‘WHERE there’s a will, there’s a way’ may sound like a cliché but for many, it is more than that. It is an article of faith that brings together a bunch of children for a cause. And the cause, in their own words, is “empowering themselves with education and strengthening their families by equipping themselves with employable skills”. These children are compelled to contribute to the incomes of their families by working for manufacturers of various products and as domestic help.

In the narrow lanes of Shahdara’s factory area exists a world where scores of children work in factories big and small. Located a stone’s throw from the Ravi bridge, it is a rather obscure area in the middle of which is an institution that imparts free education to many of these children. Besides offering regular education, the Ghani Welfare Foundation (GWF) has since last year added another feather to its cap: it has been providing logistics for a project of educating child labourers through Skype.

The brainchild of Canada-based IT experts, the project (aptly named Let’s Awake) not only promises to provide basic literacy to underprivileged children but also inculcate values such as compassion and a sense of patriotism. More than 20 children have enrolled themselves for the Skype programme that took off one year ago.

The small room can’t accommodate too many students but certainly offers a lot of hope. There are 20-odd children, aged between 10 and 15 years, all radiating confidence.

“I have been studying here for the last six months,” says 10-year-old Usman. “Initially, I found it difficult to acclimatise myself but gradually it turned out to be a fun-filled activity.” He has acquired the rudimentary knowledge of English and mathematics and also seems to enjoy science lessons. Other children, including Rida and Ali, seem equally inspired by the initiative.

Ghazanfar Ali, project administrator, tells Dawn that the moving spirit behind the undertaking was Syed Kashif Riaz, an alumnus of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, who works in the IT & communications sector in Canada. Riaz, along with Rezwan Iqbal and others, came up with a plan to do something practical for impoverished children back home and accordingly, a Skype-based education programme was launched in Karachi and Lahore.

The Shahdara area houses 150 to 200 factories; Ali went from door to door to convince parents to allow their children to attend a daily two-hour class. It was the most difficult phase, he recalls, as parents as well as the owners of factories where the children worked resisted. Most parents feared that once their children joined the study group, they would lose interest in their jobs.

“We offered incentives such as cash, stationery and free breakfast for the children,” he says. The commitment that the children’s learning routine would not disrupt their work helped. More than 20 children are now part of the endeavour.

Ali says Riaz and his team worked for months to come up with a plan geared to meet the requirements of pupils without taxing them. The teaching methodology and content have helped generate interest amongst the children who, according to Ali, are doing well in their studies. One of the key features of the project is imparting knowledge without encumbering children with too many books.

To engage the children in extracurricular activities, he says, field trips have been included. “Last month, we arranged a tour to a science festival organised by UET’s Al-Khwarizmi Institute of Computer Sciences (KICS) at the Ali Institute of Education. They not only performed experiments but also participated in discussions.”

Similarly, he explains, Let’s Awake also took its students to The Little Art event where they participated in an art competition. Fourteen students were awarded certificates. Another recreational trip was to Bagh-i-Jinnah.

Kashif Riaz tells Dawn over the phone that it all started with the idea of thinking of Pakistan’s ailing situation. “Having lived in developed countries, we have learned the basic rights for the citizens and especially the importance of child education in the transformation of society,” he says. “We don’t resort to traditional methods of teaching, and instead employ audio-visual aids and help children in basic literacy. We eventually aim to impart vocational training skills to enable them to meaningfully contribute to their families.”

The core objective of the initiative, he says, is promoting humanism by educating children on compassion, tolerance, social responsibility and the impact of their actions on others.

Let’s Awake is registered in Canada as a not-for-profit organisation and “we are in the process of having it officially accredited in Pakistan as well”. Forty people from Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and Pakistan have joined the voluntary teaching initiative. “It’s high time the government too made its contribution to the cause of the underprivileged children,” he says.

Although Article 25A of the Constitution guarantees the right to free and compulsory education to all children between ages 5 and 16 years in Pakistan, statistics show that 22 million children are out of school. Among them, 2.5 million are engaged in child labour and 13pc of them are between ages 10 and 14 years.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2017