The Kaghan Memorial Trust (KMT) has been established with the sole immediate objective of setting up and operating a school in the Kaghan Valley that will offer education of a high standard to children in this severely hit region. The Kaghan Memorial School will be dedicated to the memory of the thousands of children who lost their lives to the earthquake. Both Trust and School will be non-profit entities.

Overseen by KMT, the Kaghan Memorial School Project is divided into 5 phases, each of which is briefly described as follows:

Phase 1 - Land Acquisition - Completed   Details KMT has acquired 50 Kanals (6.25 Acres) of land for the school in Kawai, approximately 22 km north of Balakot. The Trust leased this land from its owners in August 2006 for a 99 year period. The land is located on the main Kaghan road. Phase 2 - Development Planning - In Progress  Details The Planning Phase of the project started immediately following acquisition of the land. This phase entails conducting surveys of the land and mapping it, developing architectural plans for the school, and identifying and recruiting one or more contractors to construct the buildings and to develop related infrastructure. This phase is ongoing, with most of the tasks completed except for the preparation of detailed architectural and structural drawings. Those drawings are expected to be ready by the end of September, 2007. Phase 3 - Construction & Commissioning of Primary School - In Progress  Details A primary school consisting of classes Kindergarten to 5 is being built in the third phase of the project, which was initiated in the last week of February, 2007. These primary classes will be co-ed, and each class will have two sections. Allied infrastructure such as administrative offices and teachers’ residences are also being constructed during this phase. Assuming an average class size of 30, the primary school will have a capacity of 360 students upon completion. Teachers and other school staff are being recruited during this period, with the first batch of volunteer teachers arriving from abroad in September, 2007. This first group of teachers will develop the academic syllabus for the primary school prior to the commencement of classes. Phase 4 - Operations and Expansion  Details The project will enter the operational fourth phase upon the inauguration / commissioning of the school. This is a perpetual phase that will entail running the school on a day to day basis. During the first few years of operations, the school will expand by one class per year as the students of the highest class progressively graduate to the next level. This expansion will stop once the A-levels final year class is established in the 9th year following the commencement of the first classes. In keeping with the cultural sensitivities of the area, classes 6 onwards will be segregated, and the boys’ section will be separated from the girls. This means that 2 new classrooms will be required each year as the students graduate to higher levels. Secondary school classes will accommodate approximately 30 children each. Upon completion of the expansion process, the Kaghan Memorial School will have a total of 14 classes (Kindergarten to A-levels), comprising of 28 classrooms, providing education on the British model leading to an A-level certification from a recognized educational testing authority in the United Kingdom. The maximum capacity of the school upon completion of expansion will be 840 students. Phase X - Introduction of Boarding Facilities  Details This Phase is labeled X because it does not necessarily fit in any chronological order with the other 4 stages of the project. The Trustees of KMT would like to eventually provide board and room facilities to underprivileged children from the remote parts of the Kaghan valley, but recognizing the challenges of fundraising and the need for complete focus on the primary objective of the project to establish and operate the school itself, the Trustees have decided to leave this phase pending until such time when funds and resources allow for it to be implemented.

Finances for building the school premises are being raised by KMT through an extensive fundraising effort. This fundraising drive is being strengthened, diversified and institutionalized over time, with the objective of eventually having a permanent multifaceted fund generation programme in place for KMT that will cater for the future running expenses of the school. Contingent upon the success of the fundraising efforts, KMT’s tentative timeline for the project envisions the inauguration of the school and its student enrollment programme in September 2007, and the commencement of the first classes in March 2008.

To ensure that the quality of education offered at the school is on a par with the best private schools in the country, KMT will arrange for teachers to come from abroad as volunteers for a minimum stint of 2 years each. The Trustees of KMT have committed to this project on a voluntary basis, and they feel that the best guarantee for attracting good teachers to a remote rural area in Pakistan lies in the identification and recruitment of teachers who share a similar interest in volunteering their services to the cause of spreading education amongst underprivileged children. The prime motivator for any teacher coming to teach at this school must be a desire to help these children, rather than an interest in personal employment. The Trust and School will provide room and board facilities for such teachers, supplemented by a monthly stipend to meet day to day expenses. This policy towards recruitment of teaching staff is at the core of the concept behind this school.

In summary, the Kaghan Memorial School will:

1.	Provide quality education based upon the British model to girls and boys in the Kaghan valley;
2.	Accommodate up to 180 student to begin with, and will grow each following year until it reaches a maximum capacity of 840 students;
3.	Be constructed with funds raised in its name by The Kaghan Memorial Trust. Once operational, the school’s running expenses will also be met through fundraising programmers managed by KMT;
4.	Consist of a faculty of dedicated volunteer teachers from around the country and abroad. These teachers will be provided with accommodation and board on school premises, but instead of a salary, they will be paid a reasonable monthly stipend to meet living expenses;
5.	Establish boarding facilities in the future when resources are available to allow for this. When built, the boarding houses will, in keeping with the overall spirit of the school, provide free room and board to its resident children.

At the end of the day, the Trustees are absolutely clear that we want The Kaghan Memorial School to provide the same standard of education to the children of Kaghan that we would expect for our own children studying in some of the more expensive schools for the privileged in this country. We refuse to subscribe to conventional practice that condemns the poor to a second rate education just because they lack the money to afford better. The Kaghan Memorial School is not about making the numbers in terms of filling classrooms; it is about giving children quality education that will help them become confident and competent young individuals with a real chance at changing their lives and the lives of their families for the better.