Public school sparkles after overhaul

The Islamabad Model School F-6/3 in Islamabad is unlike any other government school in the capital, and probably the country.

This wasn’t the case five weeks ago, says career bureaucrat Mohyuddin Ahmed Wani, who rallied support to transform the school located in the neighbourhood where he lives. His efforts raised close to Rs10 million in support, with the school providing much-needed repair and maintenance, furniture and accessory upgrades, and provision of facilities to create a conducive learning environment.

This includes an art studio, a robotics lab, a technology lab with the associated equipment and gadgets, an art studio, and an ‘early learning centre’.

Wani said the school would employ new-age learning methodologies to foster creativity among children who mostly hail from underprivileged households.

He said the school caters to around 300 students from the nursery to the primary level, with a capacity of 500 students. It includes the provision of free meals, a project that Wani successfully started from this school, which has expanded to 42 schools in the capital. He said the free meals project was running successfully in 72 schools in Gilgit-Baltistan as well, where he was the chief secretary until recently.

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As part of the upgrade, the furniture has been replaced and classrooms and corridors have been given fresh coats of paint. Wani said they took extra care to ensure the colours were bright and the classrooms well-lit so that students could enjoy the experience of learning.

He said the school would also have spaces for reading and learning through alternative activities such as chess, scrabble and other games and exercises. The washrooms, school boundary and play areas of the school spanning 44 kanal were also upgraded and remodelled.

Wani said he had joined the committee managing the school to build on the improvements. This includes training and capacity building of teachers, which he said currently numbered 12.

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He said students from various institutes including the National College of Arts as well as volunteers like an IT graduate from Gilgit-Baltistan were conducting workshops and trainings with students. An educational expert who worked with the World Bank was working with teachers as well, he revealed.

Similarly, students at the school underwent eye tests and a team recorded their key data such as height and weight. Wani said such medical checkups would be held regularly to track the children’s health and growth.

“Since the upgrade, I have had administrators and principals of other government schools asking for help,” Wani continued. He said he had already shortlisted another five public schools for the upgrade.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2023.