Robina Kausar, a housewife turned schoolteacher, dreams of setting up a school for her locality’s out-of-school children.
Residing in the underdeveloped Shibli Town of Shera Kot, Lahore, she has started a home-based school in a room in her parent’s house after receiving necessary training from the Youth Commission for Human Rights (YCHR) with the support of the Small Grants Ambassadors Funds Programme (SGAFP) of the Directorate of Basic Education Community School.
The area where the school is located is part of the electoral constituency of Punjab Minister for School Education Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, an important leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N party in the province.
As many as 37 students receive education at the school from class one to class five. After school, some students work to help their families financially. Robina says that she is trying to convince parents to support their children become educated and mostly, “they are happy to see their children go to the non-formal home school.”
The school is supported by the development sector organisation as an effective initiative for multi-grade teaching and accelerated learning for the students.
Wajahat Batool, the project coordinator, says that formal education cannot cater needs of out-of-school or drop-outs due to its structured system. “A multi-grade teaching approach is an answer to the educational needs of these children,” she said.
In the multi-grade approach, a teacher teaches more than one class/grade at the same time in the same classroom. At the time of the admission, a learner is evaluated to identify his/her abilities and is placed at different grades in different subjects according to their abilities in the subjects.
The students, including eight-year-old Babar Mustafa and 11-year-old Owais Ashraf, are happy at the school, and say that they attend school daily. Class three student Yashba Falak Sher and her brother Philips Falak Sher (class four) are also part of the school.
The school – which starts at 7 am and closes at 12 pm – disseminates education among the students regularly for six days a week. Robina says that she will continue running the school even after the organisation discontinues its one-year support for the project. “I have very good experience as a teacher, as a mentor, and as an adviser for those who really need education,” she said.
Robina’s sister – a college-going student – also teaches at the school in her absence. “My mother is also supporting me in this project,” Robina said. “This is our contribution to our society,” she said, adding that educated young people can also start similar projects.
A 10-member school management committee comprising of parents, teachers, and community representatives currently monitors the project. “We are working with the support of relevant government institutions like the education department in Muzaffargarrh and the Directorate of Basic Education Community Schools in Lahore,” Wajahat Batool said.
“We run five schools in Lahore and 15 in Muzaffargarh,” said the project coordinator, who is keen to expand the project with the support of the provincial government and is interested in linking these schools with government-run schools. “I think our government should embrace these schools for street children,” she said.
