNESCO extended assistance during 2010 floods to Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan in following forms: Food items, including clothes to flood-affected children and women, establishment of Literacy and Skill Training Centres for Women in 8 districts of the four provinces, establishment of Early Childhood Education Centres for flood affected children, development of material on psycho-social rehabilitation of children, and training of teachers and teacher trainers in all the four provinces.
She said UNESCO has provided humanitarian assistance in the affected areas in Sindh by providing food and other basic necessities to schoolchildren in affected areas in partnership with local civil society groups, thus fully mobilising the community resources. —
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