Educating 1800 child workers in Pakistan

Javeria is studying in the 5th grade in Zindagi Trust's Paid to Learn School for working children in Manzoor Colony. During her primary schooling here, she has consciously worked hard and showed remarkable academic progress. At a very young age, Javera has realized the value of hard work in enabling one to succeed and charms her teachers with statements such as "there is no substitute for hard work!"

Javeria belongs to a Punjabi family. Her father is a rickshaw driver. The eldest in her family, she coaches her siblings and her neighbors in the evenings. Apart from teaching, she wants to teach personal skills to groom the children of her community - most of whom are street children. Learning from her teachers, she interacts with her own "students" by using polite words like ‘Please’ ‘Thank You’ to teach them how to be polite and soft-spoken.

Javeria has a clear passion for education and takes her studies seriously. She has maintained an excellent record at school, a summary of which is as follows:

•          Kindergarten:  2^nd Position by 97% and attendance was 80% in her class.
•          Class One: 2^nd Position by 96% and attendance was 76% in her class.
•          Class Two: 1^stPosition by 98% and attendance was 81% in her class.
•          Class Three: 1^st Position by 94% and attendance 72%  in her class.
•          Class Four:  1^stPosition by 91% and attendance 84% in her class.   

Javeria also loves to read and her favourite kind of book is one which helps her travel the world through words and stories. Her future plans involve teaching at the same  Zindagi Trust school where she is studying now. She also wants to examine the basis of children learning, an impressive research goal for a fifth-grader.

She spends some time at home every day doing embroidery till the wee hours, to help with the household income. She never takes things granted. A committed and dedicated student, she takes pride of being the first child in her family to go to school and later opened the door for rest of the children of her family to receive an education. It is also a great  achievement of Zindagi Trust’s academic team who motivated her  family to send their daughters and sons to Zindagi Trust school.  We wish her all the best and hope that Javeria and other bright young children like her continue to get such opportunities through your support.

Links:

• Zindagi Trust website

Sanaullah is a 12 year-old boy with a passion to serve Pakistanis as a doctor. He lives with his parents, four brothers and three sisters in a rented house. His father is a rickshaw driver who never went to school. His older brother is a mechanic. Both of them work hard every day, struggling to support the household.

Sanaullah’s admission to a Zindagi Trust School is an interesting story. One day Sanaullah’s father was waiting in his rickshaw for a passenger. He happened to be standing outside Zindagi Trust’s Chah Sultan School in Rawalpindi. Upon questioning he learned that a non-profit by the name of Zindagi Trust worked in his slum to educate working children at no cost to their parents or employers. He had always wanted to educate his children but simply could not afford it. When he learned that the trust also provided free books and stationery, paid regular students a stipend upon graduation, and finances top graduates through matriculation, he became convinced that he must admit his son Sanaullah to the trust’s school.

Sanaullah joined the school in 2012 and is now studying in grade 4. He is a promising student and his strength is his confidence. He sticks to whatever decision he takes, displaying a maturity beyond his years. He is positive and makes you believe he will make his dream come true.

Since his childhood, Sanaullah was told that: Everything can be had, but for a price. ”Yes, you can have everything for a price but not confidence,” is his response. His self-belief is his biggest asset and his message to all working children like himself is a simple yet powerful one: “Believe in yourself and you will do your best!”

He urges his fellow students to work hard from the very first day of their academic term. The best thing Sanaullah likes about the ZT School is that it practices on-going assessment & at the end of the term final assessment.

 A bright student, Sanaullah always gets good news when the term’s academic results are announced. As the first child from his family to go to school, a major part of his commitment to his studies comes from the fact that he wants to prove his mettle to his family. He tells us that when he is rewarded at the end of each academic term, all his relatives get together at his house and bring sweets to celebrate his success.

Sanaullah was excited to share with us that his cousins are also studying in a Zindagi Trust School now. His family feels proud when he goes to a relative’s house to read letters for them. Sanaullah and family are a success story for their ready acceptance of Zindagi Trust’s opportunities for a better life through education. 

Links:

• http://zindagitrust.org/paidtolearnoverview.php