Abu Dhabi: The Al Noor Centre for Care and Rehabilitation for Special Needs is seeking support for a new, bigger school building in Mohammad Bin Zayed City.
The school currently operates off Muroor Road with 11 rooms for around 70 students.
The proposed centre will have a built up area of 50,000 square feet and could accommodate over 400 students when it gets ready in 2015.
“In two years, we will have to move to the new location in Mohammad Bin Zayed City where the Abu Dhabi government has granted us around 90,000 square feet of land,” said Suaad Hasan Al Komi, Principal of the centre.
“The construction cost of the new building will be partially borne partially by the government. We will have to raise the rest of it. We will also require funds to equip the centre with physiotherapy and hydrotherapy facilities,” she said.
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“Most of our students are from poor families and cannot even pay their fees. The Red Crescent Society and the Khalifa Bin Zayed Humanitarian Foundation are our main funding sources. We are looking for more support,” said Al Komi.
The centre is hoping to raise between Dh6 and Dh7 million from corporates and individuals.
“We are planning to build 20 classrooms, high-tech physiotherapy and hydrotherapy rooms, and a 25-bed dormitory for special needs orphans,” said Al Komi.
When XPRESS visited the centre, a morning assembly was in progress. After the assembly, the children were taken to their classrooms. In one such room children between 13 and 18 years were deeply engrossed in computers.
Al Komi said the computers were given by a benevolent donor shortly after a meeting with corpororate heads and individuals.
“We regularly host coffee mornings with corporate heads. During one such meet we expressed the desire to teach computers to children. A few days later, a benevolent donor turned up and gave us 21 desktops.” Currently the centre is burdened by growing operational expenses. “We pay an annual rent of Dh200,000. We have six buses as our children come from the outskirts of Abu Dhabi like Baniyas, Shahama and other places. The teachers take a low salary of around Dh2,000 per month.”
Ebrahim S.H. Al Haddar, Co-Founder and Chairman, Nahtam Social Responsibility, said: “This is the reason why we keep having regular coffee mornings to invite corporates to help in whatever way they can. Many Good Samaritans have contributed to the centre, but we need some solid support when we move to the new place.”
