City of education: Home away from home for Quaid-e-Azam school students

Over 600 students enrolled at school located 26km away from Karachi airport

KARACHI: Believe it or not but four-year-old Mir Ali Jaan only meets his parents once a month and spends the rest of his time at school, happily.

Mir Ali is a Kindergarten student at Quaid-e-Azam Public School located in Darsano Chano, which is around 26 kilometres from Karachi airport. Run by the Sindh Madressah Board, the 200-acre school and its hostel have been able to give their students a home away from home. "I feel happy here because I have many friends and I play in the grounds also," said the young student, as he scribbled into his drawing book.

The red bricks structure stands out in the desert-like environment with a few villages dotting the terrain. It was founded in 1987 by educationist Nisar Hassanally Effendi, whose vision was to create an institution to groom the future generation of this country.

"This school has transformed the perception of education in the villages where every female wants to study and every man want his daughter to be empowered," said Prof Mazharul Haq Siddiqui, a former vice-chancellor of Sindh University who is now on Quaid-e-Azam school's board of directors. He recalled how the school started with only 13 students and, after 28 years later, it is home to over 675 students, 35 per cent of whom are female.

Both boys and girls attend the school, which offers classes from Kindergarten to Intermediate. A few years ago, the school's governing body decided to built separate sections for boys and girls but were met with resistance, said Siddiqui. A large number of women from the surrounding villages came in favour of co-education, he added.

Diversity in numbers

The three buildings have classes for the preparatory section, lower secondary and middle school section, and the higher secondary section. "We believe in empowering females, which is why 35 of our 45 teachers are females," said Siddiqui, pointing that most teachers come from the nearby Dur Muhammad Goth.

A senior teacher, who has been teaching at the institution for the past 14 years, shared how their students hail, not only from the nearby villages, but from Karachi and as far away as Balochistan. "We have a lot of students from Turbat, Zhob, Quetta, Gwadar and Nooriabad," she said.

Fun after school

The extra-curricular activities that the school offers make sure their students wear huge smiles on their faces. With separate classes for singing and dancing, the school encourages arts and crafts as well. In fact, there is a separate room dedicated to the display of arts and science projects made by the students.

"Our aim is to make the students competitive so we have divided them into four sections — blue, green, yellow and red houses — for sports competitions," explained the head of the primary section and a former student, Shazia Kareem.

For her, the institution is more than a school and she is happy to be a source of encouragement for others too. "There are many teachers who were once students here," she said, sharing how she believes in giving back to the school what it has given her in terms of education and empowerment.

Despite the comprehensive curriculum and focus on extra-curricular activities, the teachers fear their students are unable to have the same exposure as students in schools in the city. The head of the higher secondary section, Abdul Waseem, admitted their students face difficulties adjusting in universities as they are not used to the competition.

Fee structure

The school has varying fee structures in place for different sections — ranging from Rs1,350 per month for kindergarten to class one to Rs1,450 per month for classes two to five. The admissions fee includes charges for sports, health and other facilities.

The  monthly tuition fee goes up to Rs1,600 for classes six to eight while students of classes nine and Matric have to pay Rs1,650. Intermediate fee is Rs1,750, apart from the admission charge.

The school does, however, offer a generous scholarship programme. "Around 110 students are on 100 per cent scholarship," pointed out the principal and project director, Altaf Hussain Shah. Some board members have also taken up the educational expenses of a few students, he added.

The ones who stay in the hostel have to bear certain additional costs. They have to pay Rs10,000 at the time of admission and then Rs2,000 as monthly rent for the room, and Rs3,700 a month for mess food, laundry and haircut and for a tuition teacher who helps them do their homework. "The hostel building has the capacity for 250 students," said the principal.

Handling the money

The school receives Rs200,000 every month from the Sindh Madressah Board to pay salaries to their teaching and non-teaching staff. "The revenue from the fee is not enough to bear all the expenses as we have teachers getting a high pay," said Shah, adding that teachers earn anywhere between Rs10,000 and Rs42,000 a month.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2015.