KARACHI, April 15: Children from underprivileged areas put up an impressive show of their oratory and artistic skills at a well-attended programme held yesterday at a local hotel. Their brilliant performance proved that if provided with opportunities, they are no less than their colleagues studying in private educational institutions.

All the children were students of Baithak schools set up by an NGO, Society for Educational Welfare (SEW), which organised the event. The schools impart pre-primary and primary education in slum areas.

The programme started off with the recitation of Quranic verses, which was followed by a captivating rendition of naat by Sajwar and Muneeb. Nilofer, another student, spoke on Readers are Leaders convincingly and received a good response from the audience, who were later introduced to some students who had done well in their schools and are now studying in other institutions.

Recollecting how Baithak school made a difference in her life, Fatima, now a schoolteacher and college student, said that there was no school in her locality when she, at age 11, expressed the desire to her father to be enrolled into school. Her father was against girls’ education and got so upset that he left home. It was only after his friends convinced him about the benefits of education that he returned home and allowed her to enrol.

The occasion was also used to highlight the significant features of the 10-year long journey of SEW.

The programme concluded with distribution of gifts among children.—Our Reporter