Dubai: Deyaar Development, one of Dubai’s largest property developers and real estate service providers, has signed an agreement with Dubai Cares to build a primary school in rural Senegal to provide access to educational facilities for the community.
Dubai Cares, part of Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, is a philanthropic organisation launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to improve children’s access to quality education in developing countries.
As part of the Dubai Cares’ Adopt a School initiative, Deyaar will build a primary school in the impoverished region of Fatik in Senegal. It will benefit around 150 children at any given time. This is the second overseas project that Deyaar has supported within the initiative — the first being a school in western Nepal, which opened in February this year.
The Nepalese primary school has five grades and provides education to 165 local children. Additionally, adult literacy classes provide reading and writing skills to 60 adults from the community.
Senegal has a literacy rate of around 39 per cent and very low enrolment rates for primary and secondary education. Approximately, 54 per cent of people in Senegal live below the poverty line and many children face difficulty attending school.
Deyaar CEO Saeed Al Qatami said: “We are very pleased to announce a second partnership with Dubai Cares, and to continue to work with them to improve access to quality education for children around the world.”
Dubai Cares CEO Tariq Al Gurg added: “We feel privileged that Deyaar Development has renewed its trust in us. Dubai Cares has seen first-hand how education can provide a way out of poverty for people in need, which is why our latest partnership with Deyaar is so crucial to the community in Fatik, Senegal.”
Dubai Cares aims to break the cycle of poverty by ensuring all children have access to quality education. Over the past eight years, it says it has successfully launched education programmes reaching over 14 million beneficiaries in 41 developing countries in partnership with UN aid agencies and international and local NGOs.
