Recently the founder of Afsana, Sarah Khan, and a team member at the Muhammadia Learning Academy, Zil-e-Rehman, sat down to discuss the school’s efforts. Rehman works on developing the academy’s website and manages their social media accounts. Having lived most of his life in Islamabad, Rehman described his connection to Talu Roundu, Skardu, Pakistan to be not as extensive as the experience that founder of Muhammadia Learning Academy, Qadir Hussain, shares. Yet, through his time at the school, connection to the community through natives like the founder, and investigations about the state of education in Gilgit Baltistan region, he shed light upon this topic:
“There’s only a single university that is established in the whole province of Gilgit Baltistan. And we’re talking about the whole province. I mean, there are 14 different districts that are catering for those [there] and there is one civil university here. So, the education condition here is not worth mentioning and it is something that we primarily as individuals and as a society we really need to work on.”
With this context, Rehman considers the Muhammadia Learning Academy’s role as “providing an opportunity for the locals and individuals so that they can have a local school of their own where they can educate and provide opportunities and educational exposure to themselves.” He went on to discuss how this community based effort is crucial for sowing the seeds for a generation of female youth in Talu Roundu.
With the Muhammadia Learning Academy’s community-based approach to education, they reach out to families in the region to enroll their daughters in the academy. Their efforts have paid off; 60% of their school is girls. Had they not gone door to door, these girls may not have been able to get an education because of cultural attitudes, economic reasons, or purely because of the long distance from schools.
To learn even more about the Muhammadia Learning Academy, Gilgit-Baltistan, and efforts to educate the youth and women, watch the entire interview below!
The founder of Afsana, Sarah Khan, sits down with Zil-e-Rehman, a team member of the Muhammadia Learning Academy to discuss the school's efforts.
If you are interested in supporting the community to stand on its own, consider donating to Afsana’s ongoing fundraiser for the academy.
The funds will help keep the Muhammadia Learning Academy running, allow them to hold more classes fostering social awareness and technological literacy for the entire community, and build a water reservoir for clean water. You can learn more about our fundraiser for the Muhammadia Learning Academy here, and you can donate to them here. Any help will be greatly appreciated by the community and will go on to serve the future generations in the region!