Sargodha Spirit Trust – a success story

Rashidabad is a story of two welfare organizations in Pakistan, totally different from each other, but working hand in hand for one common goal i.e. providing opportunity and help to the have-nots of the country. This is the type of organization other NGOs should emulate. Alumni of PAF Public School/College, Sargodha founded Sargodhian Spirit Trust (SST) to impart education and provide opportunity to the talented children especially children from disadvantaged section of society in all provinces of Pakistan and offering liberal scholarships to them. They believe that affordability should not be a criterion for quality education, and every child irrespective of his financial back ground, class, colour or creed should have access to quality education. To realize the dream of the Sargodhians, Old boys Association headed by General Ehsan-ul-Haq, then Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, formed the Sargodhian Spirit Trust (SST).
Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroz Khan was first Chairman of the SST, which is a registered charity and Mr. Tasneem Noorani, a retired Federal Secretary, is its current Chairman. All Sargodhians working for the Trust are voluntary workers, whereas those working for NGOs usually draw huge sums as salaries and perks, leaving hardly anything to the masses. The Sargodhian Spirit Trust had set up its first modern residential public school at Rashidabad, Tando Allahyar in 2003. It is spread over 50 acres of land donated by Rashidabad Memorial Welfare Organization (RMWO). Funds for its construction, running and scholarships are raised through donations from alumni of Sargodha Public School, grants from governments of Pakistan and Sindh, and donations from a number of philanthropic organizations and many enlightened members of the civil society. The School started functioning in September, 2005 with boys from all the provinces, including Tribal Areas, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Kashmir.
The vision of the founders is to provide quality education to the children of less developed areas of the country and to produce leaders in all walks of life. At present, over 204 students out of a total strength of over 464 students are provided scholarships based on the principle that any boy qualifying our entrance tests should not be denied admission for want of resources. Within a few years of its existence, the SST School has become a symbol of excellence and has afforded opportunity to the children to ascend the social ladder that belong to lower strata of society or hailing from remote rural areas of all parts of Pakistan. The results of the students speak volumes about the standard of the school. The school is equipped with state-of-the-art Science and IT Labs, sports grounds, and spacious classrooms.
It has already established itself as a leading school providing Cambridge ‘0’ and ‘A’ Level education. It also offers FBISE secondary and Higher Secondary courses. The Board of Trustees are now embarked on a plan to launch the second school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and hope to establish the next one in Balochistan. Ultimately, SST wants to set up one or more such institutions in each province, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. It is indeed a laudable objective, and the government and philanthropists should donate to the SST to enable it to provide opportunities to more and more students hailing from rural areas and poor strata of society.