Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation

Sumaira Mumtaz

Sumaira Mumtaz has proved to be a phenomenal student of Baacha Khan School Charsadda who competed in FSc Level country level debates in Lahore and Asian Declamation Contest Bankok Thailandin in 2011. She has been a brilliant stage performer and has demonstrated exemplary performance in stage shows, moderation, speeches, painting and sports.

Unlike the normal debates where two candidates debate over a particular topic, Sumaira could not find a mate to argue against the given topic Asian Declamation Contest Banko, hence she decided to be her own competitor as well; She spoke half an hour in favor of the particular topic and half an hour against it. She was highly applauded by the participants and ultimately won the debate competition leaving the audience mesmerized with her talent.

Sumaira has proved herself to be an all-rounder who has been making Baacha Khan School and her teachers proud.

Haseeba Younus

BKS Totakan

Haseeba Younus, the girl who secured highest marks in Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) exams among all Baacha Khan Schools. Her story is not only interesting because she was able to attain such high grades but also because of the adverse circumstances that she had to face being a woman and coming from a downtrodden class of society.

She sees her achievement as a fruit of her teachers’ hard work and the trust they put in her.

“While girls of my age recall memories of a colorful childhood when they had carefree days and had no worries to take care of; Here I stand, recalling the memories of my old school, cleaning my teachers’ homes, baby sitting for their children, and cleaning their sheds where the cows and buffalos were kept. I was beaten and demeaned for mistakes such as the house not being clean enough or the sheds not taken care of. I would start shivering with the thought of “teacher” in my mind. I started shrinking inch by inch- mentally, physically, emotionally. My relationship with my teachers was nothing less than masters and slaves.

In all this melancholy, there was only one thing that kept me moving, my love for education. When I could take it no longer in my old school, I decided to switch to Baacha Khan School. Nobody in my community supported my except for my mother.” said Haseeba.

During the admission interview at Baacha Khan School, she recalls how she started crying when she was asked to spell the word “Homework”. She did not know how the word was spelled. Her new teachers corrected her mistakes with love and encouragement. With the help of her teachers who played immeasurable role in her life, she started elevating in her academics. Day after day, year after year she started demonstrating exemplary performance. Her result in Grade 10th did not come as a surprise rather it was the fruit of her hard work, her determination and her fight against the odds. People of her community who were once ashamed of girls going to school feel proud of her today.

Speaking in the prize distribution ceremony organized by the Baacha Khan Trust Education Foundation(BKTEF), she said “Today, people around me tell me to become a doctor. I will have enough money and a comfortable life undoubtedly, but the darkness that has engulfed my Pashtun brothers and sisters will still remain. I want to illuminate their worlds with knowledge and enlightenment and therefore I will become a teacher. A teacher who would raise a generation filled with love for enlightenment.”

The hall echoed with applauses as her name was taken for the award, this time for a different reason, for a different person. Haseeba, the girl who fought and proved that the will of the strong shall never be shaken.