5/12/2009
Baldwin sophomore Nadia Tareen, who founded and serves as president of Baldwin’s chapter of Girls Learn International (GLI), recently visited the chapter’s sister school in Pakistan. GLI is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising consciousness about human rights and girls’ education around the world. To read Nadia’s account of her visit and to find out more information about GLI and where to see Nadia’s video project, click on “Read More.”
The Extraordinary Khanott School: A Trip to My Partner School
By Nadia Tareen '11
On December 26, 2008, I visited an extraordinary school: the Khanott Girls’ School in Pakistan. I started the Baldwin School’s GLI Chapter in September 2007, and though I, along with my Chapter’s 20 members and faculty advisor Dara Solotoff, had already communicated with the fifth and sixth grade students of this school through cultural exchange projects before my trip, my journey to the Khanott village on that December day in Pakistan opened my eyes. I met amazing teachers and students, and learned how happy the girls of our Partner School are to be receiving a high-quality education. The Khanott village felt like a world away from the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, PA. The environment of the school and village was even different from my family’s home in Karachi, Pakistan. Nonetheless, my experience at the Khanott School was invaluable and I greatly enjoyed meeting the students.
On that December day, my parents, my sister Sophia, and I departed for the Khanott village from Karachi, a large port city of 12 million people. During the three-hour trip, we traveled through the rural areas of Pakistan’s Sindh region and passed by many mosques, small villages, and intricately decorated trucks hauling hay and building supplies. A teacher from the Khanott School and representatives from Indus Resource Center (IRC), which founded and supports the school, led our car to the school, where we arrived at noontime. A sign saying “IRC-HOL (House of Learning) Elementary School of Khanott” stood over the entrance to the school, and colorful murals and the shouts of children greeted us as we walked into the schoolyard. The girls had painted images of the students and diagrams of scientific processes that they had learned about in class on the school walls, and a swing set and slides were set up in the schoolyard. A sign saying “Welcome Madame Natasha” (for my mother, Natasha) was placed above the doorway of one of the classrooms. The principal and fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Farzana Buriro, welcomed us and led us into the second and third grade classroom.
As soon as we entered, the 20 girls, wearing blue and white shalwar-kameez uniforms (a pair of light, loose pants tapered to a tight fit around the ankles with a long tunic), enthusiastically greeted us with “Assalamo-laikum” (“May peace be upon you”) and sang songs about how glad they were to meet “Madame Natasha” and my family. There were some boys there too, but most of them are in the kindergarten and first grade class, with only two in the second and third grade class, because there are no other schools for their age group. After the class sang, Mrs. Buriro asked the students to read aloud from the book they were using in class. I am only familiar with colloquial Urdu (Pakistan's national language) so I had a little trouble understanding the excerpts that the students read aloud, but my parents translated the words I did not know and the teacher applauded the students’ skills.
We moved to the fourth and fifth grade classrooms next, and I recognized many of the fifth grade students from the scrapbook that the Khanott School sent us earlier in 2008. A few students introduced themselves, and the class sang a few songs, including one beautiful song about education and the organization Ibtida (Urdu for “the beginning”), which sponsors and supports the school. One student very impressively recited a two-minute-long speech she had memorized about the importance of education. In the speech, she said that heaven lies at the feet of our parents, that teachers are very important because they shape our characters, and that respect is essential for our lives.
I then presented the class with the Baldwin Chapter’s cultural exchange project. I showed the students our scrapbook, containing photos of our GLI Chapter’s members, the Baldwin School, and wintertime in Pennsylvania. I distributed the decorated introductory letters that our Chapter had written earlier in the year, which my mother had translated into Urdu, and gave one to each student. One of the cards had not been translated, but the Khanott School student who received this card impressed us all by reading the English message aloud in its entirety, with a little help from her teacher. I passed out the friendship bracelets that our Chapter had made together, and each girl placed one on her wrist to join her bangles.
The more mature sixth grade girls were very interesting to speak with. They had been the first students to attend the Khanott School, and the teacher told us that the girls want to continue their education at a university, but also want to stay with the same group of students and maybe even build a university in the Khanott village. One girl revealed her political awareness when she commented that my sister Sophia resembles the late Benazir Bhutto’s daughter. After our conversation, I observed the walls of the classroom. The classrooms of the younger grades are adorned with student artwork of animals and family members, as well as teaching aid posters that display English and Urdu words and scientific diagrams, such as labeled depictions of the human brain and heart. The sixth grade classroom also had these posters on its walls, as well as a world map. I showed the class where Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Baldwin School are located on the map, while also pointing to the location of the Khanott village in Pakistan. The girls expressed interest in one day going to the United States or Canada. Even though the girls of Baldwin and the girls of Khanott are thousands and thousands of miles away from each other, we are all students, striving to gain more knowledge of the world we live in, trying to shape our futures and discover our paths in life.
