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Monika Higher Secondary School for Girls in Datuchi / Bagrot Valley, Pakistan

Project Report 2023

It is with great sadness that we announce that Mr. Ahmed Ali, co-founder and coordinator of the Bagrot Valley Girls School Project, passed away in January. Ahmed Ali (76) was the soul and driving force of the project for over 30 years. With his admirable diplomatic skills and infectious humanity, he has met the diverse challenges that such a project and his position in the valley naturally entail. He was highly respected throughout the valley for decades as mayor of his home village and long-time teacher and head of the largest boys' school in the valley. The Bagroti and we have lost a great mentor, mediator and compass. His death is a loss that can hardly be measured for everyone affected, near and far.
May our long-time and close friend Ahmed Ali rest in peace. He will not be forgotten.

We entrusted the on-site project coordination to Saira Ahmed, the youngest of his 6 daughters and 2 sons. She had already represented her seriously ill father last year. She is familiar with the essential tasks. We are pleased that she is taking on the challenge. Saira is 29 years old and has a degree in biology to become a teacher. Saira and the teaching team are growing into their new role as project managers step by step. The students were immediately enthusiastic about the young and competent woman in this important position. She quickly became a role model and fueled their ambition.

Monika Higher Secondary School for Girls

Since the Girls High School (1^st to 10^th grade) has been adequately provided for by the government, only the teachers for the secondary school years, i.e. for the college classes, have to be financed from private donations.
225 girls from the village of Datuchi and the surrounding hamlets attend the Government Girls High School Datuchi (grades 1-10) and are taught by 25 government-employed teachers. Schools for girls now also exist in the five other villages in the valley. All are very well attended. This speaks volumes about the importance of education for girls in Bagrot today. At the start of the new semester in September, 114 students enrolled in the five classes of the 1^st to 4^th college years at the Monika Higher Secondary School Datuchi.
In the spring, all college courses from the 3^rd year onwards were changed, a decision by the education authority: the bachelor's courses were extended from 2 to 4 years and the teaching content was expanded accordingly. The old rules apply to the class of the existing 4^th year of college. There are problems with implementation: some textbooks are still missing for the new courses. Teachers and students have to make do with copies of old textbooks, printouts of teaching materials and worksheets that are otherwise only available online.
The college's current five class groups are taught by 13 teachers, which we finance with your donations. The students come from all villages in the valley. They sometimes have to travel long distances to school. We are financing the transport costs for the 13 students from the village of Sinakir together with their parents. A minibus takes the girls to school and picks them up again. The number of new students per class varies from semester to semester. The decision to attend college depends on the economic and private possibilities of the young women and their families: Can they financially afford for their daughter to study outside the Bagrot Valley? Is she temporarily indispensable as a worker in the household and in the family farm? Is she newly married or does she already have a baby?

"Education at Home" is our motto
. The aim is to make possible what is otherwise not possible in Bagrot. In the past it was going to school, today it is starting a course of study. Study the first few years in the Bagrot Valley and not outside in the cities of the region where life is expensive. The college classes are mainly attended by daughters from economically poor families who cannot afford to stay outside. Attending the college is free.
The subjects taught in the college classes are Urdu, English, sociology, education, regional studies, economics, Arabic and, in the science-oriented classes, mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry.
One of the team's teachers is also responsible for organizational tasks, supported by an assistant for personal support of the students.
The college classes are taught in the afternoons in the then empty rooms of the girls' school. After completing the structural expansion of the school buildings more than a year ago - an upper floor with several classrooms was added to two buildings - the school authorities also delivered the furniture for the new classrooms in September. Up to then, many students were sitting on the floor again, actually a picture from a time long past.
The school authorities had already completely re-equipped the high school's computer lab in spring. Private college classes can use the computer lab in the afternoons. What's still missing is the internet connection.
Another good news: The last exam results were significantly better than expected after two years of the pandemic with repeated school closures, a ban on gatherings and distance learning without internet access.

In April we significantly increased the salaries of all college employees. The persistently high inflation in Pakistan has a particularly strong impact on spending on staple foods and other everyday goods. This puts a lot of strain on households in Bagrot. The country has been in a severe economic crisis for several years. This is also impressively reflected in the exchange rate of the Pakistani currency. Over the past year, the rupee has lost almost 40% of its value against the euro.

Figures

Our project school was initially attended by girls from all the villages of Bagrot because it was the only girls' school in the entire valley. Under pressure from the population, the authority set up elementary schools for girls in all 6 villages over the course of 10 years.
From 2005 on we also offered college classes. Since then, 820 young women have gone through 2-4 years of college after graduating from high school. We know that 21 former students are now working in school teaching in Bagrot. Many more work in schools outside and as substitute teachers. Today, it is mainly female teachers who are employed at government schools for girls.

Project Costs

The total costs for the teaching staff and material costs of the college financed by private donations amount to 17,000 € for the current school year.
We are very grateful for any support. There are many good examples of this :

• One seam a day: With a heavy heart, our hard-working sewing friend had to give up sewing and many other activities for a long time this year due to an injury. She is now fit again and is sewing again. She has been regularly donating the profits from the sale of Cologne lanyards, neck pillows, pencil cases, snack bags, bags and other practical items to the school project for years.
• Donations instead of gifts: Good friends have used personal occasions to appeal for donations.
• Students help: Students at the Oberharz-Gymnasium in Braunlage donated part of the proceeds from the Christmas bazaar.
• Some permanent donors, long-term supporters and also the members of the Forum Kinder in Not e.V. contribute significantly to the continuation of the project.
  I am very grateful for their trust and loyalty.
• This year, lectures about the educational project took place again. Among other things, the Cologne-Vittelius Lions Club invited people to an exchange of experiences.

I would like to thank all the silent donors all the more for their support. They keep the project going.

The students, parents, teachers and many other people from the Bagrot Valley send out a many-voiced Thank You and greetings.
I wish you: Above all, stay healthy!

With kind regards
Monika Schneid, December 2023

Further Information:

New:
Namkeen Chai with Nafa (Season 2, Episode 1: A Day with Monika in Bagrot), Khawar alias Nafa is a young media man and son of a Bagrot family. Following a spontaneous idea, he accompanied us with his camera on our last Sunday in the Bagrot Valley in October 2022. The result is a 45-minute video for his audience in Northern Pakistan on his YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/DhTjk-1jn2Y

 

Original sound in Shina, the language of the Bagrot Valley and the Gilgit region.

And there is a short portrait of the project on the website of a neighborhood initiative in Hamburg: eilbek.com

Donation Account: Kreissparkasse Tübingen, IBAN: DE31641500200002753609, BIC: SOLADES1TUB, Forum Kinder in Not e.V. Heading "Pakistan".

News from Nurin - a former student whose career we report at irregular intervals:
Nurin (31) now runs a private preschool in a large community near Gilgit. Her husband has been working in Karachi for many years, which is at the other end of Pakistan from Bagrot and Gilgit, 1,850 km away by land. She spends the winter school holidays with her two boys in Karachi; the journey by bus takes 2-3 days. Her husband comes home for the summer holidays. In the summer, Nurin and her two sons (9 and 5) moved out of their parents' house and into a small rented house nearby. A further step into an unfamiliar independence, as she herself admits. Her older son (9) is now the ‘man of the house’ and is extremely proud of his new role.

Images: Saira Ahmed, Nurin, Kaseer, Monika Schneid