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OBAT Halishaher Elementary School is located in Halishaher trade school camp. Halishaher Trade School was established in 1963 to offer vocational training to students. In 1971, after the independence of Bangladesh, ICRC (International Committee of Red Cross) turned the Halishaher Trade School into a camp for stranded Pakistanis. People working in jute and cotton mills, who were rescued by ICRC from various places, took shelter there and it became their permanent residence. At present, nearly seven hundred Urdu speaking families are living in Halishaher. An International NGO, Concern World Wide, ran the elementary school for the Bihari or Urdu speaking children from 1972 to 2003. They closed the school in December 2003 due to strategic changes in their organization.
The new school was started by the present principal, Sohail Khan in 2003. Known as, The Need Elementary School at that time, it was initially formed with one classroom and one teacher and gradually turned into a full fledged elementary school.
In 2005, Mr. Anwar Khan, President of OBAT, visited the Halishaher camp. During his visit, he watched the cultural show put up by the students of the Need Elementary School and it left a deep impact on him. He decided that OBAT would finance the Need Elementary School from 2006. From March 2008 onwards, the school was completely financed by OBAT. Currently, one hundred and eighty-seven students are enrolled in the school.
The Halishaher School is being sponsored with the generous support of Syed Harris from Seattle.
