Tharparkar district can no longer be considered a backward area as far as education is concerned. This was observed when this scribe attended a speech day organised by a school’s junior section there last month. The ceremony at the Skill Enhancing and Research Home for Children (SEARCH) in Mithi saw the students perform skits about childhood marriage, corporal punishment and other children’s rights issues. There were also speeches in English on the core issues of education in Thar.

Such performance by Thari students is a new thing. The confidence exuberated by them didn’t make them seem any less than the students of elite schools in the big cities of Pakistan.

According to SEARCH’s Executive Director Partab Shivani, the literacy rate in Tharparkar district used to be the lowest in Pakistan. But despite the odds, some organisations such as his are trying to bring the figure closer to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). SEARCH is currently working on its model project, the South City School (SCS). He added that, “There is lot of talent in Thari children and many students from this school have gone on to take part in national and international level activities.”

Recalling the time when the school was still in its initial stages, he said that they had to overcome a number of difficulties to establish an English-medium school in the district where the parents were not even willing to send their children to private schools, leave alone English-medium schools. But he vowed to bring the region’s education in line with the other well-equipped schools of the country in order to transfer quality education to the children of Thar.

The school, with the help of several good suggestions from friends and a series of meetings with educationists, social workers and even some students, was established in August 2007. It was initially just five high school classes, from sixth to the 10th. Subject specialisation was compulsory for teachers and a pre-entry test system a must for the students. The poor but intelligent students were given admission and taught free of charge (currently there are 37 children who have been exempted from paying school fees although the regular fee structure from nursery to secondary level ranges from Rs400-800). The school in its first year had only 78 students.

It was decided by the members of the committee to provide a sound salary to the teachers to keep up the quality of education. Thus the project went into loss from its very first year. But as far as the standard of education was concerned, it was way up.

English as the medium of instruction brought in a kind of uniqueness to the teaching and learning process. The faculty, too, was frequently visited by foreign experts. A junior section was also added last year even though the school suffered further losses. Still the efforts of the teachers saw 80 per cent students getting A+.

Even with their limited resources, SEARCH never made any compromise on the quality of education. With support from the Aga Khan Foundation, it started a school health assessment programme along with teachers’ training as part of the Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP). The computer and science labs were funded by the German consulate whereas the resource centre was made possible by the district government. The school at present has around 378 students.

Keeping a close liaison with the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) and Youth Exchange Study (YES), SEARCH was able to provide a kind of platform to 37 students from South City School, 16 of whom were short listed. Five of them passed the Secondary Level English Proficiency (SLEP) test and then one, a student named Subham, qualified to participate in a US programme.

The school also has a SEARCH Children’s Committee (SCC) for and by children that holds fortnightly meetings to discuss and solve the various issues at hand. We all know what “all work and no play” leads to so indoor as well as outdoor games are also a regular feature at the school. They also have their own school newspaper Voice of children. The majority of the parents in the district may be uneducated but that hasn’t stopped them from setting up a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) where they do all they can to uplift the education system there.

The school management feels proud of its contribution during this crucial time of finding ways of providing technology, education and chances of development to the youth of this country. It may be suffering financially but the students here are as lucky as any of the reputed schools charging thousands of rupees. So despite facing the demand of price hikes in the rent department for their school building along with the teachers’ salaries they remain determined to keep on doing the good work as they are confident of playing the part of a backbone in improving the socio-economic condition of this area in coming years.