A SPORTING couple are aiming to raise £20,000 to build a new school in a poverty-stricken area of Pakistan where children are desperately in need of a good education.
Sohail Mughal and his wife Salma Bi, a Birmingham-based award-winning cricketer, have launched a fund-raising drive to make the dreams of hundreds of youngsters a reality.
The determined duo's focus is on getting a brand new school built from the first brick to the last.
Head teacher Sohail Mughal secured a building plot earlier this year for the new development.
He stressed a decision was made to build a new school on the grounds of health and safety. The school he currently teaches at is unsuitable for refurbishment and unsafe.
Having been granted planning permission, Sohail and Salma now wish to raise £20,000 so this proposed new primary and secondary school is safe and big enough for 1,000 children.
The project will also create jobs for teachers in the community. The shortage of jobs in education is becoming a serious concern in Pakistan, especially for female teachers.
Sohail said: "We want to encourage and leave a sporting passion in the chosen school and try our best to help and support as much as we can.
"We want to inspire the children and through sport we can leave something for them to enjoy and remember."
The READ Foundation school which Sohail has worked at since 2008 initially started with only 10 children but now has grown to educate 150 youngsters.
The issues of concern are with renovation of the current building and that it is too small.
The school looks after the needs of poor and orphaned children. It is financially struggling and Sohail's fears are that it will close.
On a recent visit Salma observed teachers conducting lessons to six classes with over 25 children per classroom.
Led by principal Sohail, Salma realised how much work is required in this school.
Lessons are taught in cramped rooms, only benches to sit on and minimum teaching equipment available.
Salma said: "The children have great potential - they aspire to become doctors, lawyers and even pilots! We need to help them realise their dreams by creating the right learning environment.
"We can't wait to get the renovation project started and hope to see a better future for these children. "We found four labour children who were taken in. Some as young as six years old were found working in hotels washing dishes and others making bricks in scorching heat without food or water for hours.
"Lives have been changed but more is yet to be done. Once certain children reach a certain age they stop going to school which we need to prevent and this can only be achieved if we can keep this local school and provide better facilities.
"Once all is finalised the school will take up to seven to eight months to build and both Sohail and I will continue to create more and more funding so each year the school meets its targets and most importantly continue to provide vital education for the children."
So how will the couple go about raising funds?
Well as many of you may have guessed, where Salma is concerned it has to involve SPORT!
An ambassador for the Muslim Sports Council, Salma, who was the first Asian woman to play county cricket for Worcestershire, has lined up a special sporting event next year.
She will host a potential WORLD RECORD 30 HOURS FUTSAL MARATHON in April 2015.
Salma has already organised a 10-hour and 20-hour futsal marathons which raised thousands of pounds for both national and local charities - but now she plans to go one step further.
The event will involve Futsal - five-a-side football - and will invite girls from across the UK to play for 30 hours non-stop.
It is scheduled to take place on Saturday 4th April 2015 1pm to Sunday 5th April 2015 7pm.
Salma added: "We are looking for sponsors right now and up to the event and appreciate all the generous support that is available. Please feel free to make donations
** The READ Foundation is a not-for-profit educational network in rural Pakistan. The READ Foundation runs a network of 339 schools in eight districts of Pakistan including Murree, Gilgit-Baltistan and the outskirts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. It has 3,277 teachers and serves 70,000 children including 7,000 orphans.
