COVID-19 Response and Relief Efforts:
Pakistan’s first Covid-19 case was registered on 26th Feb’ 20 and with more than 0.15 million affected to date, no relief seems to be in sight. Schools were the first to be closed under lockdown and to date speculations are that schools may not reopen till Oct, some say they might not open at all this year. Society for Educational Welfare (SEW) as a non-profit educational organization primarily dependent on the support of society’s philanthropists, also faced major setbacks in terms of financial support. Below we read an account of setbacks and resilience
- Fund raising Dinner (FRD) is one of the major events planned in our financial year. It is a main source of funding and raising awareness about our cause. But this year unfortunately, we had to cancel the event one day prior to the day it was to be held; when we almost concluded the preparations. The announcement of lockdown left us in an uncertain fear of potential financial crises. Approximately 9.5 Million per Month expenses of 142 schools including the salaries, rent, and many other fixed overheads were of major concern.
- Baithak School Students are mostly from the families of daily wagers belonging to the most affected strata of our society. High numbers are deprived of basic living needs and are facing extreme situation during this time.
- At Baithak School Network we have an all-female faculty. Most of our teachers were rendered sole bread winners due to this pandemic.
- Struggle in reaching out to our teachers and students for training and learning purpose during the lockdown period.
Our Response
Salary Dispursment: Our first response on hearing the news of lockdown and school closure was releasing salaries amounting to Rs. 8 Million to our more than 1000 dedicated teachers and staff members before time on 24th March’ 20. While organizations are downsizing and doing pay cuts, we are trying our hardest in retaining our staff and keep paying them salary on time
Rashan Drive: During the lockdown a major concern was to reach out to our students and staff in difficulty. Rashan Drive was carried out at cluster level in April, where our cluster coordinators from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar made sure that each and every affected family is taken care of. Nearly 2000 families were provided Rashan worth Rs. 4.5 Million at their door step.
Eid Bonus: At Eid, Baithak School Network, surprised its teachers with Eid Bonus. Eidi worth Rs.3 Million was disbursed to 1000 teachers across Pakistan.
Teacher Training and homework distribution: Besides providing financially we realize how important it is to keep students and teachers connected positively to a learning environment. Hence arrangements are being made to distribute books and homework to students and online training sessions are being arranged for principals and cluster coordinators through zoom. We are effectively striving to provide IT infrastructure to our schools in rural areas.
Continued Operations: During the pandemic we also made sure that operations at Head Office do not get affected. Prepared SOPs and continued working and providing service and support to our clusters and well-wishers.
We urge you to contribute towards the cause of literacy in Pakistan!
