The small sleepy village of Petaro, 12 kilometres north of Hyderabad on Indus Highway, would reverberate with joyous and national songs when the ground breaking ceremony for a school building will be held there on Sunday. Sindh Minister for Education, Mazhar ul Haq, would lay the foundation stone of the school building, being sponsored by the Global Alumni of Petarians Association (GAPA).
An excited President of the Association, Captain Rashid Abro, told Business Recorder here on Saturday that over 8,000 old Petarians, from all over the globe, have contributed about $350,000--roughly Rs 30 million--for the project. It would be a secondary school where education would be provided free of cost to the poor and needy children of the area.
The building would be ready in two years' time, and classes would start from 2011 academic year. Abro said that GAPA would also undertake several other projects of public welfare in backward areas where basic amenities are not able to enable the deprived people improve their life style. He said that in urban areas people willingly contribute towards such projects but nobody feels the pain and sufferings of rural areas.
It was heartening to see that old Petarians have contributed generously towards the school building project. Captain Abro, who had a distinguished career in merchant navy and is a graduate of Petaro Cadet College, proudly claimed that his old Alma Mater has produced men of learning and stature who have occupied and are occupying high profile jobs in the country and abroad and have earned name and fame for the country.