• All-Girls Barakat School

    Recognizing the need to re-emphasize female education post pandemic, Barakat started the All-Girls Barakat School as of the 2021-22 Academic Session. It is now in it’s second year of existence and enrolment continues to increase as well as the appreciation for this school expressed by staff, students and parents.

    The school runs from Nursery to 8th Grade. Students in 8th Grade sit for the Punjab State Govt. Board Examination so that they are able to continue towards High School. Subjects taught follow the govt. mandated curriculum and include Maths, Science, English, Urdu, Social Students, Arts and Islamiyat.

  • Evening Schools for Girls

    Barakat has had Evening Schools for Girls since the 2002-03 Academic Session. These schools also range from Nursery to 8th Grade. However, they are run for three hours every evening, after regular school hours. Classes are held year round with limited breaks for major religious festivals in order to maintain consistency of attendance and to cover the curriculum. Students can be school-aged young girls to older girls well past their teens. They can be married with or without children and sometimes, older women also choose to attend.

    We are currently running Evening Schools at the All-Girls Barakat School & at Barakat Primary.

Girls High School Scholarship Program

In order to help Barakat school graduates, our Scholarship Program for High School Girls is working to provide financial backing as well as social support to girls like Mohiya. They in turn will serve as role-models to others in their own Afghan refugee community in Pakistan. The program serves not just to support financially, but also to encourage the girls and their family members with regard to continuing their education. It gives that extra push to girls who are dreaming of pursuing their education but face both financial and societal pressure to stop school as soon as they start approaching adolescence.

Mohiya, Barakat graduate, Scholarship candidate, currently in 10th grade

COSTS for sponsoring a girl going to government high school are $150/annually and include exam fees, notebooks, uniform and transportation charges.

COSTS for sponsoring a girl who is sitting for exams as a private candidate are $250/annually and apart from the above-mentioned categories also include the monthly coaching fees at a private tution center.

Girls can choose to go to government school as regular day students or they may choose to sit the examination for that grade as a private candidate. Sitting for the final examination as a private candidate is less demanding on their time because instead of going to school for six hours of the day, they attend fewer hours at a private coaching center. Girls time and labor is always at a premium at home and the fight to continue their education is real.

  • Ersari Elementary School

    Ersari Elementary School was Barakat’s first school established in 1994. During its long existence, an entire generation of refugees has grown up and reached the point where they are able to begin supporting their own school. We are proud to say that our Board Member, Mohammadullah Ersari, has stepped up as a major donor of the school as well as looking into its evaluation and day-to-day management.

    Ersari Elementary is co-eduational and runs from Nursery to 8th Grade. It is well established as a long-running, reputable school for refugees from Afghanistan and has a strong student population.

    An all-female staff is present in all the Barakat Schools. In Ersari Elementary, two of our current teachers are graduates of this very school and we are proud to have them back as role-models to our current batch of students.

  • Barakat Elementary School

    Barakat Elementary School was started in 1998 in response to a request from the Turkmen refugee population located in a different part of Attock, at a distance from Ersari Elementary School. This school has also graduated at least one generation of refugees who are now sending their own children to the same school, completing the cycle.

    Once again, it is with pride that we bring up the name of Abdul Rehman, long-time Barakat employee, as a major donor for Barakat Elementary as well as Barakat Primary. A successful businessman in his own right, he has overseen our work as Family Liasion over the years, and his role with Barakat has grown alongside his prosperity.

    It has been Barakat’s long-term goal to bring about social change. One aspect of this has been the growing economic well-being of the long-established refugees in Pakistan, who were once only program beneficiaries, but now are enabled to become both beneficiaries as well as donors/supporters of their own community.

  • Barakat Primary School

    Barakat Primary School was started in 2002 in order to accommodate the overflow of students from Ersari Elementary School. Many more students applied for admission than could be possibly accommodated in the existing school.

    Barakat Primary is also co-educational and goes from Nursery to 5th Grade. Students graduating from Barakat Primary often move to middle school at either Ersari or Barakat Elementary School.