School on wheels
October 01, 2011
Twenty five students, dressed up in their best clothes, hunched with bags hung on their tiny shoulders, walked in a single file and seated themselves in a yellow bus, with ‘the Flying Classroom’ splashed over it. Excitedly, they chanted poems lauding Pakistan at the top of their lungs.
‘The Flying Classroom’ is a collaboration of the Thespianz Foundation and Goethe-Institut where by a bus has been purchased and converted into a mobile classroom. The idea is to provide education to students who do not have a school in their neighbourhood.
Currently, only one bus was functioning in Akhtar Colony, but there were plans for expanding the project to two more locations, including Mehmoodabad, said Kashif Paracha, the programme manager at Goethe-Intitut, on Friday.
The school will function four days a week, from 9am till 1pm, and theatre will be introduced to students who for the time being are studying English, Urdu, Maths, Science and Islamiat. For minorities, Social Sciences as a subject is also available. Admissions for the programme are still ongoing and parents have been provided with contact numbers at the colony for enrolment.
During the inauguration ceremony at Goethe-Institut, the consul general of Germany, Dr Tilo Klinner, said that “the project is important because learning is important”. He added that the project was “marvelous” because school came to children and not the other way round.
In a heart-to-heart conversation with students, he narrated how his daughter would always ask him why she had to go to school every day, and he would always reply “you will know when you grow up”.
“Sometimes school may be difficult, but it will help you in life. If you go to school you will learn things which help you become a good citizen and a well-rounded person, hardworking individual,” he said to the youngsters.
‘The Flying Classroom’ is a collaboration of the Thespianz Foundation and Goethe-Institut where by a bus has been purchased and converted into a mobile classroom. The idea is to provide education to students who do not have a school in their neighbourhood.
Currently, only one bus was functioning in Akhtar Colony, but there were plans for expanding the project to two more locations, including Mehmoodabad, said Kashif Paracha, the programme manager at Goethe-Intitut, on Friday.
The school will function four days a week, from 9am till 1pm, and theatre will be introduced to students who for the time being are studying English, Urdu, Maths, Science and Islamiat. For minorities, Social Sciences as a subject is also available. Admissions for the programme are still ongoing and parents have been provided with contact numbers at the colony for enrolment.
During the inauguration ceremony at Goethe-Institut, the consul general of Germany, Dr Tilo Klinner, said that “the project is important because learning is important”. He added that the project was “marvelous” because school came to children and not the other way round.
In a heart-to-heart conversation with students, he narrated how his daughter would always ask him why she had to go to school every day, and he would always reply “you will know when you grow up”.
“Sometimes school may be difficult, but it will help you in life. If you go to school you will learn things which help you become a good citizen and a well-rounded person, hardworking individual,” he said to the youngsters.
