BIRTHDAYS are heart-warming occasions for the newborn’s family. But when this child’s life journey spans over 100 years, the day becomes a landmark event, especially if this person has rendered yeoman’s service to society. That is the case with Mrs Zubeida Dossal who celebrated her 100th birthday on Oct 15.
As is customary in Canada where Mrs Dossal has lived with her daughter Ismet since 2012, the ‘birthday girl’ received greeting cards from five high-ranking dignitaries, starting with the governor general. The governor general fulsomely acknowledged her contributions to wherever she lived. But the real testimony to the countless lives she has touched came in the form of crowds of her former students who flocked to her home to pay homage to their beloved teacher.
I feel privileged to have known her, for she was an inspiration given her succinct knowledge and versatile personality. Whenever we have met — in Karachi or in Canada — her unassuming demeanour and affectionate behaviour have overwhelmed me. She is also a ‘fun person’ entertaining her friends with her interesting conversation, her delightful Scrabble parties and the delicious eats she served.
I have conversed with her for hours on education and the books she has written for children that reflect her love for nature and the environment.
More than their qualifications, what mattered were the teachers’ values.
Born in Bombay in 1923, she received her school and college education there and then went on to teach in her alma mater. It was in 1952 that she migrated to Karachi to marry her childhood sweetheart, Ali Hussein Dossal. Since teaching has been her passion, she remained in the profession, teaching at the Marie Colaco and the SMB Fatima Jinnah schools to move on to become the founder principal of the Habib Girls’ School in 1964 where she made her mark.
I was curious about her professional secrets that made Habib Girls’ School one of the top-grade educational institutions in the city. That is how I came to contact Mrs Nargis Alavi, who was also the principal of the same school from 2005 to 2018. She describes Mrs Dossal as her “mentor, guru and a good friend”. Mrs Alavi is herself an excellent educationist. She tells me that Mohammad Ali Habib, the scion of the Habib family, sent a message to Mrs Dossal inviting her to help him establish a school for girls. She turned down the offer, saying she would not like to work for a seth’s school. Friends persuaded her to at least talk to Habib sahib. She finally accepted his offer on the condition that the owners would not interfere with the academics while she would stay off the finances. The arrangement worked. Thereafter, there was no looking back. She retired in 1987.
Mrs Dossal’s first priority was the child, who received a lot of encouragement from her. That is why the system of recruiting teachers was so crucial to her. More than their qualifications what mattered to her were their values. She interviewed each teacher herself and judged her aptitude and temperament. The interview rather than the CV determined the fate of the teacher. Once recruited, the teachers adopted the school’s values — mainly, respect for all members of the school, whether a child or an adult, a guard or a teacher. To ensure that this rule was observed she instituted a strong support system for the staff so that they could work well, without stress affecting their performance. Similarly, she engaged regularly with the parents to smooth the way for the students.
Her firm belief in equity (not equality) for all human beings ensured that no one’s dignity was hurt. Thus the children of the lower staff were also admitted and treated at par with the offspring of the rich. She would explain that in this way the children who had failed to pick up cultured mannerisms at home learnt elegant behaviour at school from their better-endowed classmates. At the same time, the children of the affluent learnt to understand the hardship of their class fellows who were victims of poverty.
This is possible only if the rules that are drawn up are not cast in stone. They should serve as guidelines and should be flexible so that no principles are sacrificed.
Mrs Dossal was way ahead of her time. She did not allow any ranking of children as that has a negative impact on the child, especially those on the lower rung of the ladder. Besides, ranking encourages competitiveness that is destroying our society today. Class sizes and the number of sections were limited in order to ensure that the teachers recognised their students. She herself knew all the students in the school by name. Small wonder she has such a vast following of former students ready to run errands for her. Mrs Alavi is right when she says that the dignitaries who sent her cards on Oct 15 themselves did not change so many lives personally as Mrs Dossal did.
Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2023
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.