Mohammad Ayub runs a school without walls or roof in one of the posh sectors of Islamabad, providing education free of cost to children of nearby katchi abadi. Oddly named 'Second Time Civil Defence Ayub Taleemi School.

Apni Madad Aap', the school is providing education to children who had been forgotten and ignored by everybody else. If you drive in Islamabad's F-6 sector, on the Hill Road, you'll find the school in street 9 in F-6/3. It's a charming white-fenced area.

Every evening, you'll see children sitting on the grass getting education under the open sky. Blackboards indicate the presence of a 'class'. As you get closer, you'll find the teachers working solemnly, and the students studying with concentration. Children look up and smile as you get near, but soon they get back to work. Of course, there are no uniforms.

They are intelligent, happy children, coming eagerly every evening to study here. They know this is the only option open for them to study, and they value this opportunity. The free school is their only hope of getting educated in a country where literacy rate is just 49 per cent. This percentage will improve significantly if there are more people like Ayub.

The school, which began 26 years ago with only two students, today it has 330 students and five teachers – Mohammad Rukhsar, Zafran Ali, Saniya Yusaf, Hafiz Zahid Habib, Qamar Anwar and Imran Nazar – along with Ayub.

Most of the teachers are former students. Now they work during the day and teach here in the evenings. Those studying in the mornings get their fees and stationery paid by Ayub. They teach here for two hours, and afterwards he teaches them for one hour. Zafran, 21, is studying in FA, and Saniya is doing BA.

Children adore Ayub, as he engages them in conversations, and asks them lot of questions, which they enjoy answering.

The day I went to see the school it was freezing cold – cloudy and about to rain. But most of the kids stayed, dressed in woollies and caps, sitting happily on the grass, and studying. Ayub says he often gets them copies and pencils as most of them can't even afford that.

Several children come from Saidpur. Mehwish Aman, 9, works as a maid in the mornings, cleaning a house and looks after a kid. “I get Rs600 and my family lives in their servant quarter.” She said initially the lady of the house did not like her coming to the school. On a Sunday when she was coming to the school along with her brother, Jamshed, 8, the lady threw their school bags away, thinking they were lying. Aman's mother took the lady to the school to show her that they study in the open.

Born in Behra near Sargodha, Ayub's father was a labourer, who shifted to Mandi Bahauddin. “I studied in Mandi Bahauddin's degree college till FA.” Ayub did a teaching course and left studies incomplete when he was a student of Allama Iqbal Open University.

Twenty-six years ago one day in Super Market Ayub offered to teach two young boys who were cleaning cars.

He got them notebooks and pencils, and then there was no looking back. Students who work in homes and shops study in the evening. Those studying in the mornings come here for tuition, as no one at home is literate enough to help with their homework.

Initially Ayub was the only teacher, but as his students 'graduated', they also started joining him as teachers.

A father of three children, Ayub divides his income of Rs9,500 between his mother, wife and children, and himself. His wife teaches Arabic to people in their community, and his daughter also teaches children. He goes 'home' every night in a store in his office in the Secretariat, where he works during the day.

He teaches most of the children between 3-5pm. As the sun sets, the students of 9th and 10th class arrive. He usually goes home at 11pm.

A philanthropist has donated a room for the school in the katchi abadi. When it rains or gets dark, Ayub and his students move to the room. However, it is not enough to accommodate everyone.

There is an offer of a bigger place, but for that he needs Rs150,000. Ayub has paid Rs25,000, and making efforts to get the rest of amount to set up a school with a roof. With Rs125,000, there will be roof over the heads of children in Ayub's school.