Two months ago, young and dynamic Don Bosco Past Pupils of Pakistan, from the DB Technical school, Lahore launched their campaign to help enroll 1000 new students for the school, for the academic year 2022-2023. The idea started in the local meeting of Lahore Local Unit members, and all agreed to help Don Bosco Lahore in the Admissions Campaign 2022, as volunteers. A highly committed and creative ten member group of Past Pupils was formed and they are passionately promoting their Don Bosco Technical School.
The President of the local unit remarked: “It was very painful for us to note, that during and after COVID-19 period, we experienced that many young people preferred going to any industry as unskilled labour rather than getting technical education from a good educational institution. So, for the past two years we have been watching that the number of admissions in our Don Bosco school has been going down. We were worried, and we thought how we could reverse this trend and bring the youth of Yohanabad (the largest Christian 'colony' in Pakistan, where the technical school is also located) to get solid technical education. We have set a target of 1000 students enrollment for this coming year 2022-2023”.
Regarding recruitment, Past Pupils movement in Pakistan thinks that it's not just the matter of getting 'more students', but the training style and quality, and youth interests oriented programmes that have to be offered to attract new students. Infact, in the current academic year 11 new short courses of 3-6 months of duration are offered to the students.
At present, the Don Bosco Technical School in Lahore has a good number of experienced and skillful teachers. All trades (sections) have two teachers, both for Theory Classes and Practical Training. The number of teachers might be increased depending on the number of students.
A highly committed group of Don Bosco Past Pupils are now using all media channels for the advertising and promoting Don Bosco Technical School admissions. Number of flyers and leaflets are being distributed through the Print Media, and lot of promotion and engagement is taking place on social media on platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. The Pakistan Catholic and Christian TV channels are also promoting the technical school, and a number of posters and banners are seen all around the streets of Youhanabad, and no doubt face to face promotion also takes place with the local people, especially the Christians.
The Past Pupils hope in a positive response, and if the campaign succeeds, it will make a huge difference in the enrollment of the students. Don Bosco Technical School in Lahore was founded by the first Salesian missionaries in Pakistan in 1999, and until now some 4000 young people graduated this school (https://donboscolahore.edu.pk) . It is so encouraging and comforting to see and hear the echoes of the Pakistani Don Bosco Past Pupils on the social media 'We love Don Bosco!’
https://www.infoans.org/en/component/k2/item/15834#sigProIde3ee2a4e15
