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08 April 2004
Chairman's Annual Report 2002-2003
The year of growth
1. Since the inception of FLAME in Islamabad in May 2001, our NGO has been able to cover a lot of ground in achieving its main objective of promoting literacy during the year 2002-2003. Appreciating the performance of FLAME in improving the physical condition of its schools located in the rural areas of Islamabad, the Pakistan Literacy Commission (PLC) decided to handover 32 of its Non Formal Basic Education (NFBE) schools for monitoring and supervision purposes to FLAME.
2. Since we had already employed two Field Coordinators (FCs) and provided them with a motorcycle each to conduct survey of various area to open new school, we were able to begin the monitoring and supervision of all the 35 schools by our FCs immediately. Thus (FLAME was entrusted with the responsibility of looking after 32 schools by PLC) in addition to running three of its own schools, which it had started in the previous year.
3. Throughout the year the two FCs visited these 35 schools every week to ensure the presence of the teachers and students and check the quality of education. They reported their observation to me on a weekly basis. Furthermore, I also visited two to three schools every week to check the quality of teaching and to make sure that books and other necessary school material were not in short supply and the working of the schools was not adversely affected in any way. During most of these visits we took note of the items that were needed by the schools, such as floor mats, electric fans, water coolers, teachers' chairs etc. and supplied them to the schools, as soon as possible.
4. As most of the schools being monitored by FLAME were PLC school, we maintained close liaison with it and attended periodical meetings held by it to discuss the working of the system of supervision of the NFBE schools by the NGOs. In these meetings we conveyed our findings and observations to the officials of the PLC. On the other hand, we organized periodical visits of PLC's inspectors to schools under
FLAME's supervision. I am happy to report that all the PLC inspectors appreciated the overall performance of FLAME in improving the standard of those schools, their proper running and upkeep. School items supplied by the PLC for the schools such as books, furniture, blackboards etc were transported in FLAME's vehicles and delivered to the schools.
5. As per their rules, the PLC provided Rs. 200/- per school per month to FLAME as the monitory cost. Thus FLAME received a total of Rs. 6400/- per month from PLC which was far short of the monthly expenditure being incurred by it on monitoring the 35 schools.
6. The expenditure shown in the Auditor's report were met from funds raised by me from my friends and relatives. Apart from a one time grant of US$ 33,000 provided by the Japanese Embassy in Islamabad for the purchase of vehicles and office equipment, FLAME received no other financial assistance from any local or foreign government or donor agency. The Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Statement for the year 2002-2003 prepared by M/s Hussain Chaudhry & Co. forming part of the Annual Report are placed below for scrutiny by anyone who may wish to do so.
7. It may be noted that neither the Chairman nor any member of the Governing Council of FLAME were paid any salary or emoluments.
8. As provided in FLAME's Article and Memorandum of Association, the meetings of the governing council of FLAME were held regularly. Their proceedings were minuted, circulated and approved.
9. To conclude I am happy to say that FLAME was able to establish itself as a serious NGO in the field of non-formal education and made good progress in attaining its objective of promoting literacy among the poor children living in the rural areas of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
Syed Abu Khalid Ambassador (Retd) Mansoor Alam
Member, Executive Committee Chairman
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05 April 2006
Chairman's Annual Report 2003-2004
The year of consolidation and expansion into healthcare sector
1. The year 2003-2004 was relatively a quiet year because of my retirement from the Government service and preoccupation with our move on a permanent basis. However, with the help of the Governing Council, members, its Project Director and Colonel (Retd) Mohammad Sadiq and the staff of FLAME in Islamabad, we managed to run the 35 schools in good order. The Field Coordinators (FCs) continued to visit the schools every week to monitor their performance and submit reports to me. I also kept visiting these schools till I was in Islamabad and thereafter, on my periodical visits to Islamabad from Karachi.
2. One big achievement of the year was the launching of FLAME's Mobile Health Unit (MHU) in Islamabad in September 2003. For this purpose we decided to use the Suzuki Van which we had purchased out of the Japanese grant last year. A MBBS qualified lady doctor was appointed who started to visit one school every day from Monday to Friday in this van. On these visits the doctor examined all the children of a school and provided them with free medicines which were given to us by the drug company Glaxo Smith and Kline (GSK) on a gratis basis. However, we had to buy the medicines when the supply ran short. The provision of basic health care service to the poor children of FLAME schools turned out to be a very useful service. It began to heal the children of some common but debilitating diseases like stomach worms, scabbies, UTI etc which are easily treatable with proper care and suitable medicines.
3. Free medical treatment by qualified doctor and free medicines provided to the children proved to be an incentive for the parents and children to continue to study in FLAME schools. Consequently, only those children left our schools who had either completed their primary level education or whose parents had shifted to another place.
