Barakat in Pakistan

Barakat Pakistan

was formally established as a non-profit entity in Pakistan in March 2000. However, the history of Barakat Pakistan Schools stretches to before that time when the Ersari Turkmen Vegetable Dye Weaving Project was first initiated in the region with a small grant from Cultural Survival in 1987. In order to trace Barakat’s history from 1987 to 1995 when the first Barakat Pakistan school, Ersari Elementary, was established, please click here.

Meeting the needs of refugees

The Turkmen refugees from Afghanistan who had settled in the Punjab and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan lacked the means to educate their children as the Government of Pakistan was unable to provide educational facilities for the huge influx of refugees.

At the same time, it was clear by 1993 that the Taliban’s strangle-hold on Afghanistan was not loosening, leaving the refugees to contemplate a future in their host country. Faced with the real possibility of bringing up a generation without education in Pakistan, Habibullah Karimi and Chris Walter planned on opening a school for Afghan refugees. 

Ersari Elementary School 

was opened in 1994 in a small city on the border of Punjab and NWFP, Attock.

Attock was home to a large population of Afghan refugees, the majority being Turkmen. This was the first school that had ever been opened outside of Aghanistan to benefit primarily Turkmen refugees. However, Hazara, Tajik and Pashtun ethnicties have also become a presence in Barakat Pakistan schools now, as well as few underserved Pakistani children.

Emphasis on Girls' Education

One of the founding principals of the school was that it should strive to educate as many Turkmen girls as possible. Initially convincing Turkmen families to send girls to school was quite a challenge as the Turkmen from Afghanistan are quite conservative in this respect. Intensive efforts by Habibullah Karimi and Abdul Rehman to convince Turkmen elders of the necessity of educating girls resulted in, on an average, 30% of the student population being girls – from the opening day of the schools. This percentage has since increased.

The Evolution of Barakat Pakistan Projects

The curriculum in the early days of the Ersari Academy in Attock was comprised of primarily literacy in Urdu, basic mathematics, Islamiyat and rudimentary Pakistani history. At this time all of the teachers were local, Pakistani women. As time went on some teachers from Northern Afghanistan were brought in who could teach Dari, the national language of Afghanistan. The Principal at Ersari Academy was Mrs. Sumera Sahar whose dedication to the education of Turkmen refugee children has been a long-standing commitment. Her service is greatly admired by all, and she is with Barakat up to this day, currently as Director for Barakat, Pakistan, which is overseeing the management of all Barakat schools.

  • Ersari Elementary School, Attock, Punjab: Officially inaugurated in 1995

  • Ersari School, Haripur, NWFP: Opening ceremony in April 1997

  • Barakat Elementary School, Attock, Punjab: Opening ceremony in April 1998

  • Barakat Pakistan took over management of school projects in March 2000.

  • Barakat School, Haripur, NWFP: Inaugurated in 2001

  • Barakat Primary School, Attock, Punjab: Inaugurated in September 2002

  • Ms. Sahar continued as Principal of Ersari Elementary School till March 2004 when she was appointed as Country Director for Barakat Pakistan

Return to their homeland and back again

At its peak Barakat’s school system in Pakistan was comprised of five schools – three in Attock and two in Haripur – with a combined student population of over 1500 students every year. The subjugation of Afghanistan by the Taliban and their subsequent ouster brought many and traumatic changes to Afghanistan. One of the positive changes was that by 2002 large numbers of refuges living in Paksitan started to return to their home country. The situation in Afghanistan and the poverty there, however, was not conducive to all the refugees returning.

Consequently, we continued to have three schools in Attock, Punjab serving refugees from Afghanistan till 2021.

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, our schools are once again seeing an influx of new students who are escaping with their families over the border to find refuge in Pakistan. Consequently, we now have four day schools and 2 Evening Schools in Pakistan:

  • All-Girls Barakat School/Evening School for Girls

  • Ersari Elementary School

  • Barakat Elementary School

  • Barakat Primary School/Evening School for Girls

  • Quite apart from the schools, Barakat Inc. has also started language classes for new refugees who are adapting to a new country, socially, educationally and professionally.