An extraordinary meeting of the board members of Zehra Trust was held at the residence of the current chairman Prof. Dr K Abbas on Friday, April 12, 2024. The meeting was attended by the following board members: -

·      Prof Dr. K. Abbas

·      Dr. Hassan Abbas

·      Mehboob Hussain

·      Ali Asghar Hasnain

·      Syed Matloob Hussain

·      Jabeen Hasnain

·      Seemeen Zehra

Unfortunately, Razia Abbas couldn’t attend the meeting due to illness.

The meting was formerly started by an introduction about the Zehra Trust current financial status. The shortfall of funds was highlighted due to the absence of formal funding. The board members thanked Mr. Syed Matloob Hussain for his services in the past. Since a formal structure of funding in Zehra Trust has so far not been established it was conceded by the board members that continuation of Zehra Trust in its present form seems difficult. However, the board members discussed in the start that the moral commitment to children at Nor Public School by Zehra Trust should continue in any form. The meeting revolves around a 3-point agenda.

• The 1st agenda point was about the current critical state of the finances available in the Zehra Trust Bank Account. It was clearly mentioned in front of board members that an amount of PKR 36.000/- only is available on monthly basis for the next 1 Year.

• The 2nd agenda point discussed was to establish a stainability plan for trust utilizing the available funds from April 01, 2024, until Mar 31, 2025.

o  In this regard the 1st proposal put forward was to restrict the monthly Stipend for Nor Public School from 40.000/- PKR to 25.000/- PKR only. This proposal was accepted by all the   board members by voting in favor and none of the member voted against this proposal. However, an action item proposed by the board members was to develop an eligibility criterion for students currently enrolled at Nor Public School to identify potential recipients. 

 o Next proposal discussed was to cease the monthly stipend of PKR 15.000/- to the servants of current board members. This proposal was also agreed by all the members by voting in       favor. 

o  Another proposal discussed was to continue the current stipend of PKR 10.000/- to the misc. students enrolled at other schools in and around Paswal Village.

o The last proposal put forward while discussing the sustainability plan was to restrict the stipends for children at Nor Public School from Class 6 to Class 10. This proposal was not fully endorsed by the board members and further information was recommended to accept this proposal.

• The 3rd agenda point discussed was the revival plan of Zehra Trust for future years. While discussing this agenda item, the following points were endorsed by the board members.

o Resignation of all the current board members before June 01, 2024. An action item was proposed in this regard that all the legal procedures like formal resolution etc. will be undertaken by a two-member sub-committee that will include Mr. Syed Matloob Hussain & Mr. Syed Mehboob Hussain.  

 o  Appointment of Mr. Mohammad Shabih as the new chairman/president of Zehra Trust and give full authority to constitute a new board and raise funds for running the Trust in coming years.

Finally, before closing the meeting, the current chairman of Zehra Trust requested Mr. Mohammad Shabih to brief all the board members about the strategies for raising future funding to make the Trust more efficient. The meeting was called off after all the ideas presented were appreciated by the current board members. At the end of the meeting, all the board members thanked the current Chairman for organising & convening this important meeting at his place that led to the formation of a sustainable way forward for the Trust.