Sumble Butt writes about the unequal education opportunities in Pakistan.....

Every morning Noor wakes up with nursery rhymes echoing in her ears from a charity school in Johar Town managed by a Non- Government Organization. Noor’s father is a car driver and draws a salary that can barely meet the nutritional requirements of his family. She and her three siblings live in the servant quarters of the family who employs her father Ramzan. Going to school was a dream of this seven year old until Ms. Ruba Humayun opened up a charity school in her neighborhood, which made it possible for her to get education. This charity school is named, "Door of Awareness" and has made the dream of getting education come true for more than five hundred children in Lahore.

Ms. Humayun is an activist. She was once distributing food to the poor and needy children in this neighborhood, when she spotted a desire in their eyes to go to school with pencils, books and bags and get education. Three years ago she went back home and discussed with her husband the possibility to teach children in her neighborhood and with the help of a dozen volunteers and philanthropists she now runs 11 schools in driveways of homes. Looking at the huge gap in education opportunities for the poor Ruba set up charity schools in courtyards and drive ways of residential areas in Lahore to keep the cost of education low for the donors. 

Empowering students through education is a major challenge ahead of Pakistan, with 57% literacy rate and its syllabi divided by virtue of which social strata students belong to, all students do not have access to a combined education system. There are public schools, private schools and than some charitable NGOs running schools for less privileged in the city, says Former Education Minister of Pakistan.

“In a country raking amongst the top few as regards to corruption, I would not perceive the literacy rate reported by the survey reports as close to reality. From the children enrolling in schools, there is a large percentage of those dropping out due to lack of teachers, constant mobility of parents owing to lack of employment opportunities and child labor”, says Farooq Khan, Senior Teacher at Divisional Public School. 

“The country’s education system is divided in three main groups; Private Schools, Public Schools and the Charitable schools run by NGOs. The syllabi followed and taught in these schools is entirely different and determines what kind of employment opportunities exist for all the students” said Mr. Shahid Kardar, Educational Advisor at Lahore School of Economics.

“The learning opportunities provided by private schools are restricted to the affluent classes. In order to offer quality education to the masses it requires time, effort and resources. Public schools should be adequately funded in order to attract qualified teachers”, says Ms. Rizwana Imtiaz, Teacher at Choueifat.

Rizwana’s own driver’s children Noor, Ali and Hamza also go to a charity school. She feels it’s a great fortune for the parents who cannot afford their children’s education expenses. Upon asking if she would like to volunteer working for the same neighborhood charity school she said, “Teachers working in private schools get seven times the salary they would make in charitable schools funded by philanthropists. In public schools also the salaries paid are about one-third of the teacher salaries in private schools. If these schools started paying salaries at par with market value, good teachers would be willing to work for them as well”.

The challenges identified by Ruba in running her NGO called, "Door of Awareness" are somewhat similar.  

Unfortunately, there has been a trust deficit between government and NGOs both working in watertight compartments. The efforts are made in isolation rather than coordinated and orchestrated endeavors to deal with the menace of illiteracy resulting in low impact. Even in the countries like Bangladesh, NGOs are playing a leading role and making a major contribution in eradication of illiteracy. 

In view of the magnitude of the challenge in terms of number of illiterates in Punjab (province), which is always on the rise due to high population growth, it is high time that all the stakeholders including Government and NGOs join hands and make all out and coordinated efforts to root out illiteracy from the region.

While the challenges Ms. Humayun faces are numerous, however, some key pointed out include;

To keep the teaching staff motivated to work at lower salaries and in less than comfortable working environments. The teachers who volunteer to work with NGOS do not come from affluent backgrounds either.

To struggle with challenging weather conditions, as most of Door of Awareness schools are setup in homes and garages, which are not purpose built for schools. The weather conditions become challenging for both teachers and students in summers and winters.

To get constant pipeline of funds, as donors are constantly being contacted by several foundations and hospitals to make charitable contributions. 

To keep up the commitment of students and families for sending children to schools despite problems at home. Several families have interest in vocational training for their children. They want their sons and daughters to learn skills like plumbing and sewing among others.

“In private schools students have access to internet and notebooks for research and learning, while in charity schools they do not have chairs and tables and its syllabi breads knowledge which is limited and does not spur creativity and out of the box thinking. Students in our school can never imagine becoming bigger than a factory worker or mason”, says a Teacher at a Charity School.

Source: Door of Awareness, 

Johar Town

Noor's father Ramzan feels if his daughter completes high school, he will consider it a great accomplishment as even in informal jobs as nursemaids or domestic helpers people expect workers to be able to read product labels and remember price of grocery items. Survival is really hard if you are uneducated. But Noor's family is among a few rare and passionate families who see value in education unlike most lower income families who view schooling as loss of household income.

While the task seems obstinate there is light at the end of the tunnel as long as there are children passionate to learn. Many children like Noor do not mind washing dishes in the evening as long as they are able to go to school every morning.