The Defence Housing Authority (DHA) is one of the most opulent localities in Lahore – the second largest city of Pakistan. The crème de la crème of the society thrives in DHA – a popular destination for many Lahorites to have pancakes and café lattes and of course, the notorious dance parties. The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) – my undergrad school is also located here with its $3000 annual tuition making it hopelessly inaccessible for most Pakistanis. Barely 3 kilometres from LUMS is a slum called Chararpind. The inhabitants are mostly day labourers and helpers in DHA houses. The monthly income of the families there would range from $80 to 175 – and this is the combined sum for both husband and wife. These are large families (average size, in my opinion, would be 6-7) and the children are expected to contribute to the family income as soon as they can pick up a wrench. The girls would help their mothers as helps whereas the boys might work in auto workshops, grocery stores etc. Those families, who are able to send their children to school, would discriminate between the sons and the daughters – the former getting the preference over their sisters.
It is in this setting that Society for the AdVancement of Education (SAVE Inc.) has opened its first school by the name of Mashal Primary. Faraz Sheikh, the founder of this Indiana based NGO, is studying PhD at Indiana University Bloomington and SAVE Inc. is his brainchild. His vision is to run such schools from primary to post-secondary levels and to run them absolutely fee of cost. SAVE Inc. has started in Pakistan but is intended to be a global mission and does not differentiate between race or religion. I personally know Faraz from our time at LUMS and am very good friends with his younger brother, Samir Sheikh who is based in the UK and actively involved in SAVE Inc. All details about the school can be obtained at
The following is due to be printed in the next edition…
In the last month's edition of the IR Tribune, the concept and motivation behind SAVE Ins. was introduced. The first project, Mashal Primary, is schooling 170 students from poor households free of cost. The syllabus being taught is entirely in English and matches those of the private schools in the city. Public schooling in Pakistan, if available at all, has a curriculum solely dependent on Urdu, the native language. Students emerging from the Urdu-medium stream face severe challenges and often emerge second best when compared to those who had the luxury of a private, English-medium education.
Only 1 out of 2 children in Pakistan begin school and if you think that’s bad, only 70% of those that begin primary education actually complete it. This is the biggest challenge that SAVE Inc. faces in Pakistan. They have taken a few steps to tackle this. Firstly, they have a free dispensary on-campus which not only provides basic medication and health check-ups to students but their families as well. This acts as an incentive for the parents not to pull their kids out of school. The school also conducts monthly parent-teacher meetings in which the students with the best attendance record are rewarded. The mothers of these students are also gifted a suit for ensuring regularity of their child.
The idea of Mashal Primary is to cap its present enrollment and take this batch of 170 students all through class 5. It has also begun an accelerated program in the evenings for those students who are relatively old for the classes that they are in currently.
Mashal Primary will hopefully change lives. The reason for sharing this piece in the IR Tribune was to promote this wonderful project and so that we can acknowledge that we do not have to be Bill Gates or Bono to change the world. Every small contribution counts.
I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. – Hellen Keller
To know more about SAVE Inc. visit http://www.educationsaveschildren.org or join Facebook community called “FREE Primary School in Lahore Project”.
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