Forman Christian College - June 2020 Update
Lahore, Pakistan
This spring semester in Lahore was shaping up to be one of the best in Forman Christian College’s 156-year history. Over 8,300 students were enrolled in the Intermediate, Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral programs. FCC Rector Dr. Tebbe recently wrote this report on the spring semester…
We had the biggest and best job fair ever this February with 108 companies coming to recruit our students. Our newly appointed Registrar was blown away by it all. He commented that there was nothing like this in all of Pakistan. International student exchange has been thriving. Internship placements have exploded and are being well managed.
Students and faculty who come to us from other universities assure us that there is no place like Forman Christian College in all of Pakistan. The energy that is producing growth in the breadth of educational experiences, the numbers of students, and the quality of teaching and now research that is coming from our faculty and staff have a dynamism that is wonderful to see.
To facilitate student clubs, mentoring and western-style learning a spacious new Campus Center/Digital Library was being constructed at the heart of the campus, and then the COVID-19 crisis hit. It swept over Pakistan like a massive storm. Borders to Iran and Afghanistan were closed first. The government told universities to send the students home as everyone sheltered in place. Foreign faculty and staff members were warned by their embassies to leave the country, but most chose to stay. Day laborers had to stop working and offerings were taken up among the professional staff to give out food parcels to construction workers to get their families through the next few months. A professor organized food bundles for 200 of the poorest families of our students. Dr. Tebbe and his staff labored intensively to put 960 courses online, straining their IT capacity, and pivoting quickly from classroom teaching to distance learning. Classes were recorded for students who had spotty electricity and WIFI so they could catch up when they could get online. One professor even lectured over the phone for students in remote regions. Remarkably, the semester has been completed as they await word on whether they can open the campus again in the fall.
Forman is praying for new students to enroll and for all on-campus activities to resume in September. Normally 1,000 Christian students are studying at Forman making up 12% of the student body. However, with wages lost due to the COVID-19 shut down paired with a 13% inflation rate and a 30% devaluation of the rupee, families will desperately need scholarships to send or keep their students in school. Prayers and gifts are greatly appreciated.
Rev. Sam Schreiner
Executive Director
Friends of Forman
Read more about Forman Christian College HERE.
THE NEED
The Outreach Foundation is seeking gifts totaling $27,000 to support a chaplaincy ministry at Forman
as well as scholarships for students who come from poor families. You may make a gift HERE or by sending a check to our office.