The Gypsy School

Ramshackle gypsy settlements are a common sight in nearly all cities of Pakistan. With no fixed occupations and no land, members of the gypsy community live in uninhabited areas till they are forced to leave by the local authorities. Gypsy children are often seen begging for money or food at road sides, shops, and in residential areas. Gypsies have always lived on the fringes of society and are usually viewed with suspicion.

But these children like all children are entitled to education. This realization did not escape Faisal Idrees, a young Active Citizen from Multan. Faisal decided to do something in his capacity to rectify this situation.

Faisal enlisted the help of two of his friends and together they formed a youth group to facilitate the provision of education to as many gypsy children as they could. According to Faisal: “Every parent wants to send their children to school but most people, and especially marginalized communities do not know about Article 25 A and the right to education”.

Another problem that these young people faced was the sad fact that the money these children collect by begging contributes to their family’s income. And so parents with no fixed source of income can sometimes perceive education of their children as a threat to their family’s well being.

Faisal and his friends decided to set up a make-shift school in the gypsy camp and started a door-to-door campaign to convince parents to let their children attend it. In the beginning this seemed to be an uphill task as not most parents were reluctant to loose the income brought in by their children, and they also viewed the strangers with suspicion.

But despite the resistance the three young people resolved to march on ahead; by the third meeting with the community members they were allowed to set up their ‘school’.  Since they did not receive any support from the gypsy community in terms of a place to hold classes in, they started teaching in the first free space they could find. On the first day of class 4 children showed up. Gradually the number of students started increasing. By the end of the first week they were teaching 22 gypsy children. By the end of the year the school had 138 students.

According to Faisal, initially the group members pooled in their money to buy the necessary supplies to run their school, but as the number of children steadily increased these meagre funds started proving insufficient. To overcome this Faisal and his friends came up with a simple yet smart solution: they met with principals of different private and public schools of the area and convinced them to put up a box in the school where students could donate used books and notebooks. At the end of each week members of the youth group visit these schools to collect the donated books and stationary items. 

Notebooks which have been filled using pencils are erased and made ready for use again. And books which cannot be used are sold and the proceeds are used to buy pencils and other stationary items. 

Faisal and his friends are now allowed to use empty tents to hold their classes while the tenants are away but have to empty it once they return. The irony is not lost on the youth group who have dubbed their school the Gypsy School. 

The youth group has enjoyed other successes besides providing these children with basic education. One of these is convincing parents to admit their children to the local public school. So far 28 children have been enrolled in this school. Consequently these children have stopped begging and now lead a much healthier life style.

Children attending the Gypsy School are also encouraged to give up begging through stories and activities. The group of young Active Citizens hopes to dissuade as many children from begging as possible and to facilitate their admission into schools.

Faisal and his friends now aim to reach at least 300 children by the end of this year.

A second chance for mothers

Providing opportunities for education to young mothers has a two-fold effect: an adult has a second chance to get an education that they could not when they were younger, and secondly young mothers are more likely to raise educated children. Educated mothers also have the option of educating their children at home if they cannot afford the tuition fee or other expenses that are associated with sending a child to school.

The main reason that young girls don’t attend school is their family’s poor economic condition. Additionally, when a poor family is faced with a choice between sending a boy or a girl to school, more often than not they will opt for educating the male child.

A Social Action Project (SAP) named Steps Against Illiteracy was started in an impoverished area of Karachi to fund a school providing classes to young mothers and their children at a cost as low as possible, and sometimes free of cost for especially deserving students. The school is called “The Citizens Foundation School” and offers classes three days a week in the morning and afternoon.

Some of the goals of the school are to enable the students to write and read basic Urdu and English, and to be able to perform calculations for day-to-day tasks such as shopping and planning the household budget.

The school is meant to run for three months. In this time its students will not only gain knowledge that can be applied to daily tasks but will also give them the background and confidence to apply to a “proper” school. The Citizens Foundation School may be a short-term venture but its benefits may very well last for a long time.

Helping the helpless

How often have we walked or driven by the slums near our neighbourhoods and turned our heads away, pretending that we can’t see the suffering of the dwellers? The answer would be: countless. Tooba Hassan is an Active Citizen who chose not to ignore the miserable conditions of slums. She launched ‘Crystal Future’, a Social Action Project seeking to bring about a positive change in the lives of the less fortunate.

Having identified a slum area by the name of ‘Baykah Saeeda’ in F-11, Tooba decided to take its barely functioning school under her wing. The school was in a dilapidated condition with one teacher to cater to 50 students, no roof and an obsolete syllabus. Tooba introduced printed material and activities using Oxford workbooks to make learning a more interesting experience for the children. She also managed to raise funds from friends and relatives for a temporary roof. Her prime focus, however, was developing the children’s soft skills and moral values – an area of personal development most people ignore. Tooba worked to enhance the students’ reading and writing skills, build their confidence, teach them about hygiene and cleanliness and create awareness about social issues such as domestic violence.

When asked why she volunteered spending time in the slum school, Tooba said: “We wanted to help the slum kids become good citizens. If they acquire education, it’ll be easier for them to earn a respectable living”.

Tooba’s biggest challenge has been getting individuals and organizations on board to support her cause. Many NGOs are not interested in helping out unless their work is publicized, a sad reality Tooba discovered when she contacted some organizations to provide counselling for victims of sexual abuse.

Her motivation to keep going comes from the change she sees in the area she has adopted. The children, who once had an air of dejection surrounding them, are now active and engaged members of the community. For Tooba, there can be no better reward.

An education in hope

Huddled in a small room in a Baloch neighbourhood of Quetta, Sadia talks about why she runs a school for children in her home. The school itself is a modest affair: a spare room devoid of furniture. The children sit on the carpeted floor as does their teacher. Sadia lives in a small house – partly brick and cement, and partly mud walls and thatched roof.

When asked what inspired her to start a school for her neighbourhood children, Sadia replied: “There should be a safe and happy place for children where they can play, make friends, and learn together”.

Her neighbourhood – Killi Allahbad, is relatively conservative and is said to be a stronghold of a local political party with a separatist agenda. According to Sadia, the young people of the area are mostly unemployed; the illiteracy rate is also high. The nearest primary school for boys is at a considerable distance and the nearest school for young girls is even further away. According to Sadia it takes children approximately 20 – 25 minutes to walk to the nearest public school.
Since most of the people of the neighbourhood do not own cars their children have to walk to school. Because of the daily deteriorating security situation and the rising crime rate most parents had stopped sending their children to school. Their biggest fear: kidnappings.

Sadia attended the Active Citizens training in 2011 along with her cousin, Fouzia. Although the problems faced by the Baloch are complex and multi-dimensional and there is no one simple solution for them, Sadia felt that education is one important piece of the puzzle. Without education she says things will only get worse. This passion for education led Sadia to approach a local NGO who were generous enough to donate books and school supplies for children free of cost to her.

Sadia then convinced her family to let her use an unused room in their house for the purpose of holding classes in it. They not only let her use the room but also helped her decorate it and equip it. In a month’s time Sadia’s make-shift school was up and running. Her neighbours welcomed the move and gladly sent their children to Sadia’s make-shift school. Sadia charges the parents of the children a nominal fee of Rs. 50 – which they are happy to pay. This money helps her cover the school’s monthly electricity bill. Sadia’s students include her own brother, a nephew, and a niece.

But the hard work does not stop here: Sadia attends her high school classes during the day and teaches the neighbourhood children in the evenings. Looking at the happy faces surrounding her it is not too difficult to see the gratification that she derives from her Social Action Project and the sense of contribution to her community that keeps her motivated.