Afghani children, displaced during the War on Terror, were left homeless, without any settled life, or any form or education, especially with their schools bombed and destroyed. Many children were killed during school timings, as bombs rained down on their schools.
These children faced several threats as the war between the US forces and the Taliban continued.
Sexual violence, abduction, lack of finances to pursue studies, loss of documentation, and other reasons pushed these children to fall out of school, but once their families began to flee to Pakistan, education for these children became a distant hope; a dim glow waiting to be reignited.
FACES managed to ignite this hope for them.
FACES made sure that these children, who are now ready to go back to Afghanistan with their families, did not waste their years here, by missing school. Through proper education programmes, using the Afghani language itself, these children have completed their years, and upon returning, they will find themselves back in school in the right class, rather than falling behind other children of their age.
The children were educated in Peace School for Afghan Children, and FACES, being a non-profit organization, did not charge them for it. In the beginning, these children were enrolled in Pakistani schools, where they studied according to the Pakistani syllabus, but this resulted in problems when they were relocated to Afghanistan. In addition, language barriers caused distress for the children to learn new things.
FACES built schools to facilitate this ignored section, with the agenda of providing education for the children in Afghani language and by Afghani standards. FACES is providing free education to the children from class one to class three specifically.
Saeed Khan, Program Officer working at Bund Road, Lahore, overlooks the education program.
He says that it is integral that these children feel at home while studying in Pakistan. “Teaching them in their language helps them to relax in the classroom, instead of trying to acclimatize to a new and foreign language.”
However, the number of children did not increase because families did not allow them to study. These families have been in Pakistan for an indeterminate time; till up to 15 years. From camps, these Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) moved to cities, where they eventually got hold of empty plots and ‘encroached’ on them. Now they have been living in Pakistan for some time, and they pick up rubbish from dumps, bring it home, and sort it out.
“These children were and many still are working like this; picking up garbage and sifting through it to find items which can be sold for a good price,” says Khan. “We have, in a way, rescued them from this work. But for many families, education is not important more than earning money and we have a tough time in convincing them to send their children to school.”
FACES has set up about three schools for the IDPs in Punjab, in Lahore, Sialkot and Gujranwala. About 120 children are studying at the Lahore school, while in Sialkot, 220 children study. Gujranwala still has a lot to catch up with, as families there mostly do not allow children to study owing to bad financial conditions.
Even if education is being provided free, families tend to feel that during this time, they should be earning extra money picking up garbage. Gujranwala has only 70 children in its school. Khan says they are trying to advance classes. “We bring in Afghani textbooks, and photocopy them to reduce costs, but we make sure we are following their syllabus, not ours,” says Khan.
It is not just academics that these children are taught. They are also given training for their personal hygiene. They are trained to rebuild themselves, and to contribute positively to society, says Khan.
Though these families have been here since a decade at least, each year a lot of them relocate to Afghanistan. Since 2004-5, no new family has come to Pakistan because the situation in Afghanistan is improving.
“Many are still lingering here because they used to be shepherds while they lived in Afghanistan, but now they have lost their cattle and have their businesses running here; of bringing old material to recycling factories for which they get a meager amount. Still something is better than nothing,” says Khan. “I think these families will shortly be moving back once they find some work there.”