LAHORE: “My three sons refused to continue studies after class eight. They ask me whether four masters degrees helped me get a reasonable job,” said rickshaw driver Muhammad Saleem, who attended school till the eighth grade but continued further education as a private candidate.

Author of four booklets out of which only one has been published so far, Saleem, 57, was encouraged by advocates late Sheikh Hameedullah and Sheikh Saeed Ahmad from his hometown Khanpur, a tehsil of Rahim Yar Khan district, to sit matriculation exam in 1978 from the Multan board, FA from Bahawalpur board in 1982, BA and BEd from Islamia University, Bahawalpur (IUB) in 1986 and 1990, respectively with guidance from Prof Rustam of Khawaja Ghulam Fareed College, Rahim Yar Khan.

The former government school teacher got his masters degree in history and Pakistan studies (1999) and English language in 2001 from IUB.

Owing to a dearth of teachers and relevant books in Khanpur, he came to Lahore. From Punjab University students and teachers letting him attend some classes to a Government College University professor encouraging and guiding him, Saleem got some much-needed help during his few infrequent visits to Lahore.

Dr Saleem of Punjab University’s Institute of Education Research helped him complete his MEd thesis on ‘A study of students’ failure at secondary school level in Khanpur’.

“I got my MEd degree from the Allama Iqbal Open University in 2005, tried my best to get a job according to my qualifications in or near my hometown, but to no avail. I decided to shift to Lahore in 2014 along with my 10 children and wife to try my luck. With every passing day it was becoming hard to make both ends meet in Khanpur where I was employed as a senior vernacular teacher at a government school.”

He left his government teaching job claiming he was ‘over-qualified’ for it. In Lahore, Saleem set up an academy at a rented house in Dholanwal along Bund Road and simultaneously began visiting public and private educational institutions looking for work.

The academy failed to attract students and neither did he get any response from any of the 100 or so institutions he had applied at. Paying rent of his two-and-a-half-marla house was getting difficult and his family was on the verge of starvation.

“Eventually, I started driving a rickshaw as it is an immediate source of earning through legal means. You drive it any hour and you earn. It was also then that my sons stopped going to school. My eldest son became a salesman at a shoe shop, the younger one started going to a glassware outlet while the youngest one is employed with an automobile tool workshop. They say learning some skill is better than getting degrees.

“Teaching is my passion and driving (a rickshaw) is my profession. That is why I penned four short books on the basics of English language. While teaching students in Khanpur and Dholanwal, I realised that even students of BA had no understanding of tenses, parts of speech, active and passive voice and direct and indirect speeches.

“Owing to financial constraints, I only got my first book published. Initially, I requested some bookshops in Urdu Bazaar to display my work but not a single copy was sold. From the day I got a flex displayed on my rickshaw, people approached me on traffic signals and elsewhere. Now I sell eight to 20 books a day. I plan to fund publication of my second book from the earnings through this book and so on.

“The government is not responsible for my suffering. It is the corrupt in the public who first get better grades in examinations through unfair means and then grab jobs on the basis of connections and influence. It doesn’t matter now. I am content with my life,” maintains Saleem.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2016