Teachers, maids, watchmen awarded

Foundation Public School celebrats 30 years, gives credit to those deserving it.

KARACHI: As the Foundation Public School (FPS) celebrated its 30 years, it made sure that it gave credit to those deserving it.

From teachers to maids and watchmen, no one went back empty-handed. The ceremony was arranged at the school’s college campus, near Masjid-e-Tooba in Defence on Saturday.

The audience mainly comprised teachers and the administrative staff with very few students spotted. The bhangra dhol kept everyone in the festive mood as they waited for the ceremony to start. Yasmeen Minhas, one of the founding principals and the host, explained that the dhol wala will beat his dhol every now and then so that no sleeps before the event begins.

The school gave three-star awards for teachers who went beyond their daily duties and stayed with the school for over 15 to 20 years. Minhas called out their names and several of them made their way to the stage — some too surprised to say anything, some overcome by stage fright and some modest about their achievements.

Shaheena Sultan was among those who thought she did not deserve it even after completing 23 years at the school. With strands of grey showing in her hair, she recalled how she had no sense of time or day after the death of her husband. “My children were nine and six years old at that time and the only thing I did was sleep the whole day or wait for them to come home.”

One day, FPS called her to fill in for an Urdu teacher but she refused straight away. Since her children were already studying there and she feared she would go into depression, she eventually decided to give it a shot. “I changed my mind and they were gracious enough to keep the offer. Since then, I have not looked back.”

Teacher Samina Rajbhoi also joined the school along with her children and now feels that she will not be able to leave the school after working for 10 years.

Appreciating the respect the school gives to its teachers, Minhas said that, since the past 29 years, FPS has given 265 awards to teachers and staff members on the basis of their organisation skills, attendance and overall evaluation. “Some teachers are given trophies for their heroic work for the community,” she added.

Mrs Rubina Shahid received an award for completing 25 years with the FPS amid loud cheers and applause from the audience. She joined the school in 1985. Earlier it was difficult for her to take out time for the school “but now it is getting much difficult give time to my family, who complains that my job is more important for me now”.

Another teacher who received the three-star award remarked that he would have been happier if the consequent increment would have been Rs30,000 rather than just Rs3,000. His colleagues laughed at his comment but they all agreed that no matter what the pay, they were satisfied with their work.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2011.