About the CEDF
Citizen’s Education Development Foundation is an innovative and bold program aimed at educating the children of the poorest of the poor families living in Karachi’s shantytowns and slums. These children have missed out on formal schooling because of financial constraints, absence of a school in their area, lack of transport, restriction on girls’ education and parental apathy.
CEDF’s education program for the forgotten children of the kachi abadies of Karachi has been in operation since 1986 thanks to the support & donations from the citizens of Karachi & the Pakistanis living in the USA.
Organized by a dedicated team of volunteers, CEDF began with ten children who were taught in the garden of a local volunteer. A teacher was employed and classes were started two hours a day, six days a week throughout the year. As word got out of a free, conveniently located school, more students enrolled. Parents, who were servants, laborers, and small shopkeepers, initially needed persuasion, but as their confidence in CEDF strengthened, requests for admissions become more frequent. This informal school (H-1) continues till today in the same place, at the same time and with the same teacher.
Currently, there are 14 home schools educating approximately 340 children and one mobile school with 160 children working 4 shifts a day. There are no overhead expenses; CEDF has no office and staff. Volunteers work out of their homes and the donations received are used for the solely for education of underprivileged children. CEDF ensures that at least 50 percent of the students are girls.
Programs
There are two ongoing programs at the CEDF Home school and Mobile schools. The teachers of these home schools are young women aged 16 to 24 years. The teachers are instructed on teaching methods and given a list of goals set out in the curriculum designed by the CEDF. These girls are allowed to work as teachers by their conservative families since the home schools are located in their own homes. Each school runs a two hour shift with about 20 to 25 students of which about 50 percent are girls. The CEDF pays the teacher’s salary and rent for the room.
For those who cannot reach a home school, CEDF takes the school to them. In 1993, a mobile school service was inaugurated. A large reconditioned bus was purchased with donations, and converted into a classroom with a blackboard, desks and chairs for 24 children. After seven years of service, the old bus become dilapidated and a drive for collecting donations for a new bus was initiated in 2000.
The Hino Bus Corporation was approached and agreed to design a bus as a mobile school, fitted with desks, chairs, ceiling fans, water cooler and a foldable writing screen. The order was placed in January 2001 and the bus was built to their requirements and specifications and was delivered in May 2001. Thanks to a group of volunteers, the colorful artwork on the exterior of the bus was completed in June.
The inauguration of the New Mobile School Bus was performed at the D.H.A Sunset Club on 4 September 2001. The bus is parked in front of a board member’s residence in DHA and driven out to the same areas every day except Sunday, doing four shifts a day. The new bus can accommodate 40 students. There are four 2 hour shifts a day accommodating a total of 160 students.