When someone cares: Education — Jihad of the times

In Sheikhupura, the realisation that education is the answer to many a dilemma signals winds of change.

LAHORE:

For a boy from an under-privileged family of Sheikhupura, being in a white coat was a distant dream. “I could never have been a cardiologist had I been denied quality education,” says Dr Azam Shah, who studied in a primary school run by CARE Foundation.

This school was his stepping stone to success. Armed with the quality education he got here, Shah went on to graduate from the prestigious King Edward Medical College.

“There is no better gift than the opportunity to pursue and achieve whatever a person dreams of,” says Shah, who is presently completing his post-graduation at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology in Lahore.

A lasting gift

Seema Aziz, the chairwoman of CARE, is convinced that the definition of literacy is a minimum of ten years of basic education.

Reminiscing about how the organisation began, Aziz says it all began in 1988 when she went to help the flood-hit people in the Punjab. “Hundreds of half-naked children ran after me every day,” she recalls, the impact clearly fresh in her mind.

“It struck me then that the flood might come again next year and snatch away their belongings. But the one gift which cannot be taken away from these people is education.”

The first school opened in 1991 with 250 students, all paid from Aziz’s personal funds. She fondly remembers that Azam Shah also studied in this school.

“He was one of those who always scored 100 per cent in mathematics.”

The organisation manages and runs 245 schools across the Punjab and Sindh with an enrolment of over 160,000.

Out of these, 223 schools are adopted ones and were previously being run in a disorganised manner under government sponsorship.

“The best part is we never need to motivate anyone to join our schools. The children just came,” says Aziz.

Another beneficiary, Ammara Ilyas, who was awarded a scholarship by the organisation, is now completing Part 2 of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Fellowship.

Empowering future generations

Aziz says the official literacy rate in the country is above 50 per cent but this figure is deceptive as many children are enrolled but don’t attend schools or have no teachers.

She says the idea had always been to empower the people. “We provide uniforms and school supplies but also charge a marginal fee so children don’t grow up thinking they were educated on charity.”

Given the importance of education in forming a healthy social fabric, Aziz adds that not only does every child deserve a chance to become educated, but they in fact have a right to education.

“In 1998, we realised our students were getting good results so we started a scholarship programme,” Aziz says. Today 90 students are studying in medical colleges on scholarships and 114 in the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.

“We have the capacity to run over 1,000 schools and we’d love to educate children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan…but the money factor now stops us.”

Aziz is hopeful that the people of Pakistan will help CARE’s campaign to educate a million children by 2018. “The jihad-i-waqt is education…Lives should not be destroyed because of not getting an education due to the lack of small amounts of money.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2013.