About CARE Pakistan
Our story starts in 1988. Horrific floods had devastated the Sheikhupura district of Punjab and concerned citizens came together to rebuild the flood victims’ homes. The citizens noticed there was no school. Without education, they thought, children will be deprived of the opportunity to flourish.
And so it began. Collecting donations from locals in the village of Iqbal Town, Sheikhupura, the citizens were able to start a school providing free education to the poor. On the first day over 250 children registered.
In 1988, we were asked by the Pakistan government to adopt 10 failing public schools. This project was hugely ambitious but we accepted the challenge. Firstly, we refurbished and renovated the schools—adding science laboratories, libraries, computers rooms and clean drinking water. Next, we added CARE teachers to supplement existing government teachers. The difference was incredible: CARE changed the culture and academic performance of the schools. The first 10 were a success and we’ve gone on to adopt many more since. Our unique public-private partnership allows us to save on land and building costs, helping as many children as cheaply as possible.
Today, CARE provides free education to over 160,000 children in 225 schools across Pakistan. Our schools achieve exceptional academic performance. In fact, our schools achieve similar academic results to private education but with no costs to the students. CARE students go on to become doctors, lawyers, engineers and, of course, teachers. Many of our current teachers are CARE graduates themselves.
