Maqbool of Shahabzai wants to study

Maqbool, 9, says he wants to continue his studies but he cannot due to absence of a middle or high school in his village. Maqbool lives in a Zhob village in the valleys of Kohe Sulaiman. I found him wandering on the embankment of the Shahabzai Dam with a school note book in his hand.

Maqbool is among the hundreds of children who are compelled to bade farewell to further education because they have no schools beyond the primary schools in this area.

Maqbool is the youngest son of a farmer, Yahya Khan. He is a resident of Shahabzai, a village in the district of Zhob in Balochistan . This is the the site where Human Development Foundation (HDF), in collaboration with the local community, has built a dam to cater to irrigation and drinking water needs of the area. Maqbool came to the dam with his father to attend a meeting about the dam.

This meeting with the HDF leadership and the community is the part of the process which was adopted to build the dam. HDF does not give out charity. It does not do things for others. HDF starts its work in an area by helping the community develop an organization of their own. With this in place, the community then discusses community issues and makes decisions about the priorities of their community. This is the process which Shahabzai and close by villages adopted to reach the conclusion about the Shahabzai Dam. We met Maqbool when the community was discussing maintenance issues regarding the dam. Since we did not know Pukhto, we could not participate in the meeting. I decided to conduct an interview with Maqbool who was hanging around with other children. The notable exception was that he was the only boy, or adult for that matter who had a notebook with him.

"I want to continue my studies but I cannot, because my father cannot afford to send me to the city for further education", Maqbool said. There is only one primary school in Shahabzai , which also serves five other villages in the vicinity.

Asked what he wants to become in his life, Maqbool, a student of second grade, had an instant answer "I will become a mazdoor," a laborer. He wants to go to Zhob and do whatever labor he can find, or assist his father who has borrowed a small portion of agriculture land from a local landlord. In these villages almost every one is a laborer or a farmer.

I tried to inspire Maqbool to become something else. "Why not become a doctor?" I asked. This profession, which most urban kids in Paksitan aspire for, was not even on his horizon.
"No," was his firm reply.

"How can I become a doctor. We don't even have a school beyond grade four. I will have to go to the city if I want to continue my studies", he said, adding " I doubt my father can afford this."

"I would like to continue my studies if a middle or high school is set up in our area. I am sure my father would have no objection to it", Maqbool said confidently, adding "even my two elder brothers, who had passed their level IV and are now assisting our father, would be able to restart their studies."

"Then who would assist your father?" I asked. "We will continue to assist our father after school timings," Maqbool.

Maqbool is well aware of the dam and its benefits. "We will use this water for our lands, which have been without water due to the drought."

As I were finishing up my interview with Maqbool, several other children had gathered around. A dua came to my lips, "may this community thrive and decide to add one class at a time to their school." If their community decides this, then HDF may help them achieve the dreams of Maqbool to go beyond fourth grade.