In a recent talk show on a reputed TV channel, references were made to the school project of the Pakistan Foreign Office Women’s Association (PFOWA), which require clarification.
Established in 1948, PFOWA is a registered welfare and charity organization (not an NGO), which over past many decades has been engaged in scores of charity activities and also looking after the welfare of the staff of the Foreign Office, particularly in the education and health fields. PFOWA has a unique character. Its members purely work on voluntary basis and all the donations and contributions are exclusively used for its charity and welfare activities.
In pursuance of a long standing need and requirement to have a school for children of Foreign Office officials, PFOWA has recently entered into a joint venture with a reputed school chainto build a quality High School on the PFOWA-leased land in Sector H-8, Islamabad. While the professionals will construct and manage the school at no cost to PFOWA, the children of the Foreign Ministry officials will be entitled guaranteed admissions and appropriate fee discounts. This would also help resolve difficulties faced by the children of Foreign Office community returning from abroad at different times of the year,in finding suitable admissions in local schools. The School premises will be available for PFOWA’s pro bono vocational training programs for the widows of deceased employees, in particular, and others belonging to the Ministry, in general. The School would also cater to the educational needs of the deceased employees’ children.
The PFOWA-RMS (Roots Millennium School) agreement was a product of a long, transparent and competitive process, in which a number of country’s reputed schools participated. After carrying out the comparative analysis of various proposals, PFOWA finally selected RMS for the construction of the School.
PFOWA is, and will remain, the lease holder of the plot and will continue its mission of charity activities and providing support towards educational costs of the needy and poor children.
Islamabad
10 February 2016
