Annual Report 2019: Growing the Multan Learning Center

In 2019 the SKF Learning Center in Multan settled into a full academic year. SKF continued to run on a 100% volunteer management model, so donated funds went to teachers and the running costs of the center.

Highlights

• TAKMIL partnership (January–June): children followed TAKMIL’s hybrid fast-track curriculum, combining books with online distance learning for grades 1 to 5: maths, English, Urdu, science, social studies and general knowledge.
• New school kit: bags, uniforms (ties for boys, scarves for girls), shoes and stationery for every child.
• First educational trips: a flower exhibition, which for most children was their first trip of any kind, and a pizza outing, where the children learned to use a knife and fork.
• Beating the heat: a donor grant paid for window curtains, a fridge for cold drinking water and a UPS to keep the lights on during daily power cuts.
• Religious studies class: taught by a college student from the same community, who used the income to pay for her own education.
• December: SKF’s co-founders visited Multan, met the children and their mothers, and joined the end-of-year results ceremony.

Results

Literacy in both English and Urdu improved across the class, attendance was high, and only three children left during the year.

Finances

Total spending on the Pakistan project was Rs 495,047 ($3,095): teacher salaries (46%), daily snacks (23%), uniforms and Eid clothing (19%), stationery (14%), classroom furniture (17%), utilities, educational trips and transport.