USAID's rebuilding of the Boys' High School in Dadar has helped revitalize education and renew hope

Atif Hussein and classmates participate in an assembly at the new Dadar Boys' High School. A month after the opening ceremonies, Atif and his friends still wear their "US & Pakistan" hats.

"Even...families that were never interested in education are now insisting that their children attend class regularly."

-- Salahud Din, Resident Engineer who oversees the building at Dadar

After officially re-opening nearly one month ago, the Government Model Boys' High School in Dadar has once again become a scene of activity and learning. The temporary tent schools, set up after the earthquake, have emptied. The classrooms and science labs - built and furnished by USAID - buzz with life. Headmaster, Muhammad Irfan, noted that there has already been a change in the students, a new enthusiasm for the school and for the future.

On October 8, 2006, commemorating last year's earthquake and subsequent relief efforts, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker formally re-opened the first eight classrooms of the Dadar Boy's School, rebuilt by USAID. "We are proud to be your partner, as we were in the relief phase, now in the construction phase," the Ambassador announced.

"I am very excited about the new building. It's wonderful," said student Atif Hussein who, like many of his classmates, still wears the "US & Pakistan: a Winning Team" hats Ambassador Crocker handed out at the opening ceremony. "The tent [school] was dark and dirty and [crowded]. Now we have a new building and I go to school all the time. It is clean. There is light everywhere."

In Dadar village, high up in the Siran Valley, USAID is re-building three schools destroyed during the earthquake. In addition to the Boy's School, just 500 yards up the road construction has already begun on the Girls' Middle and Primary Schools.

The surrounding communities have changed, too. With the completion of the first eight classrooms of the Boys' School and on going construction at the Girls' Middle and Primary Schools, a newfound respect for education has taken root. "Not only are the old students, even those who didn't attend the tent school, returning, but families that were never interested in education are now insisting that their children attend class regularly," explained Salahud Din, resident engineer on the project.

"They're coming from all over the valley. We cannot stop them," Muhammad Irfan laughed. "News of the school has spread, and many want to come here now… There is still much excitement."

The three schools in Dadar are only the first part of USAID's four-year, $200 million reconstruction effort that will build 50 new schools and train 5,000 teachers throughout the earthquake areas.