CEO Bilal Ahmed says they organised 2,100 awareness seminars

By Asad Saleem and Zainab Awais
Photo Credit: Abdullah Waris

The standards of education in public sector schools can only be improved when children of our politicians will study in the same schools like the children of a common man. This was stated by FAIDA Foundation founder and CEO Bilal Ahmad. Following are the details of The Educationist discussion with him:

The Educationist: What is FAIDA Foundation and its objective?
Bilal Ahmad: The foundation was established in order to create awareness in students and for the mere purpose of educating children so that they can prove themselves and work for the betterment of Pakistan. FAIDA stands for “Foundation for Awareness and Information Development for All”. It is a Non-Government Organization established in 2004, to create awareness towards effective education and provide health facilities in the society. As a matter of fact it is an effort to apprise students of their rights and responsibilities.

THE Educationist: From your platform what was actually done to create awareness in students?
Bilal Ahmad: More than 2,100 seminars were organized – some of them on daily basis, some on weekly and monthly basis. We also started a programme named SSR (student social responsibility) we started inducing in children from primary level.

THE Educationist: Is there any act of responsibility shown by the students through your SSR campaign?
Bilal Ahmad: Yes, a great response was shown by the students, they also donated around 2,000 used bags to help the needy students. We planning to enhance our targets.

THE Educationist: What are the recent activities done by FAIDA Foundation for the welfare of students?
Bilal Ahmad: We have launched a new programme named EDUCATIONAL BUS. The Bus visits 2, 3 schools a week and provide bags, uniforms and stationary to the students as per requirement of the schools.

THE Educationist: What steps are taken by FAIDA Foundation in order to improve the standard of education in government schools?
Bilal Ahmad: We appoint teachers from private sectors for government schools and all of the wages of these teachers are being paid by our foundation.

THE Educationist: What steps should government take to improve standard of education in Govt. sectors?
Bilal Ahmad: It can only be improved when the children of our politicians will study in these schools like the children of common man.

THE Educationist: What are the future projects of FAIDA Foundation?
Bilal Ahmad: We are acquiring lands from government for schools to help provide formal education to needy children, who are out-of-school at the moment. Another plan is to distribute 10,000 bags among needy students. We have also launched 101 top students organization in Lahore to promote SSR.