I showed the sixth grade class the Baldwin Chapter’s scrapbook in the same way that I showed the fourth and fifth grade classes, and gave the girls beaded friendship bracelets. The unofficial student leader of the sixth grade class, Bilquis, and another student showed Sophia and me the school’s one computer. Even though the computer does not have Internet access, the students have learned how to use basic programs and how to type. The school also has a cardboard mock keyboard for the girls to practice their typing skills and perhaps prepare for a technological job in the future. We concluded our visit to the sixth grade class when Bilquis presented us with a book of letters and poetry that the girls had written. In Urdu, the first page of the book began: “Madame, we have never seen you. This is a dream that we hope will be fulfilled on December 26. But what we do know of you is your kindness and generosity. We are so looking forward to seeing you and are awaiting this time eagerly.”
After visiting the sixth grade, the fourth and fifth grade put on a special play for us, using an open area in the schoolyard as the stage. As we sipped some very sweet tea, we watched the students’ very interesting and funny play that contrasted an uneducated family with an educated family to demonstrate the importance of attending school. We all laughed and greatly enjoyed the play, and I was very impressed by the girls’ acting talent.
Afterwards, my family and I sat with the fifth grade class to talk with them about their everyday lives, ambitions, likes, and dislikes. Almost every girl said that she wants to be either a teacher or a doctor when she grows up, but one student said she wants to be a policewoman, which elicited some giggles from the class. Most girls have at least four children in their families and usually their parents are farmers, with some fathers working in the nearby cities of Hyderabad or Jamshoro. Common favorite foods among the students are chicken (murgi in Urdu) and okra, and the girls’ favorite colors are usually pink, green, or red. The fifth grade girls enjoy learning English in school, and some students’ families have buffalos, goats, and cows. The students told us about a recent trip they took to Karachi, where they greatly enjoyed visiting the mausoleum of Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Quaid-e-Azam, the founder of Pakistan). I asked the class if there was anything they would change about the Khanott School, or if there was anything that they wish their school could have. The girls shook their heads, and stated that their school is perfect.
What struck me the most about my trip to the Khanott School is the general happiness of the students. The girls are so confident in themselves and enthusiastic about learning. They seem so glad to just be in school. Their school might not have the best facilities, and their lives involve much more labor than the average U.S. child their age, but I did not observe any discontent after spending a few hours at the Khanott School. That is not to say that there are no problems in the village. After our trip, we sat down with IRC representatives and the principal and a teacher from the school. A teacher told us that one of the fourth grade students was absent because very recently, her parents married her off. I knew that child marriage is an issue in the area, but it is very different to meet the girls of the Khanott School’s fourth grade class and to know that one of them is already a bride. The school representatives expressed fear that by educating the girls of the village, the teachers give them hope for a career and for a different future than they previously imagined, and then, due to the uncontrollable choices of their parents, the girls are suddenly married and their dreams are crushed. Such a situation is a tragedy, yet even if a girl cannot follow her ambitions of further education and of a career, she will most likely send her daughters to school in the future, and thus contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty and unequal opportunity for women.
The same afternoon of our trip, we also visited another Ibtida school, located in the neighboring village of Habib Morr, fifteen minutes away. The environment of the Habib Morr School was drastically different from the Khanott School. Several months ago, the man who owned the Habib Morr School’s land had started building the school, but ran out of money. The school stood half-completed for months, until the IRC finally collected enough funds to finish building. Once completed, the landlord then demanded for the IRC to give him additional money. The IRC refused, and consequently, the landlord locked up the school so no students could attend. Finally, due to community pressure, the school recently opened its doors.
When we visited, I noticed that the Habib Morr students were more subdued than the Khanott School girls. The highest-level class was third grade, and a few older, ten- to twelve-year-old children were in the first grade class. The teachers were very young and one was wearing the apparel of a recent bride. The walls of the classroom were mostly bare except for a few posters. But, like the Khanott School students, the coed classes sang songs and read aloud for us. One girl wrote, “This is my school” on the chalkboard in the local language of Sindhi, in the national language of Urdu, and in English. I asked the boys of the third grade what they would like to be when they grow up, and every boy responded with “doctor,” “soldier,” or “policeman.” When we introduced ourselves to the second grade class and said we were from the United States, the most talkative boy in class told the teacher that the class doesn’t know where the U.S. is. While our visit to the Habib Morr provided a more disheartening view on the status of education in rural Pakistan, I am confident that the school will improve. The school is brand new, and the now-thriving Khanott School probably began similarly. This is only the beginning – the Ibtida.
To see Nadia's video about her visit to the Khanott Schoo, visit: http://www.youtube.com/NadiaGLI
To learn more about GLI, visit: http://www.girlslearn.org |