Street schools struggle with Covid-19

As the education system goes digital, there is a lot at stake for Rawalpindi’s homeless youth

ISLAMABAD:

The Rahma Islamic School is a primary school unlike any other in Rawalpindi. Built on Nullah Lai, it is perhaps the city’s only institute which caters specifically to students who are homeless or vulnerably housed in the nearby slums of Gawalmandi Railway Road. However, as schools go digital amid coronavirus-induced closures, a lot has been put on the line for the city’s homeless youth.

A majority of the school’s students, who identify as street children, move to the streets early on in their lives to augment their family’s income. Their parents, who have little to no education, are either unemployed or employed as unskilled labourers and thus unable to provide for the family. In such situations, these children have come to depend on the school for not only their education but also for food, shelter and wellbeing. It is feared, if the current circumstances persist, the ramifications of the lockdown may haunt the students for a lifetime.

“Gaining the trust of the slum dwellers was an uphill battle. They thought the school would take their children off of the streets and prevent them from begging, which would affect their livelihood. So there were major protests against it. We started with just five students, but over the past eight years, have been able to win the trust of the parents and now cater to over sixty pupils. Education here is entirely free. We provide the students with free lunch, uniforms, transport and books,” said a source associated with the school.

While educational institutes around the country continue to digitise education in a bid to adapt to the new normal, it is no surprise that the option is simply not there for welfare schools like Rahma. “The students here cannot afford an internet connection, let alone access to tablets and computers. We cannot go digital like other schools, but we are still trying as much as we can to keep these kids in school. We have already given books and homework to the students and our teachers inspect their work once a week in their tents. That’s as much as we can do for now, but our goal is to keep these kids away from begging and offer them a second lease on life through education,” the source informed.

According to Jabbar, father of a student, he had spent his life begging on the streets under the scorching sun and never had access to opportunities his children do. “I never had a chance to be educated myself, but I get to learn so much about the world from my children who are studying here. I was opposed to the idea of sending them to school at first, but my perspective changed when I saw the facilities they were provided with,” the father told The Express Tribune. “I was hoping my son could study further and get a technical education someday so that he never has to beg like his father but the school’s shut down now and I don’t know what the future holds,” he lamented. “This school has been like a second home for me,” said Salauddin, a student at the Rahma School. For many like him, the institution has acted as a safe haven away from the rumpus of the street life for the past decade.

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There is a mosque which offers shelter no-questions-asked, a water pump for clean drinking water, access to free food and more than anything, the hope of building a better life.

However, all of that has been put in jeopardy as pandemic redefines the education system and future looks bleak for students like Salauddin in a world gone digital.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2020.