4. Here I would like to acknowledge the great dedication with which Doctor Mrs. Rubab Jamal rendered the excellent medical care to over 1000 children of these 35 schools. During the year she visited each school at least four times and provided basic healthcare. She also give basic hygiene lessons to the children and teachers and occasionally to the parents of the children. She also maintained a record of her findings and submitted a quarterly report on the health condition of children of FLAME schools. I am very happy to report that Doctor Mrs. Rubab Jamal continues to work with FLAME and is rendering an extremely valuable service which is unique in the sense that there are very few educational NGOs in Pakistan which are also providing basic health care to the children of its schools.
5. We were able to start the MHU because three of our own schools were also adapted by the PLC which started to pay the salary of the teachers and provided the books and other necessary school material. The funds thus saved by FLAME together wih some new financial assistance received from its friends, helped to meet the expenditure of the MHU.
6. The Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Statement for the year 2002-2003 prepared by M/s Hussain Chaudhry & Co. constitute part of the Annual Report for scrutiny by anyone who may wish to do so.
Ambassador (Retd) Mansoor Alam
Chairman
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05 April 2006
Chairman's Annual Report 2004-2005
The year of exponential growth
The year 2004-2005 was one of exponential growth for FLAME. We established its Sindh chapter in 2004 in Karachi. The first two preliminary meetings for this purpose were held at the houses of Mr. Aasim Siddiqui and Mr. Abu Khalid and a five-member Executive Committee comprising: Mr. Abu Khalid, Mr. Iqbal Adamji, Mr. Aasim Siddiqui, Mr. Nargis Rehman and myself as its Chairman was formed.
From December 1, 2004 we started opening non-formal schools in the Baldia Town. Mr. Habib-ur-Rehman, Deputy Director, Literacy Cell, Sindh Ministry of Education helped us in finding the Field Coordinator (FC) Mr. Mumraiz Tanoli who carried out the survey of the area, found five female teachers with required educational qualification who were willing to open the schools in their houses and teach the non-school going children of their community.
The first five non-formal basic education schools (NFBE) became operational within a week. In each of these schools the pressure for admissions was so high that instead of thirty children the number of students grew to above sixty. Since such a large number of children could not be provided quality education by one teacher we had to find new teachers and open more schools. The same situation persisted even when the number of schools had been increased to ten. Consequently, we immediately opened more schools to meet the demand and in a matter of four weeks had opened twenty 25 FLAME schools in Baldia Town.
Thanks to FLAME, UK, our main donor, funds were available and we were able to purchase all the necessary school material such as blackboards, floor mats, slates, water cooler, electric fans, teachers' chairs etc for all the 25 schools. Most importantly, we were able to obtain the requisite number of books through the help of Mr. Habib-ur-Rehman, Dy. Director, Literacy Cell, for nearly 1000 students, including over 600
girls who enrolled in these schools. Most of these 1000 children had never been to any school before.
The news of FLAME schools in Baldia Town reached the poor locality of Cattle Colony Landhi and we started getting requests for schools in that area. Once again, with the help of Mr. Habib ur Rehman, we found an appropriate FC for Landhi Town. The FC Mr. Ahmed Hussain, started and completed the survey for the opening of 5 schools within a week and these became operational soon thereafter. However, we faced the same situation as in Baldia Town because of sever shortage of Government Schools, hundreds of parents thronged these 5 schools with their children who were not going to any schools. Hence the number of children in the first five schools reached twice the number of 30 – 35 children that was regarded as optimum for one teacher. It was however a very happy situation. Consequently we kept opening schools as the number of children kept doubling and in less then six weeks from April, 2004 we had established 33 schools with more then 1200 students including over 700 girls. We were also able to purchase and supply the necessary school material to them including books, which were obtained free of cost through the help of Mr. Habib ur Rehman.
In order to ensure that proper and regular monitoring of these schools was done by our field coordinators we bought them each a motorcycle and in addition to monthly salary of Rs. 4,000/- also paid them Rs. 1,000/- per month as fuel & maintenance charges. This enabled them to visit all the schools in their respected areas at least once a week to monitor and supervise their working.
Throughout the process of opening of these 58 schools, I remained personally involved on a day-to-day basis and kept the members of the executive committee informed during its by weekly meeting. I also kept members of the Governing Council of FLAME in Islamabad informed on my periodical visits.
