Man comes out of juvenile prison with a mission: To combat violence through education
Muhammad Iqbal Khoso offers children of his village the opportunity he was denied
Keen to end ignorance, tribal warfare, terrorism, poverty and barbarity through education, Khoso opened up a small school in his village named after himself, Muhammad Iqbal Khoso village in Jamshoro district. Currently, about 100 students are enrolled in the primary school. PHOTO: COURTESY MUHAMMAD IQBAL KHOSO
KARACHI:
To counter the impact of tribal wars on young minds, 40-year-old Muhammad Iqbal Khoso has been striving hard since the last eight years to facilitate the children of his village to get education.
Khoso was enrolled in class five, when his world came crashing down due to his family's engagement in a tribal strife. "I was 11-years-old when I was sentenced to six months in juvenile prison," he remarked as his tears poured down ceaselessly. He became a soft target for the rivals of his family during the tribal war.
"It was the worst time of my life and the memories still haunt me at times," he said while recalling the horrors of his imprisonment.
Keen to end ignorance, tribal warfare, terrorism, poverty and barbarity through education, Khoso opened up a small school in his village named after himself, Muhammad Iqbal Khoso village in taluka Manjhand, Jamshoro district. Currently, about 100 students are enrolled in the primary school.
"I decided to open a school for the children for whom there were no such facility," he explained, adding that looking at these children studying makes me feel good about myself. "Educating the children is the only way to eradicate the roots of tribal and ethnic wars from the village," he added.
Improving Karachi’s education, one institution at a time
Every day, he sits with the children in his school and seeks to give them the childhood, which he was denied. He has promised to eradicate the atrocities unleashed by feudal lords on the people of his village.
A life of suffering
According to his Khoso, his family members had clashes with many tribes which resulted in murders and arrests of many people. While residing at Khundo Stop, the family had a strife with a much powerful tribe. As a result, each and every member of his family including Khoso was put behind bars and charges with various crimes.
After he came out of the prison after six months, Khoso's family members had gone into hiding and settled in a temporary village near Rajri. However, their rivals were able to trace them and carried out many atrocities against them there as well.
Under the duress, the family took refuge in the mountains of Kirthir for more than 15 years. He remarked that he wanted to continue his education but their temporary abode lacked any education facility.
During the process, he realised that in the tribal clashes and wars, children are punished of crimes they never committed. He feared that the vicious cycle would continue and the children would also continue to suffer. To break free from the clutches of nonsensical violence, he decided to preach the importance of education to those around him.
Once the matters settled, his tribe migrated back to his village.
After returning, Khoso decided to educate his three sons and six daughters and enrolled them in a school near Manjhand. However, it was not enough for him as he wanted to help other young minds in his village too.
Khoso soon opened a temporary school and appointed a teacher.
Combating challenges
Initially the people in the village were quiet reluctant to enroll their children, Khoso pointed out. So, he went to the houses of everyone in the village and requested the parents to send their children to the school for at least a year.
Media talk: ‘We are committed to implementing education emergency’
However, when students were not showing up he started cooking sweet rice at his home and invited the children to eat where the school had been temporarily set up.
After a struggle of two years, the people of his village were impressed by his determination and started sending their children to his school.
He also visited the local elected representatives and officials of education department to establish a proper school in the village. After this, the Sindh government sanctioned a two-room building and one teacher for his school. Currently, he is struggling to complete the construction work of the building and looking to hire another teacher. "We have hired two teachers privately as the government teacher never shows up," he said, adding that aside from paying them salary he also provides them fuel cost as they live about five kilometres before away from the village.
Khoso works as a security in-charge at a private company and he pays the salary of the teachers from his own pocket. The school does not even have electricity and they offer free of charge education to the students.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2017.
To counter the impact of tribal wars on young minds, 40-year-old Muhammad Iqbal Khoso has been striving hard since the last eight years to facilitate the children of his village to get education.
Khoso was enrolled in class five, when his world came crashing down due to his family's engagement in a tribal strife. "I was 11-years-old when I was sentenced to six months in juvenile prison," he remarked as his tears poured down ceaselessly. He became a soft target for the rivals of his family during the tribal war.
"It was the worst time of my life and the memories still haunt me at times," he said while recalling the horrors of his imprisonment.
Keen to end ignorance, tribal warfare, terrorism, poverty and barbarity through education, Khoso opened up a small school in his village named after himself, Muhammad Iqbal Khoso village in taluka Manjhand, Jamshoro district. Currently, about 100 students are enrolled in the primary school.
"I decided to open a school for the children for whom there were no such facility," he explained, adding that looking at these children studying makes me feel good about myself. "Educating the children is the only way to eradicate the roots of tribal and ethnic wars from the village," he added.
Improving Karachi’s education, one institution at a time
Every day, he sits with the children in his school and seeks to give them the childhood, which he was denied. He has promised to eradicate the atrocities unleashed by feudal lords on the people of his village.
A life of suffering
According to his Khoso, his family members had clashes with many tribes which resulted in murders and arrests of many people. While residing at Khundo Stop, the family had a strife with a much powerful tribe. As a result, each and every member of his family including Khoso was put behind bars and charges with various crimes.
After he came out of the prison after six months, Khoso's family members had gone into hiding and settled in a temporary village near Rajri. However, their rivals were able to trace them and carried out many atrocities against them there as well.
Under the duress, the family took refuge in the mountains of Kirthir for more than 15 years. He remarked that he wanted to continue his education but their temporary abode lacked any education facility.
During the process, he realised that in the tribal clashes and wars, children are punished of crimes they never committed. He feared that the vicious cycle would continue and the children would also continue to suffer. To break free from the clutches of nonsensical violence, he decided to preach the importance of education to those around him.
Once the matters settled, his tribe migrated back to his village.
After returning, Khoso decided to educate his three sons and six daughters and enrolled them in a school near Manjhand. However, it was not enough for him as he wanted to help other young minds in his village too.
Khoso soon opened a temporary school and appointed a teacher.
Combating challenges
Initially the people in the village were quiet reluctant to enroll their children, Khoso pointed out. So, he went to the houses of everyone in the village and requested the parents to send their children to the school for at least a year.
Media talk: ‘We are committed to implementing education emergency’
However, when students were not showing up he started cooking sweet rice at his home and invited the children to eat where the school had been temporarily set up.
After a struggle of two years, the people of his village were impressed by his determination and started sending their children to his school.
He also visited the local elected representatives and officials of education department to establish a proper school in the village. After this, the Sindh government sanctioned a two-room building and one teacher for his school. Currently, he is struggling to complete the construction work of the building and looking to hire another teacher. "We have hired two teachers privately as the government teacher never shows up," he said, adding that aside from paying them salary he also provides them fuel cost as they live about five kilometres before away from the village.
Khoso works as a security in-charge at a private company and he pays the salary of the teachers from his own pocket. The school does not even have electricity and they offer free of charge education to the students.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2017.