Reema lives in Sindh, Pakistan, and is part of the Women's Empowerment Programme under the Primary Education Project (PEP). Her journey is a great testimony of how a village girl overcame deep-rooted prejudice against education for girls to become a role model herself.
"I don't want the children of my community to work all day in fields. I want them to be educated."
This is the mantra of Mizoram (not his real name), who opened a school in a community hall a few years back with an enrolment of 50 children. He belongs to a Hindu community in rural Pakistan where education had been lacking for many years.
One of the most common taboos in Pakistani society is "disability". Disabled people carry a stigma which can dog them for life.
A village in Khowaja Goth, rural Sindh, chants this same sad story of the scars that disabled people, especially children, have been bearing since birth. The lame or mentally retarded children have one and only possible way to survive, and that is to be shut out completely from society. Their families feel an inner shame and are unable to shake off this albatross.
Low literacy rates in developing countries have caused millions to be caught in a vicious cycle of poverty. In rural Pakistan, the effects on women are devastating, causing them to struggle against gender discrimination.
Take Bahgwani for example. She was uneducated, got married as a teenager, and was trapped in a culture where women had less or no freedom to live out their rights. But thanks to the Primary Education Project (PEP), Bahgwani could now see light at the end of the tunnel.
Education with a life-changing mission is a rewarding and an enduring endeavour. Whether it’s conducted in glittering capital cities or some of the remotest corners of the world, the impact will be felt for generations to come.
The National Mission Commission of Nepal (NMCN) has been running three “Slum School Centres” at two places, in Thapathali slum by the Bagmati River and in Godavari, catering to a total of 125 children.