UAE-India Education Initiative Revamps Srinagar Girls’ School

SRINAGAR: A landmark education project supported by a UAE-based Indian business leader is set to transform opportunities for hundreds of Kashmiri girls, with a newly revamped school block in Srinagar scheduled for inauguration this month.

According to a Gulf News report, the Middle School block at Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Kothibagh, has been fully redeveloped under the DREAM School Project, an initiative of the Faizal and Shabana Foundation (FSF). The project is led by Faizal Kottikollon, chairman of the UAE India Business Council (UIBC), UAE Chapter, and founder of KEF Holdings in Dubai.

The revamped facility will be officially inaugurated on October 27. It is part of Kottikollon’s wider commitment to bring FSF’s award-winning model of school transformation, first implemented in Kerala, to Jammu and Kashmir.

Kottikollon had pledged the project during a high-level UAE business delegation’s visit to Srinagar in 2023, the same occasion that saw the groundbreaking of the Emaar Mall project in the city. On Thursday, he met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in Srinagar, extending a personal invitation to inaugurate the upgraded school. The meeting also touched upon philanthropy’s wider role in healthcare and holistic development in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are humbled to contribute to the future of Srinagar’s youth through the DREAM School. Education is the most powerful form of investment in human capital,” Kottikollon said, adding that the initiative reflects the spirit of an “innovative, inclusive, and impact-driven” UAE-India partnership.

The DREAM School project builds on FSF’s earlier PRISM programme, which has upgraded over 900 government schools in India since 2013. One of its success stories is the Nadakkavu Government School in Kozhikode, Kerala, which received an Dh 8.9 million makeover and now ranks among the top three government day schools in India.

At Kothibagh, the transformation includes digital classrooms, smart libraries, modern IT labs, and international-standard infrastructure. More than 90 teachers from both Kashmir and Kerala have undergone specialised training, fostering cross-regional collaboration and raising teaching standards. Community initiatives like the North-South Dialogue and theme-based interventions are also designed to make the changes sustainable.

To ensure lasting impact, project offices have been set up at the Directorate of School Education and within the Kothibagh campus for monitoring, coordination, and capacity building.

Kottikollon described the Srinagar initiative as “a flagship example of how cross-border philanthropy, strategic diplomacy, and shared values can come together to build a better future.”

Educationists in Srinagar have welcomed the move as a potential replicable model for other schools across the valley. With official support and sustained community involvement, the Kothibagh school makeover may become the first of many such interventions in Kashmir’s government education sector.