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Pakistan links boost pupils’ knowledge

26/ 1/2007

PAKISTANI head teacher Inyat Ullah brought gifts and greetings from his pupils when he visited children at a Manchester school.

Mr Ullah is the head of Swatt Burn Hall School in the Swatt Valley, part of the country's remote North West Frontier Province,

Pupils from Cheetham Church of England Community School, in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, have become pen pals with Burn Hall youngsters swapping letters and gifts with them.

Mr Ullah said his 10 days visit to the UK and the school and been "wonderful".

"I have learned so much," he said.

"It has been a fascinating experience to see how education works here. It is all very new to me. I was especially impressed with the rigorous systematic way children are taught here."

Burn Hall is a school for underprivileged Pakistani children.

Said Cheetham Community head Paul Barnes: "Our links with Burn Hall have been of great value to our children. It encourages them all, but especially the boys, the write of their experiences to their friends in Pakistan."

Pupil Safaa Attiah, aged 10 has been writing to her 100-year-old Pakistan friend Hina for a year now.

"It's has been very interesting," she said. "We are learning about different peoples' lives and cultures. We send each other gifts. I sent Hina perfume."