‘School on Wheels’ – a novel attempt to educate poor

Islamabad: As the clear divide of rich and poor in our society badly affects our education system keeping poverty ridden students’ far off the quality education, millions of the poor students can seen roaming around when they should have been at schools.

The rising trend of private institutions’ education, rising fees and the deteriorating standard of public sector schools especially in rural areas has made the situation more difficult for the poor parents.

This tendency not only implicate on our overall education system and its standard but also the drop outs number is yet uncontrollable at the secondary and higher secondary level and above.

Ongoing economic recession and price hike is another phenomenon adding to the miseries of poor people whose illiterate children cannot be much more than a class ruled by the educated elite and the affluent.

In such a challenging situation, the nations and the governments come up with novel ideas to bridge the gaps and provide ample educational facilities to the children.

Such an idea of reaching out to poor students in remote areas through diverse attractions has been launched by the present government in the name of ‘Schools on Wheels.’

As the project aims to offer educational facilities to children through mobile libraries, two bright colored buses decorated with balloons and windows painted with alphabets and cartoons have been launched in Tarnol and Nilore areas of Islamabad Capital Territory.

Reflecting as bright and clean classrooms, their interior is filled with images of alphabets, numbers, days of the week and pictures of fruit and animals to provide primary education to children aging from three to five years in rural areas.

“By the time, we have two buses with five more in the final stages of preparation to be hopefully start functioning just after Eid ul Adha,” informed Deputy Director Research and Development Federal Directorate of Education Muhammad Nadeem.

Nadeem, who is also looking after the project said a Memorandum of Understanding was in pipeline with the British Council to provide around 20 more state-of-the-art buses for ‘Schools on Wheels’ project to educate out of school children.

He said some private organizations like “Right to Play” were also supporting the government for this project.

“These NGOs provide free teachers besides helping in discipline-related issues.”

He explained that these buses roam in rural areas where schools are farther, particularly to attract minor children. “We focus the areas where minors are unable to go far away schools. After providing basic education, the students will be shifted to nearby regular schools.”

Nadeem said each bus is equipped with computers, desks, whiteboard, Smart Boards, LCDs, ACs and Washroom.

Provision of education is prerequisite for any nation to progress and produce leaders in different fields and a country like Pakistan with lesser literacy rate in rural areas need more concentration on basic educational infrastructure.

This initiative envisaged by Minister for Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer Hussain is initially welcomed by people with the poor hoping to benefit from this facility.

“I am a daily-wager and always wanted my children to get education, but could not afford financially. This initiative has provided me an opportunity to get my kids educated at my doorstep,” said Jamal Ahmed, a resident of Nilore area.

A father of four children, Jamal Ahmed said his younger son now gets ready early in the morning and waits for the bus. “I hope this initiative would help many poor like me to get their children educated.”

The project was launched by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in February this year with a plan to expand it to other parts of the country to attract more and more parents and their children to this facility.

The children could be seen sitting in colorful chairs installed in these mobile libraries where they are enrolled for mobile classrooms.

They are also provided meals, fostering a culture of reading and nourishment.

“My son was fond of learning but I could not send him to a school. But, now teachers come to our vicinity regularly on a bus and my son joyously goes there to study,” said Munawar Khan, a resident of Tarnol.

As Pakistan spends only two percent of its GDP on education with around 48% of its rural population illiterate, much more novel ideas are needed to attract rural children to education.

One can also recall the ideas of community schools, Masjid Maktab schools and Taleem-e-Balighan but all faded away with the passage of time who knows with or without generating desired results.

Therefore, at a time when even the developing nations in third world are taking strides in the arena of education and knowledge dispensation, we direly need to promoting uniformity of syllabus and physical facilities at institutions for bridging a clear divide of rich and poor in our educational system.

Now, if we fail to embark on long term and sustainable measures, it would be too difficult for us to compete in the global race of prosperity and well being.