Opening of schools in interior Sindh
After 58 schools were opened in the poor areas of Baldia and Landhi Towns in Karachi, the executive committee felt that FLAME should open NFBE schools in interior Sindh as well. We again decided to seek the help of Mr. Habib ur Rehman, who knows the whole of Sindh province like the palm of his hands, and on his recommendation, decided to open FLAME schools in the 5 districts of Sukkur, Shikarpur, Gothki, Naushero Firoze and Tando Mohammad Khan. He also recommended the names of 5 FCs to carryout the survey, select the teachers and help them enroll the students which turned out to be the easiest part of the job because of the great eagerness among the patents to send their children to schools. Hence, before the end of June,2005, we had managed to open 50 FLAME schools as follows: Tando Mohommad Khan 10, Naushero Feroze 10, Sukkur 10, Shikarpur 15, Gothki 5. They were all provided with, books and other requisite material for the schools. Around 1,500 children, including over 800 girls joined these schools and are studying there.
Also in June, 2005 we decided to open one school for the poor children of Neelum Colony, DHA, Phase V, where children were not attending any school because of the poor financial condition of their parents who could not afford to pay the school fees let alone pay-for the books, stationery, uniforms etc. for their children.
Here too we faced no difficulty in finding a qualified teacher or sufficient number of children. In-fact the children and their parents were so eager that some of the older girls and boys left working and earning money for their family to join the school. We however faced great difficulty in finding a suitable accommodation for the school. But finally we solved the problem through the help of Brig. Muzaffar ul Hassan, Director Education, DHA who permitted us to start the school in the building of DHA Neelum colony school in the after-noon.
Thus FLAME's Neelum colony school was established and soon it had over 40 children. A majority of these were also girls, some above the ages of 11 years who had never been to a school before.
We at FLAME are extremely tified that we were able to open 109 schools in the short period of seven months.
The most gratifying aspect of this experience was to discover the keen desire among the poor people in the urban and rural areas to educate their children. It was also surprising to find that so many women with requisite qualification ranging from Matric to BA were living in these areas and were eager to become teachers. Thirdly, contrary to general impression that poor and conservative parents living in urban slums and rural areas do not want to educate their girls, we found that in reality a vast majority were keen to send their girls to schools provided they did not have to travel long distances and spend money on their education.
I am happy to report that since these 109 schools were opened they have been functioning well and providing quality education completely free of cost to over 3,700 children out of whom over 65% are girls, who had never been to any school or were dropouts but always cherished the dream of becoming educated. We at FLAME are only too happy to have made their dream come true at a cost of less then Rs. 750/- per child per year (US$. 13).
Moreover, we have provided respectable employment to 109 educated women of poor localities, who had little independent income of their own before joining the FLAME schools as teachers.
Islamabad schools
The year 2004-2005 was relatively quiet for FLAME Islamabad. Since the Pakistan Literacy Commission (PLC) and Ministry of Education themselves were opening hundreds of new NFBE schools around the Federal Capital area, we did not feel the need to open new FLAME schools. As a matter of fact the PLC took over the two new FLAME schools that it had opened in the previous year. Therefore, FLAME Islamabad concentrated on monitoring and supervising of 47 PLC schools. Besides that it continued to operate the MHU, which provided basic healthcare to approximately 1300 children of these schools.
FLAME funds and expenditure
The entire expenditure on these 109 schools and on Islamabad MHU, including the administrative expenditures, on FLAME's offices in Karachi and Islamabad were met mainly from funds provided to us by FLAME, UK. We are grateful to them, and especially to FLAME's main expatriate Pakistani donor, who wishes to keep his name confidential, for donating so generously to FLAME.
It should please all the friends and supporters of FLAME that so far we have managed all these activities only with the financial supports of individual donors, mainly Pakistanis living abroad. Consequently, we take pride in the fact that we have been able to provide free education and basic healthcare to so many children on a self-help basis.
However, to maintain our current level of educational and basic healthcare activities for the benefit of the disadvantaged children and to further expand the same facilities for more children of poor localities, FLAME urgently needs financial support from all those who share our belief that raising the level of literacy and basic healthcare to the poor children of Pakistan is indispensable for its stability, progress and prosperity.
The Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Statement for the year 2004-2005 duly audited by M/s Tanzim & Co, Chartered Accountants, Karachi and a similar report prepared by M/s Hussain Chaudhry & Co, Chartered Accountants, Islamabad form part of this Annual Report.
We hope that supporters of FLAME's mission will continue to provide it the financial wherewithal to enable it to continue its efforts of promoting literacy, basic education and healthcare free of cost to the poor and disadvantaged children of Pakistan.
Syed Abu Khalid Ambassador (Retd) Mansoor Alam
Member Executive Committee, Karachi Chairman
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22 March 2007
Chairman’s Annual Report for the year
2006-2007
I am pleased to report that FLAME continued to maintain the pace of its progress in the field of education and health in 2006-07.
The number of schools in Baldia Town increased from 30 to 40 and in Landhi from 40 to 48. One school in Neelum Colony located in the Neelum Colony DHA School continued to function but the number of children increased from 30 to 45 students. All this reflects the growing confidence of the residents of the locality in the good quality of education provided by FLAME Schools. With the increase of 15 schools in the two areas of Baldia Town and Landhi, and 15 students in Neelum Colony school the total number of students also increased by over 500 children. The ratio between boys and girls continued to be 35% boys to 65% girls.
