DIL News 2008 - Winter

Bunni Behk Resident Partners with DIL to Open New School

By Faryal Shah
Bunni Behk is a small village located an hour from Islamabad, difficult to reach because it is only accessible by a dirt road. Until recently, Bunni Behk had no school and the children had limited access to an education.

As a young boy, Tariq Chaudhary walked more than two miles to attend school. At that time, few children attended school and those that did were boys—girls did not go to school.

Due to the distance and the financial hardship, Tariq left school after completing 10th grade. Today, Tariq, 45, runs a small business selling milk and operating a taxi service.

Having received the gift of an education himself, Tariq embarked on a mission to bring literacy to his own community. Recently, accompanied by his daughter, Tariq went from house to house talking to parents about the importance of educating their children. In summer 2007, he opened a school in his home.

As the enrollment increased, Tariq searched for ways to accommodate the growing student population. In his search to find partners for this venture, Tariq was introduced to DIL. Tariq recognized that DIL’s vision of “educating children and empowering communities” matched his own efforts. He now works in partnership with DIL to bring, as he calls it, "the jewels of education" to Dhalla Village. Tariq donated eight canals of his land to the community and DIL has taken over the construction and the operation of the new school.

The Bunni Behk School will be completed in March 2008. Parents are now eager for their children to receive a quality education and the children are looking forward to attending school in a brand new building. In the future DIL plans to add a library, a computer lab and additional classrooms to accommodate further growth in enrollment.

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