The principal who taught nursery
Syed Iqbal Hamid sat in his principal's office, at the desk which had belonged to his father. He was clad in simple dress pants, shirt, and sandals. Some old chairs and the open office door welcomed everyone who stepped in.
A mug in his office described aptly what he means to the children who have graduated from the school he runs: "A truly amazing principal is hard to find and impossible to forget."
The ones who have passed out even 20 years ago will find him no different today. Neither does his office show signs of modernity like other private school buildings swanked in contemporary decor funded by high school fees.
Some of the significant issues contributing to the decline of Pakistan's education system are exorbitant school fees, low quality of education, lack of training, and lack of creative educational methods.
Coming from an educational background family, Hamid always held a keen interest in education. Now 74, he has been imparting quality education at Greenwich Public School.
After completing his higher education from England, he returned to Pakistan to serve in the education sector. He had a vision to produce creative minds for the country. In 1985, with the help, and support from various educationists who saw his vision for the future of the country, Hamid opened up a school in the locality of PECHS, Greenwich Public School. His mission was to prepare children from the grassroots level to be creative and better thinkers in life.
“It was January 2, 1985, the first day of school. I was sitting in this same office when a man walked in and said I want to get my son admitted to the school. His son Wasim Bhatti was the first child to be enrolled," the owner of the school recalled the day that started his journey almost four decades ago. “The man told me that daily he used to pass by the street and noticed the renovation of the school for two months. He like the building so much that he came with a cheque to enroll his son but we hadn’t even opened a bank account at that time,” he shared.
Many schools in Pakistan do not have competent teachers, adequate infrastructure, or teaching resources. As a result, the environment is not conducive to learning and yields low educational outcomes. The quality of teachers varies greatly. Many teachers are undertrained and underpaid, which leads to low motivation and dedication to teaching.
“My idea of starting the school was inspired by England, how they have small regional schools close to localities with less number of students so that teachers can engage with students on a micro level. Similarly, when there are fewer students, teachers can also focus well on each one and help them learn in a better way,” he said.
Parents mostly research several schools, campuses, teaching quality, fee structure, admission criteria, and facilities. Then they visit schools and shortlist a few. The main criterion nowadays is the status the school has in the locality and society where the children of all other acquaintances are going. But what such schools lack is school staff and teachers dedicated to teaching children. Making students carry heavy bags with 10 courses a class and fall prey to the constant struggle of getting good grades with no focus on the well-being, learning, and intellectual level of the child.
Greenwich Public School was initially set up for nursery then gradually expanded to Kindergarten. With each passing year, classes were added for primary school, classes one to five. After that, they decided to not expand but parents, teachers, and even students were adamant that the school should be expanded till matric.
Hamid himself taught nursery class and was involved in activities so that the students enjoyed coming to school and did not feel burdened with homework.
When Greenwich Public School started expanding to higher classes, the teachers were picked and the curriculum was tailored to be in line with Hamid's idea of education. “We never gave any advertisement for admission or teachers ever," he claimed. Teachers applied after finding out by word of mouth. "Anyone who knew me and my idea of the school kept coming and sending their references," Hamid explained.
Many teachers at Greenwich today have been with there since its beginning. This "means we have done something right in the field,” he shared, adding that many students come back to share how the concepts which were instilled in them at Greenwich have helped them in their lives. Seeing his students doing well for themselves as adults is proof for Hamid that the seeds he has sowed in society have grown to be fruitful.
Teachers, he said, can be most impactful in shaping the life of a person.
When he was in class 7, his Urdu teacher Nasarullah Khan realized that I had become friends with someone who became an actor later in life and was from a filmy background. “My teacher called my father who was a superintendent in police at that time and told him that I have some spark and tendency to be something big in education and may be my friend's company can damage my potential,” he reminisced.
Sir Hamid has kept his legacy intact by interacting with students on a daily basis, teaching them everything from alphabets, poems, and painting and concepts such as cleanliness. “If a student in nursery class feels happy to come to school that means he/she is being treated well and not burdened. We teach them through interactive ways such as
activities and poems. We let them learn through their own lens of creativity and not try to enforce what we perceive to be right. That helps children grow in their own way,” he explained.
The principal himself used to stand at the school gate to greet the students and still he does that, it also gives the students a sense of belonging in the school and makes them feel safe.
Hamid believes that producing creative thinkers, intellectuals, and skillful students is based on inculcating an interest in science and other activities among children. By marking the school term with events like Colours Day and Fruits and Vegetables Day, the idea is to make children learn through activities so that concepts would remain in their minds. “When a child learns through interactive activities while playing or rhyming, it remains with them more as compared to scolding and just reading it out as homework. We have taught simple skills like stitching a button to gardening to every child because one should know basic things in life,” he said. “We only wanted to make a good base for children here so when they go to any other primary school, they would have clear concepts.”
The story of every child that has passed out from that school is no different. The principal, they said, was involved with each and every child personally. Hamid continues to hold teacher training sessions every month to impart his ideology of how children should be treated in a school and not to be forced.
“I just wanted to carry forward the idea with which I started the school and what I can give back to education in the shape of a learning centre for young minds,” he added.