Kulsoom’s experience as a teacher has been rather atypical because of her extraordinary success in community mobilization. She started as teacher in the NOWA Pirbhat Madrasa-e-DIL in Mitho Lakh, which was founded largely as a result of her efforts. The lack of a school for the village girls bothered her, and she decided to take it upon herself to get one started. She met with the usual resistance: the people of Mitho Lakh could see no good reason for their girls to get any sort of education, formal or non-formal. So Kulsoom personally got in touch with the housewives of the village and arranged a meeting where she urged them to support her in setting up the school. It was a delicate task convincing them, since many of the girls whom she was proposing to teach were as old as her or even older. The only difference between her and them was that she was educated. She stressed on the fact that to educate a girl is to educate the entire family, and it was therefore the mothers’ duty towards their community to send their daughters to school. At that meeting, Kulsoom says, everyone had their names written down to enroll their children, but later on, when it was time to actually send them to school, several backed out.

Kulsoom was lucky in that she had the backing of the local VEC (Village Education Committee), which gave her the strength and the resources to keep pushing against the tide of popular opinion. Gradually, as she continued to keep the school going with as many students as she had, that tide started shifting. People passing outside her school would hear her students reciting lessons or singing songs. When her girls would go home, they would share whatever they had learnt with family members and neighbors, which became a source of pride for their parents. Kulsoom also made sure that she tutored her students in basic manners and self-grooming. She organized monthly meetings for parents to make them a part of the educational process of their children.

The village people’s interest was peaked. They began to witness the benefits that these girls were reaping from attending classes, and other girls who were not enrolled began to clamor that they too be allowed to join this wonderful school where learning was so much fun! And so the number of students kept increasing, and soon Kulsoom had thirty-seven children under her tutelage. She was doing so well that after a while she was promoted to the IRC Advanced School.

Kulsoom has to walk far in all sorts of weather to come to her school everyday, but she doesn’t mind. Over time, she has gained great respect in the village community and her girls are doing well. To her this is reward enough for all her efforts. She has become quite an important figure in the village; in fact, the residents now approach her for advice on a variety of matters. “The families even take me along when they are going to a girl’s house to deliver a formal proposal of marriage!” she laughs.

Back to Stories