Dreams do come true!

Islamabad
A lively ceremony featuring brief speeches interspersed with inspiring presentations marked the inauguration of the new campus of House of Light School (HOLS) in Bain Nala, Pind Begwal, on Thursday.
The campus, which is located at a distance of about 25 kilometres from Aabpara, was inaugurated by Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata, whose personal interest played a key role in realisation of the dream. MNA Farhana Qamar, MNA Dr. Shirin Mazari, Dr. Dushka Saiyid, and many leading personalities of Islamabad, including Dr. Arjumand Faisel, community members and parents were present on the occasion.
Spread over 18 kanals, the school started with pre-class one and currently has 225 students up to class ninth, which is the the senior-most class. Besides free quality education, all other services such as school uniforms, textbooks and stationery is provided free of cost to every child.
Expressing his views on the occasion, Hiroshi Inomata expressed how surprised he was to see such a beautiful facility having been constructed in such a short time. The Japanese ambassador had signed the agreement for funding of the campus last year in February. He claimed being thoroughly impressed with the students, the way they greeted him with confident body language and smiles, with their eyes beaming with happiness. Inomata was also impressed by the result of the school in the Federal Board examinations as all students have acquired A grades.
Hiroshi Inomata mentioned that both the school building as well as the presentations prepared by the students were far beyond his expectations. He was particularly thrilled to see children performing Japanese dances. Similar remarks were made by many other guests, who were moved emotionally.
The story of House of Light School began in early 2000 when Raja Qaiser Ghaffar, a resident of Pind Begwal, dreamt of opening a school for the most underprivileged children of his area to improve their standard of living. He believed that even if one child of a poor family could receive a good education, he would not only help in improving the economic conditions of his family but would also influence the thought processes of its members.
Qaiser’s awareness and determination increased when he visited Europe and saw the level and nature of education. In 2002, while in Spain, he befriended Arnim Schulz, a German language professor at the Goethe Institute of Barcelona. The two friends discussed developing an educational project in Qaiser’s village to provide free education and named it House of Light School. They succeeded in establishing Horizon International Trust (HIT) in 2005. Funds were collected from family and friends and the House of Light School (HOL School) began in 2006 with a batch of 25 underprivileged children belonging to Pind Begwal and its surrounding areas.
The first batch of class five graduated in March 2012 and the children were bid farewell as the school was established as a primary education facility. But both the girls and boys refused to leave the school and insisted on carrying on their education, forcing the principal to initiate class VI in a tent. The school did not have funds to further expand its infrastructure. With the idea floated by Dr. Arjumand Faisel, a trustee and owner of gallery6, the students took the initiative to raise funds for their contribution to construct their classroom. They made 50 paintings, which were exhibited and sold at the gallery in May 2012. The exhibition was marketed worldwide by the gallery, and led to raising of funds over a million rupees.
This unprecedented response to a fund-raising activity had a dramatic effect. It gave a new dream, motivation, confidence and encouragement to the Board of Trustees of House of Light School that they can raise funds and build their own school comparable to the best private schools in the country. Hence, they focused their attention on materialising this dream and took various steps.
Raja Qaiser Ghaffar, the chairman of HIT, donated 9000 square yards of land in the area. A young architect Rweeda Himayat designed the school building for a small fee. Shahla Rafi (a trustee) was given the responsibility of writing to embassies for funding the construction of the school building and she succeeded in acquiring $107,000 through Japanese embassy’s fund for ‘Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects’ in 2014.
Senator Mushahid Hussain arranged a fund of Rs. 4 million through the local government. Mohammad Saleem donated a plot to the Trust that was sold for Rs. 2.2 million. Mr. and Mrs. Tufail donated Rs. 1 million. Sophia Ahmed based in UAE, Afzal Akbar Khan (an ex-ambassador and a trustee) and Barrister Tariq (trustee) also played a vital role in supporting and generating operational funds, uniforms, nutrition programme and keeping a vigilant eye on their utilisation.
The construction of the campus started in March 2014, and only after a period of 17 months, the new school building is functioning with 10 classrooms and administration block. Laboratories, library, auditorium and canteen will be constructed in the next phase for which more funds will be required.
Saadia Qaiser, the principal, has played a key role in maintaining the quality of teaching. Educated girls chosen from the village have been trained through teacher training workshops offered by different organisations. The students recently appeared for the first time in examinations conducted by the Federal Board. All of them passed with A grade while 8 got A+ and three were awarded government scholarships for acquiring 95% marks or more.