Young writers: For the love of creative writing, learning

A teacher’s initiative leads to a book written by children to be published soon

ISLAMABAD: At a time when children are more interested in playing games on their mobile phones and tablets rather than reading books, a woman teacher from a remote area of the K-P has taken a remarkable initiative of encouraging young students learn the ropes of creative writing.

Haleema Bushra, an Urdu-language teacher at City School Kohat has just edited a compilation of selected short-stories written by promising young students aged six to 12, from City School’s Kohat, Islamabad and Quetta campuses as well as Beaconhouse School Islamabad.

The book, “Bachay Adeeb Ban Gaye – Khazana (Children Become Writers — Treasure” completed with the assistance of the Book Council Trust will be published soon, the teacher said, while talking to The Express Tribune on Wednesday.

Bushra hails from Hangu. Only child of her parents, she received their complete support throughout her career. Bushra has a Masters degree in Urdu literature from the University of Peshawar and her book “Khawab main likhi huwi tahrirain”, a collection of short stories was published last year. “My parents have always supported me, and now I try to take care of them, as much as I can,” she says.

Talking about the book, Bushra said the idea came, while she was teaching couple of months ago. “I started conducting creative-writing workshops, — teaching children how to write and convert their ideas into the form of a story,” she said. The response from children and their parents has been heart-warming. “Children will even approach me after class to share their ideas,” Bushra says.

She said she was grateful to Book Council’s Chairperson Mazharul Islam and vice-chairperson Parveen Qadir Agha for the support she had received for her project.

About the importance of encouraging creative writing at a young age, Bushra mentions Anne Frank and Helen Keller as examples of those who wrote at a very young age.

Meanwhile, the Book Council has awarded cash prizes to three students of City School Kohat, Eshal Shaukat, Uzma Ali and Hassaan Saeed, Asma Fatima of City School Quetta campus and Hadia Akram of Beaconhouse, for their outstanding contributions for the book.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2015.