The Pakistan Professional Wing (PPW) over the last several years has been and continues to be actively involved in supporting students in the UAE whose parents are unable to support their education due to financial constraints.

One of the major achievement of PPW was completion of the new block consisting of six classrooms and associated facilities in the Pakistan Community Welfare School, Mussafah, Abu Dhabi. The new block inaugurated by HE Jamil Ahmed Khan, Pakistan Ambassador to the UAE in a ceremony held at the school on January 18, 2012.

Ambassador Jamil Khan applauded the role of community and the members of Pakistan Professionals Wing for the contribution in expansion of the new facility.

“There is nothing impossible from the making of a nation to setting up a school. It is the intention which makes everything easy and we are happy that the Pakistani community in the UAE is taking serious steps to take part in such projects which not only benefits the community but also helps strengthen the relationship with other communities” he said while addressing the gathering on the occasion of opening of new block.

It was also mentioned that the PPW has been providing financial assistance by payment of school fees for the less privileged Pakistani students. This year PPW had provided financial assistance of over AED1.650 million to 350 students. All these funds were contributed by its members.

In 2008, the Pakistan Professionals Wing was approached by a delegation led by Dr. Shehzad Thaheem, the then Community Welfare Attaché at the Pakistan Embassy, Abu Dhabi for financial support to this school. He informed the PPW that the School was established in 1979 at Journ Yafoor (Baniyas) by a group of dedicated Pakistani social workers. Later on in 1996 when the Journ Yafoor settlement was demolished by the Abu Dhabi Government, the school was shifted to Mussafah in port-a-cabins on land donated by the then Crown Prince, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

A small section (6 classrooms), the school foyer and administration area was built with the grant from the Government of Pakistan and donations from the Pakistani community in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in 2003. The Pakistan Professionals Wing contributed Dhs.165, 000/- in 2003. Later on, in early 2006, the Ministry of Education served a notice to close down the School on account of its failure to meet requisite standards. After that the school was taken over by the Pakistan Embassy, Abu Dhabi and the notice period was extended.

The School received a final closing down notice on 15.04.2007 from the UAE Ministry of Education, stating that “if the School fails to improve its existing building and other required standard of education for private schools, the School will be closed and its license revoked without further notice. This Community School may not offer the best education, but it was providing reasonably good education to students whose families could not afford “commercial schools”. It would have been unbearable for parents to see their children’s school close down. Pakistan as a nation is already challenged in education.
We as a community put our hands together for the survival of this School and were able to build an extension which gave the school 6 new primary classrooms, a school foyer and administrative area as per the approved site plan. Over the last couple of years the number of students reached to 431 and in the upcoming session, the number will be increased to 600 after the completion of 6 new classrooms with all necessary facilities.