Without access to adult literacy programmes, newspaper vendor harbouring dejection

Says not being educated has hampered his social progress.

ISLAMABAD: The only education that 19-year-old Muhammad Imran ever got came from the streets where he sells newspapers. He never went to school but values the lessons learnt the hard way. As cars whiz by, he balances a stack of neatly-folded newspapers in one hand and runs another scurried hand through his short-cropped hair to look presentable to the next potential customer.

“I’ve made peace with the fact that I am poor and have little chances of getting anywhere in life. Since I was 10 years old, I’d made up my mind not to have delusions of studying at a good school as I could never afford an education,” he said, while talking to The Express Tribune.

Imran lives in a cramped one-room space with no electricity or gas ay Kacheri Chowk, with a monthly rent of Rs3,500. He shares the burden of running the household with his mother ever since his father died some seven years back. He wakes up each morning wondering how to make ends meet and perhaps provide more opportunities for his elder sister and younger brother.

“[My brother] says he wants to work at a mechanics shop. Being elder, I need to guide me as there was no one to guide me. To be honest, we cannot afford to educate him and that troubles me,” he said. Sensitive to the needs of his family, he tries to spend as little as possible, refusing to take a wagon at signal stops and instead walks from Rawalpindi to Islamabad and back home.

“I used to work at a marble factory but was made to leave when they started downsizing. I’ve been selling newspapers for a year now, initially I was clueless on how to deal with the business but have learnt the craft of salesmanship and made regular clientele at the signals,” he said. On a good day, he earns Rs120 by selling 200 newspapers.

“I have looked for an evening job but in vain. People want references especially for working at a house. I have none.”

It is not as if Imran is not willing to get his hands dirty, but his education, or lack of it, gets in his way. “I’ve cleaned gutters, worked as a rag picker and even applied for a sanitary worker at Pizza Hut. But no matter how hard you work, if you’re illiterate the odds will always be against you,” he lamented.

However, he fears it might be too late to pursue education now. “Who will put a 19-year-old in preschool?” he said with a laugh.

“I have tried looking up adult literacy programme but they seem to be mainly in rural areas, and that too for women. Everyone seems to have forgotten about the urban poor and young men like me,” he said, with a finality in his voice.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2012.