While the number of schools increased in Landhi and Baldia Town, about twenty schools had to be closed in the interior Sindh because of poor quality of inspection and teaching in these schools. However, FLAME continued to make efforts to find qualified and dedicated Field Coordinators to open new schools in these areas. We were also confronted once again with the problem of finding adequate number of text books in time for the new and old students. This time FLAME did not wait to receive books from the Sindh Text Book Board and procured these books entirely from its own resources.
Inspite of the increase in the number of schools in Baldia and Landhi, Field Coordinators of FLAME continued to visit each school atleast twice a month because of the provision of motorcycles with petrol etc. to them.
The undersigned also visited some of these schools and took some foreign and local donors to show the type of FLAME schools and the quality of education being imparted to the children. Most of the visitors expressed their satisfaction. The training of teachers of FLAME Schools in Landhi and Baldia Town and three districts of Interior Sindh was again conducted by Behbood and the Sindh Education Department in the same pattern as in the previous year.
Once again in December 2006 Annual Day Functions (ADF) of schools in Landhi and Baldia Town were held in the same pattern as last year. The attendance in this year’s ADF was naturally even higher because of the increase in the number of schools and the students. The quality of the program also improved. The parents of children were particularly happy and please to see their children getting free education as well as getting an opportunity of displaying their natural talents in various areas of creative activities.
This year we also started a new scheme of “Adopt a School” program. Under the scheme people were encouraged to adopt a school by donating a sum of Rs. 30,000 to meet the annual expenditure of the school. In return FGLAME recognized their donation by affixing a “plaque of dedication” of the school in the name of any person suggested by them. In all about ten schools were adopted and FLAME received an amount of Rs. 350,000. The scheme is continuing and many more schools have been adopted since last year.
The Mobile Health Unit (MHU) continued to function as before, however a second MHU had to be started to cope up with the number of schools and children in Baldia Town and Landhi. For this purpose 5 more qualified MBBS lady doctors were hired to visit five more schools every Tuesday in Landhi. Thus, five Doctors continued to visit five schools in Baldia Town on Saturdays while five doctors started visiting 5 schools in Landhi on Tuesday every week. The total number of children thus visited by doctors every week increased from 175 to approximately 350 or about 1400 per month. Once again sufficient quantities of medicines were donated by Glaxo Smith & Kline (GSK). Abbot Laboratory also donated its medicines while some medicines were purchased by FLAME from its own funds and distributed to the children. The MHU has brought about a visible improvement in the health of children and awareness among them about how to observe preventive measures to maintain good health.
During the year 22006-07 FLAME received funds from new donors and organized three events to raise funds. The Lord Mayer of the city of London donated a sum of £ 5000 (Rs. 600, 000) at a reception held at the residence of Deputy High Commissioner of UK (Mr. Hammish St. Claire) to Pakistan in Karachi. The British-German women association, Karachi, aklso donated a sum of Rs. 1 million after visiting some FLAME schools in Baldi and checking the quality of education in them. The donations were used to open new schools and start construction of a Vocational Training Center (VTC) for imparting technical skills to grown up boys and girls of FLAME schools.
FLAME also organized three fund raising events comprising a play called “The Producers: staged by a group of Pakistan High School and College students studying in Pakistan and abroad. The play staged in the Karachi Arts Council turned out to be highly popular and besides raising funds for FLAME also raised its profile in the city of Karachi, The second fund raising event comprised a dance performance by the leading Pakistani classical dance artist Miss Nighat Chaudry. The venue was Oasis Restaurant at Hill Park owned by Mr. & Miss. S.M. Saleem who provided the place as well as the dinner free of cost to approximately 300 people. The third even was a piano recital by a young Pakistani Pianist Asad Anis who gave a thrilling performance of western classic masters like Mozart, Beethoven and others also at the Karachi Arts Council. However, this event did not attract as many people.
The three events raised approximately a net amount of Rs. 1 million for FLAME. Most of the expenditure on them was met by various sponsors like GSK, PARCO, Saudi Pak Bank, Habib Bank, Trakker and others. We at FLAME are grateful to them for their support.
The undersigned also visited Islamabad 3 times to hold and chair the meetings of the Governing Council and to examine the work of FLAME’s office in Islamabad. Though the number of schools had increased from 35 to 40 the quality of inspection of schools had declined which had adversely affected the quality of education. Consequently, the FC responsible was replaced by a new one, which had stopped the decline.
On the whole the year 2006-07 saw consolidation of FLAME’s projects and activities as well as considerable development.
The audited Annual Accounts forms part of this report.
(Ambassador ® Mansoor Alam)
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