News article

Appeal for Assistance for Two Schools for 557 Refugee Children in Qum – Iran
26/02/2008

January 2008
Lady fatemah trust
Psychological research shows that regular school attendance helps refugee children to adjust to the harsh reality of refugee life. Attending school provides the children with a structured day and prevents idleness or their absorption into the labour market at a much too early age. Moreover, it gives them a sense of empowerment and control of their future.
The most valuable capital for the future of a refugee child is a good education. Being educated will make life easier, whether the child spends his or her adult life as a refugee or returns to his/her country.
For some Iraqi and Afghan refugee children in Iran, attending school is difficult. Some children do not have the necessary refugee documents to sign up in Iranian public schools and need to study in informal schools established by refugees to teach refugee children. In order to remain operative, these schools need to charge school fees, but many refugee families are not able to afford them.
Imam Mehdi (as) School in the village of Jamkaran near Qum registered 557 students for the 2007-2008 academic year. The school charged 500,000 Rials per student upon registration this year, but this amount is not sufficient to pay the salaries of the 40 teachers the school employs for the duration of the academic year. Moreover, many students come from extremely poor families that frequently do not have a male breadwinner and are headed by a woman. The school’s headmaster is extremely sympathetic to such families and in many cases he waives all or part of the fee.
Imam Mehdi (as) School will need to either request a second instalment of fees from its students or receive donations to remain operative until 30 June 2008, the end of the Iranian scholastic year. Experience has shown that many families are not able to pay a second instalment and will be forced to discontinue their children’s education.

Ganj-ul-Arsh School for Afghan refugee children charges a minimal fee to pay token salaries to its teachers. The school is not able to purchase any equipment and lacks heaters for the school’s five classrooms.

Appeal for assistance from Imam Mehdi (as) School for Iraqi refugee children and Ganj-ul-Arsh School for Afghan refugee children
	Exchange Rate				18,900	Rial / GBP
No.	Item	Unit Cost (Rial)	No.	Months	Full Cost (Rial)	Full Cost (GBP)
*1. Stationery for Imam Mehdi School*
1	Notebook	2,300.00	4,927		11,332,100	599.58
2	Pencil & Ball pen	1,100.00	2,746		3,020,600	159.82
3	Eraser	700.00	557		389,900	20.63
4	Pencil Sharpener	700.00	557		389,900	20.63
5	Transportation				200,000	10.58
Total Stationery					15,332,500	811.24
*2. Salaries for Teachers of Imam Mehdi School*
6	Salaries for 21 female teachers for 6 months	1,000,000.00	21	6	126,000,000	6,666.67
7	Salaries for 19 male teachers for 6 months	1,000,000.00	19	6	114,000,000	6,031.75
Total Teacher's salaries					240,000,000	12,698.41
*3. Gas heaters for Ganj-ul-Arsh School*
8	Gas heaters	850,000.00	5		4,250,000	224.87
9	Side equipment & Installation	150,000.00	5		750,000	39.68
10	Transportation				200,000	10.58
Total Gas heaters					5,200,000	275.13
Total Direct Project Cost					260,532,500	13,784.79
Monitoring cost					13,026,625	689.24
Balance from 2007 Imam Mehdi (as) School program					6,389,392	338.06
Total Project Requirements					267,169,733	14,135.96

No.	Item	Grade										Total
No.	Item	1st pr.	2nd pr.	3rd pr.	4th pr.	5th pr.	6th pr.	1st junior	2nd junior	3rd junior	1st high	Total
No. of students		48	74	67	76	83	59	58	58	22	12	557
1	100 sheet notebook				76	166	177	174	174	66	36	869	4,927
2	80 sheet notebook	96	148	134	152	166	118	116	116	44	24	1,114
3	60 sheet notebook	96	148	134	152	166	118	116	116	44	24	1,114
4	40 sheet notebook	96	148	134	152	166						696
5	Drawing book	48	74	67	76	83	59	58	58	22	12	557
6	English notebook				76	83	118	116	116	44	24	577
7	Ball pen				152	249	177	232	232	88	48	1,178	2,746
8	Black Pencil	144	222	201	152	166	118	116	116	44	24	1,303
9	Red pencil	48	74	67	76							265
10	Eraser	48	74	67	76	83	59	58	58	22	12	557	557
11	Pencil Sharpener	48	74	67	76	83	59	58	58	22	12	557	557

No.	Item	Grade
No.	Item	1st pr.	2nd pr.	3rd pr.	4th pr.	5th pr.	6th pr.	1st junior	2nd junior	3rd junior	1st high
1	100 sheet notebook				1	2	3	3	3	3	3
2	80 sheet notebook	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
3	60 sheet notebook	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
4	40 sheet notebook	2	2	2	2	2
5	Drawing book	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
6	English notebook				1	1	2	2	2	2	2
7	Ball pen				2	3	3	3	3	4	4
8	Black Pencil	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
9	Red pencil	1	1	1	1
10	Eraser	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
11	Pencil Sharpener	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Your donation will ensure that the refugee children studying in these two schools can continue their education and will not be forced to work. Please, give these children a chance!

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Yours sincerely,
Amirali G. Karim
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Appeal for Assistance for Two Schools for 557 Refugee Children in Qum – Iran 26/02/2008

Appeal for Assistance for Two Schools for 557 Refugee Children in Qum – Iran
26/02/2008