Sweet home school system for orphans to take off in Faisalabad

FAISALABAD – Following the successful launch of Sweet Home schools in various cities, Pakistan Baitul Maal has decided to launch the project in Faisalabad to open a live-in school system for orphan boys aged between 4-6 years.
All the arrangements to start the project by the end of March, including selection of children, recruitment of staff, hiring of a hostel building and transportation have been completed by the Pakistan Baitul Maal task team. A 33-member task force team, comprising Pakistan Baitul Mal officials from Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh, started the work two months back on emergency grounds to meet the deadline.
The team is headed by Pakistan Baitul Maal Director Chaudhry Aslam while the district officers, including Mian Liaquat (Jhang), Mian Amer (Toba Tek Singh) and Usman Warraich (Faisalabad) are the part of the task team.
Pakistan People’s Party leader and Pakistan Baitul Maal Chairman Zamurrad Khan was in Faisalabad last week to review the progress of the work and scrutinise the list of orphan boys for the project. It is learnt that he selected around 70 boys and as many were put in the waiting list after the chairman objected to their admission on the ground that their age had already crossed the 6-year limit.
The sources said a number of seats were still available for orphans aged between 4-6 years and the latecomers were still being enrolled in the sweet home where they would be provided with free residence, food, medical facility, sports and recreations.
A government spokesman said the children living in the sweet home would be enrolled in renowned private school ‘The Educators’. “The boys living in the sweet home would be able to stay there until graduation and Pakistan Baitul Mal would be responsible for their boarding, lodging, schooling and all other expenses until they became financially self-reliant,” he said.
The process to recruit caretakers, including officers and subordinate staff, is complete to run the project.
Baitul Maal Faisalabad has hired a complex at Canal Road to accommodate around 200 children. It is to be remembered that the government decided to launch the Sweet Home School System for orphans at various cities last year. In this regard, the schools programme started one year ago, but the Faisalabad chapter of the project was delayed for a number of reasons. The orphans of the city were not able to benefit from this important government scheme. Realising the matter at the highest level, Pakistan Baitul Mal has carried out the project on emergency basis and it is likely to start by the end of this month.
For the enrollment purposes, the members of the special task force visited the villages and towns and met the union council employees, lumberdars and heads of Zakat committees to have firsthand information about the orphans. The awareness campaign was carried out to inform the public of the scheme through public announcements in village mosque loud speakers. It is also learnt that at the initial phase about 200 orphans are likely to be registered for the project. The widows whose children were not accommodated owing to the age factor have sought relaxation in the age limit. But the Baitul Maal officials say that they have to adhere to the rules. However, the authorities say that those dropped due to overage will be compensated by Baitul Maal through an alternative scheme that includes provision of school books and uniforms and grant of monthly stipends to orphans.
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