We were in “Malot Sattiyan", a remote village of Rawalpindi, to monitor the process of ASER survey. Our first step was to access government primary school which was just a building with two class rooms and a veranda. There we met 28 years old Shumaila Bibi who was the only government teacher deputed to teach 35 students. “It’s the first time that somebody has visited this school to conduct a survey" she mentioned when we introduced ourselves and ASER.

She told us that she has been teaching in the school for the last two years. When she joined, the learning levels of the children were abysmal and only 10 children were enrolled. Due to poor infrastructure, the parents were not willing to send their children to school. She went door to door to convince parents for sending their children to school and worked really hard to improve the learning levels of children. She took us to the classrooms and we found children properly seated reading their books. They also recited a beautiful poem for us. These children, without even any kind of facility, were there to study because of the dedication of Shumaila Bibi who tried very hard to bring them into school.

Shumaila Bibi is serving as a beacon of light for all the teachers who are striving hard to make a difference in their community. We left the school hoping that teachers like her will definitely bring a change and in the years to come, we will surely have children bearing good qualities such as honesty and dedication (like their teacher) along with good learning levels.