By Sadia Irfan
A new year has begun but for most of us the same routines have kicked in as soon as the children started school. Waking up when it’s still dark outside and a frantic search for shoes/PE bags/clean tights at the last minute are balanced by a relief that at least we don’t need to think constantly of productive things for them to do. Or perhaps we had resigned ourselves already to a daily Xbox holiday marathon whilst protesting weakly that it kills their brain cells.
Having a routine has many virtues but one big flaw. We are so focused on the minutiae of daily life that we stop looking at the bigger picture. Sending the children off to school every day is something we take for granted. Hearing regular moans about going to school or how boring lessons were that day is also normal, especially when initial enthusiasm has given way to bored cynicism.
Surely, we should be instilling in our children from an early age what a wonderful privilege education really is. The power it has, to transform lives and create opportunities. And in the UK, we don’t even need to pay for education if we don’t want to!
There is a private organisation called The Citizens Foundation in Pakistan. In 1995, their vision was to bring high quality education to the slums of Pakistan. To tap into the potential of hundreds of thousands of children who would not be able to play, explore and learn because they had to support their families. Children as young as five were shelling prawns to earn a few pence to bring bread home. Government schools were often woefully inadequate.
TCF schools treat education in its broadest sense – to promote open minds, respect, tolerance as well as academic subjects. With the opening of each purpose built school, more and more lives were given purpose beyond the mundane. Children even wanted to attend at weekends! Reading and writing were taught side by side with basic hygiene. They carried their new knowledge back home and the transformation encompassed families, then villages. Minhala in rural Punjab is one such example. 20 years ago, many did not even want their children attending school. Today the young women who graduated from TCF schools in the area are leading the community’s transformation and dispelling stereotypes about rural mindsets. As a senior principal says, “Our village is a living example of the benefits education brings about. It has changed the habits, lifestyles and conduct of people in our community.”[1]
TCF currently educates 204,000 children in 1,441 schools across 110 towns and cities. 204,000 children are being given the tools to break the poverty cycle and to serve their community. They can now dream of being doctors, teachers, scientists and entrepreneurs. Among the thousands of success stories is Rohaila Khan who after much hard work and perseverance became the first alumna to be a TCF Headteacher. Or Zulfiqar, who grew up in a poor farming family as the youngest of 7 brothers. He had to help with his father’s ice cream stall every day after school but went on to get a scholarship at university. He volunteers in TCF’s mentoring programme for alumni, to help them build confidence in situations which are familiar to more privileged young people. Or 15 year old Zainab, whose mother dreamed of giving her children an education she never had, and despite being a widow with little income, saves every penny to continue her daughter’s education and fulfil her dream to become the first girl in her family to go to university.
I try and share such stories with my children about sacrifice, hard work and determination to help them appreciate how fortunate they are. To understand that if they were born in a different country to different parents, how much harder their struggle could be.
Appreciating what they have will hopefully also instil a sense of giving back. The desire to make a positive contribution to our local and wider community, whether through their career or taking part in local litter picks.
In the UK, education is not seen as a luxury but not always appreciated as a necessity either, especially by children. It seems incredible to me that children in developing countries are longing for education when so many of ours don’t realise how many opportunities they get at school. Everyone is entitled to moan about the odd bad day at school but appreciating the big picture is important too. Isn’t it time we remind our children that the power of education lies in fulfilling their amazing potential and realising dreams?
The author is based in the UK and has been a teacher for twenty years. She has taught in both England and Dubai and was also the first non Arab recognised by the KHDA to teach Islamic Education in Dubai.
[1] Nabila Mehmood, principal of Shirin Sultan Dossa Campus, A Village Transformed by Education, Usman Mujtaba, The Citizens Foundation, http://www.tcf.org.pk/success-stories/a-village-transformed-by-education/