It was a fateful meeting that on day four of the ride I encountered a PSTA van parked at the roadside. It was an organization I’d previously heard about but had no experience with. We soon ended up at a small school set up in one of the buildings adjacent to a Brick Kiln factory a few kilometers away.

This must have been one of the smallest schools I had ever been in. Located in a tiny compound with an adjacent playground, every inch of space was utilized for desks, chairs and a slightly dilapidated blackboard in the back corner. As I walked into the school the students all rose hesitantly. Who was this stranger on a horse? What was he doing at our school?

Like Godh’s Nayadin School in Lahore, this school catered to nomadic families who live where they can find work. These are poorer segments of Pakistani society who live around the Brick Kilns until circumstances force them to move on. The children who are too young to work accompany their mothers to the Brick kiln to play in the mud whilst their parent toils. The children who are old enough, help their parents or work on their own for wages that hardly pay for the food to feed them.

Not all the children at this school worked at the Brick Kiln, but a good proportion did. All were poor. The teachers explained that PSTA provided the books and uniforms but that their biggest need at the moment was a bigger school and better environment.

Fifteen years ago, the PSTA recognized the need to educate the children of these kilns, but the difficulty was how? It has only been in the past three years that the program has really seen fruition. PSTA has managed to do this by fulfilling the needs of all the parties at each factory. They persuaded the Brick kiln owner that contributing a school would encourage his ‘workers’ to settle at his factory and provide a permanent workforce. An educated one that are better able to count their wages and correctly pay back the loans given them by the Brick Kiln owner. They persuaded the parents by involving the whole community and giving them a say in their children’s education. Each school has a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) who are also responsible for providing the kid’s lunches. The teachers wages are paid by the community. PSTA donates everything else.

PSTA now runs an annual awards program for the best performing Brick Kiln schools and Brick Kiln owners have begun to register all the students. It is encouraging that during the school year 2005-06, 1200 (a 97% pass rate) children have graduated fifth grade and have moved on to Government secondary schools. The organisation has also recently begun to concentrate heavily on community development & training.

Akram no. 2, Kamoki, is just one of 214 primary schools and 116 adult Literacy centres across the Punjab and the programme is always expanding.

Just as I was about to leave the school, I asked the students what they wanted to be when they grew up. One hand shot straight up, “English” the boy announced. Perhaps with the chance he receives here, this dream might even come true.

NEEDS :

There are thousands of Brick Kiln Factories across the Punjab . As their programme expands so does their success with each school and the possibilities that can be achieved by each student. Kamoki’s school desperately requires to move to larger premises and the whole and PSTA requires your support.