Houstonian Corner (V12-I25)

Houston-Karachi Sister City Association Recognizes Ghazali Education Trust

Houston, Texas (Pakistan Chronicle News): Acting Chairman of last year formed the Houston-Karachi Sister City Association (HKSCA) Mohammad Zaheer (Horizon Travel) and coordinators Saeed Sheikh (Past President of PCC-USA and Emcee of the Program) & young Salman Khan, arranged a most elegant dinner at Mezban Restaurant for Syed Waqqas Anjum Jaffri and Aamir Mahmood Cheema of Ghazali Education Trust (GET), the largest Non-Governmental organization for education in rural areas of Pakistan (http://www.get.org.pk/ or http://www.hhrd.org/)

GET partners with Helping Hand For Relief & Development (IRS Tax Exempt: 31-1628040) to reach out to masses in USA. GET is one of those foundations, on which a student of reputable educational institution of Pakistan “Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)” did his Masters Research and the work of GET got recognized by LUMS, in this manner that four Staff members of GET got admitted into the MBA Program of LUMS with no fee. The student, who did Masters on GET is presently doing PhD in Harvard University.

Syed Waqqas Anjum Jaffri of GET made an admirable power-point presentation and informed: “We were five pioneers of GET, who were born in rural Pakistan, but due to education, our status in the society changed and we began to be respected as Government College Professors. In order to say our thanks to Almighty God for this Blessing, we decided to pay back to the society, by helping children of our background, meaning rural Pakistan, so that they can receive the blessings of education. Getting inspiration from Imam Ghazali, famous Muslim educationalist of the past, GET got registered as a NGO is Pakistan in 1995 and our first school started in 1997. By the end of last educational year 2009-2010, GET is now in 32 Districts of Pakistan; with around 320 Schools, 37,000 Students off which about 18,000 are Orphans, and 1,700 teachers. All this has been due to Almighty Allah SWT; students & teachers who contribute towards these schools where 70% of the revenues are generated from in-house; our donors from worldwide; and so on. GET has advanced the vision of “Better Society through value based education”; as such has developed our own government approved syllabus from kindergarten till eighth class, with 120 Titles, which cannot be found elsewhere in the whole Muslim world. All of our schools start with the concept of a beginning single-class and highly trained single teacher in a rented place, which soon turns into full-fledged primary and secondary schools. After concentrating in Pukhtoon Khawa and Punjab Provinces, we will be in Baluchistan this coming school year, while soon be going into rural areas of Karachi & Interior Sindh. We promise to our students and their parents that we may not provide them most beautiful schools, but what we promise them is quality education and the best teachers, who never ever resort to physical punishment and is equipped with modern methods of teaching.”

Present on the occasion were Shahid Javed of Beaumont, underwriter of the event; Dr. Zia Ahmad, Commercial Attaché of Government of Pakistan; Masrur Javed Khan, Former City of Houston Councilperson; Ghulam Mohammad Bombaywala, Former President of Pakistani-American Association of Greater Houston (PAGH); Khalid Zabeehullah, Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA Houston); Abdur Rauf, Pakistan Chamber of Commerce – USA; Muhammad Ahmad (Houston), GET Local U. S. Rep.; Engineer Shamshad Wali, Gahwara-e-Aadab & N.E.D. University Alumni Group; ILyas Hasan Choudry, Helping Hand for Relief & Development; Mohammad Ahmad (North – PAGH); Jameel Siddiqui & Shamim Syed, News Media Persons; Attorney Neiyyar Izfar; and many others.

In their short presentations, Mohammad Zaheer of HKSCA welcomed everybody and stressed that reputable work of GET needs some more projects in rural Karachi and Interior Sindh. Dr. Zia Ahmad said that Pakistanis needs good health and that will bring high-quality minds, who will then need good education institutions like the schools of GET. M. J. Khan said the nation of Pakistan has given several sacrifices after which other Pakistanis have reached places like USA and are excelling over here; as such we need to pay back to our motherland by strengthening the educational institutes like GET, who are highly credible being partner of reliable organizations like Helping hand & ICNA Relief Canada. Ghulam Mohammad Bombaywala appreciated the efforts of GET; indeed Pakistanis need education and that during his next visit to Pakistan, he will definitely visit the various facilities of GET.

For more information, visit http://www.get.org.pk/ or http://www.hhrd.org/

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