EDUCATION: THE VILLAGE SCHOOL MASTER
Describing a really good rural schoolmaster, an early 20th-century traveller, F.L. Brayne, in his book The Remaking of Village India in the Punjab, noted:
“. . . The boys come crowding to the school, and so do the girls; he is spoken of with reverence by the villagers; and his little charges are happy and good-mannered and do him credit in after-life. What more could a teacher desire than a life of such usefulness?”
What more, indeed, and I was thus privileged, one fine autumn morning, recently, to meet such a schoolmaster in his school, located between Lahore and the Pakistan-India border, in a rural community of some 25,000 inhabitants. Ishaq Masih’s is the most popular school in town: arguably so perhaps where 50 private schools exist (including the one across the road from his) in a relatively small town. But, due to its popularity, Masih must limit his students to 500 boys and girls from nursery to Class VIII and regularly turn away, with the utmost courtesy, those whom he cannot accommodate.
Ishaq Masih and his rural school are an exemplary model of community resilience
Masih is a remarkable man. He was obliged to leave school, aged 12, to work with his father but continued his education privately until he had completed all steps to a master’s degree programme. He then earned an MA in Islamic Studies from the University of Punjab. While he teaches all subjects to Matric level students he prefers to teach Islamiat and Arabic. In his school, he teaches till Class VIII, on completion of which, some children leave school to work, others go to the government school for Matric (class IX and X). Alternatively, students may enrol in classes IX and X in Masih’s evening school.
He began his teaching career as an apprentice for a stipend of 500 rupees per month and, subsequently in another school, at 800 rupees per month. In 2006, he opened a two-roomed school with the assistance of his late sister, Asma Sardar, receiving a few orphaned children as their first students. Because of their love of teaching and care for each student, the school steadily grew to its present size with 17 female teachers and students coming from all parts of the town, as far away as five kilometres. Masih says that he has never advertised or used other means to publicise the school. “Our students are our publicity,” he says. He is right: each child is an able ambassador for the school. There is a small name plate in Urdu on the outside wall but nothing else to indicate that inside the building there is an active, orderly, peaceful and harmonious school in progress.
Indeed, the students’ exam results testify to the effectiveness of the school: those who move on to the government school for Matric are well-received as they have been well-taught and are well-mannered young people. They often score highly in Matric exams; one girl, two years ago, even obtained a record 1,078 marks. The provincial education officers who occasionally visit Masih’s school also praise it. Primarily, though, it is the parents’ support for the school that indicates its effectiveness; they may not necessarily be literate themselves but they see the difference that the school is making for their children.
I asked Masih where his office was. His reply surprised me: he doesn’t have one other than a small fold-away table at which he sits amidst the classrooms when he is not teaching (which is rare). He visits each class twice a day, memorising the students’ details such as their names, their parents’ names and addresses, and their siblings and cousins in school. Written records of each student’s annual exam results and the payment of fees are maintained. Fees range from 275 rupees to 500 rupees per month. Sometimes, if parents are unable to pay in cash, they can pay in kind, bringing rice or other grains for Masih’s family.
Most of the teachers are qualified to Intermediate level while six are graduates with a BA or BSc degree. They are paid between 4,000 and 5,000 rupees per month. Masih prefers to employ untrained teachers and to train them himself to ensure they work in accordance with his requirements. In practice, however, many, including three of his sisters teaching in the school, have been students themselves in Masih’s school and understand the requirements.