Education uplift: CIDA building 42 schools in AJK

The Canadian Agency for International Development is currently finalising the design and layouts of the schools.

MUZAFFARABAD: Construction work on 36 primary schools, five higher secondary schools and a degree college in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has started.

This was stated in a meeting between Canadian High Commission First Secretary Carrie Lee Chung and State Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency Director General Chaudhry Liaqat Hussain on Friday.

The Canadian Agency for International Development (CIDA) is funding the project and has assigned American contractor CDM to work on the project. CDM is currently finalising the design and layouts of the schools.

The schools will be built in Hattian Dupatta Union Council and Jhelum Valley – both areas were destroyed in the 2005 earthquake – and will be ready in about
three years.

All schools will be equipped with modern educational supplies, Chung said. CIDA had previously provided prefabricated houses to earthquake survivors living around Muzaffarabad.

In the meeting, Hussain assured the Canadian diplomat that the AJK government will continue collaborating with international development agencies and provide all possible assistance to them.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2011.