The Gladys Allen High School (GAHS) is located in Bhittaiabad, a poor suburb of Karachi. There, children frequently have to do grown-up jobs at an early age, and thus for many of them, access to education remains closed. Conditions in the public schools are difficult: the poorly paid teachers are often unmotivated and the school materials and infrastructure are out of date. Although existing private schools, even in Karachi, offer an above-average elementary education, they are not an alternative for families in Bhittaiabad because of their high cost.

The construction and maintenance of an affordable school for disadvantaged sections of the population, with good instructional conditions and an official government-recognized secondary completion certificate. Gender and religion should play no part in admission. The security and safety of the school administration, teachers and pupils should be guaranteed. Moreover, the recognition of the school in its own district is important; it is dependent on the acceptance and trust of the general public. The school administration has paid considerable attention to this situation from its beginnings.

The equal education fund (EEF) has supported the GAHS from its opening in 2002, but the connection of the EEF-President with the school goes back even farther. Urs Meister met Graham Young in Pakistan way back in 1991. As a “self-styled English teacher”, Graham had been devoting his time to the education of children and youth from the poorest families since the 1970s. He had some modest support in his work from Australia and, after 1993, also from Switzerland. This financial help was, however, barely enough for his survival. The realisation that more could be done for the children led to the idea of a new school. As early as April 2002, the Gladys Allen High School started operation, but another year went by until every detail of the building was completed and the official opening ceremony could take place.

After a science lab had been added and all classes had been enrolled, GAHS was enlarged through the addition of a second floor, thanks to support from the Gymnasium of Oberaargau. Thus, the GAHS reached its originally conceived capacity. With the additional classrooms, there is enough room to accommodate all pupils from pre-kindergarten up to the officially recognized secondary completion certificate and to teach them in appropriate conditions. In this way, the children receive a real chance to enter the world of work with better perspectives or to go on to a higher educational level.

Over a period of fourteen years the equal education fund (EEF) has succeeded in establishing a nationally approved school with places for over 350 children and young people and, ultimately, in guiding it to financial independence in 2016. There has for years been a great demand for schooling, particularly for the lower classes, which speaks for the popularity and necessity of the school. Thanks to the infrastructure as well as to the qualified and motivated teachers, the GAHS offers optimal learning conditions at an affordable price for the households in Bhittaiabad.

The EEF also supported the school from 2002 onwards by supporting instruction and medical care for both employees and pupils. Moreover, the school administration could make concessions on school fees for parents who were unable to pay and also ran several teacher training courses. Finally, EEF support enabled improved security through appropriate measures and continued maintenance of the school infrastructure.

In addition to primary and secondary school classes and kindergarten, GAHS runs a pre-kindergarten and, as of 2014, a playgroup for very small children. Together with the switch to an “English Medium School” system, these innovations permit the Gladys Allen High School to generate more income.

All in all, stable and qualitatively good conditions have been created so that the school can be run independently of the EEF. The EEF board decided, therefore, according to its policy of time-limited project partnerships (cf. EEF guidelines, Section «Sustainable structures») to gradually reduce its engagement from 2014 onwards, and to terminate support by the end of 2015. We are convinced that we are leaving behind a worthwhile project with a sound basis and one that will continue to exist without our support.