An innovative educational development project initiated by the local MLA, Pradeep Kumar, has made this Nadakkavu School set an example for all government schools across India. It is one of the few government schools that boasts of offering world-class standards to the students.1

Spearheading this change is Faizal and Shabana Foundation, which has been extending philanthropic support to various programmes in India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The foundation is the brainchild of Faizal E. Kottikollon, 53, and his wife Shabana Faizal, 41, who jointly run KEF Holdings, a company working on six business verticals: infrastructure, healthcare, education, metals and investments.2

Today, this 123-year-old girls’ government school has undergone major transformations. New classrooms, a well-stocked library, state-of-the-art kitchen, canteen, an astro-turf stadium (the first in any school in the State), toilets, multi-purpose hall, and interactive science centre have come up at the school. The school spread across 1,50,000sqft underwent transformation in a record time of 10 months and handed over to the government in December 2013.

Faizal and Shabana Foundation, which was registered as a non-profit in 2012, is headed by Joseph Sebastian, 45, who started his career as a community development worker in an island village in Kochi.

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  • 1. The Rs 17-crore initiative named Promoting Regional Schools to International Standards through Multiple Interventions (PRISM), besides establishing top-class infrastructure facilities in schools, also focusses on increasing the quality of education and enhancement of teaching and leadership skills, with inputs from Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K).
  • 2. “The Nadakkavu School project was a coincidence. I was in Kerala for a few days where I was told about the government schools in the region. There are 1.2 million government schools in India and almost all of them have poor infrastructure and fail to make a big impact.Upon my return to Dubai, I received a call from Mr Pradeep Kumar, MLA, Calicut. He expressed his concerns and plans for the Nadakkavu School and we decided to revamp it over the next few weeks,” recalls Faizal.