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12
SLUM
Now, the young humanitarian [Rohayl Varind] is back with another project with generous support from friends and the community—a Slum School for the children living in the slums of Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab. SLUM stands for Students Learning Under the Moon, an acronym as succinct as its purpose. "[Slum] is an effort to educate children living in the slums of Pakistan. This is how I aim to win the war against poverty, illiteracy and terrorism,” Varind told Gulf News.
According to an article posted by Gulf News on February 23, 2018, Varind launched his day school in December 2016, in Faisalabad, and in April 2017, the night school for kids who are working or employed as laborers.
Through a two-part project that runs both day and night schools, Varind uses solar energy to run fans in his classrooms during the day, and for the night school, the fans and the light are solar-powered.
Seeing her children go to school is nothing short of a miracle for Naseem Manzoor, mother of four, who lives in a slum with her family in Faisalabad, Pakistan’s industrial hub and the third-largest city.
"I dreamed of my children going to school one day but we could not bear the cost [of the school fees],” said Naseem, from Saeed Colony. "Now, with the new school in the colony offering free education, books and stationery, my children along with the neighborhood kids are also studying in school,” says the proud mother.
Naseem hopes that her children’s education will not only help her family to survive but also break the cycle of poverty.
Her children are among the 22 million children in Pakistan who have never gone to school and the family of six is part of up to 30 per cent of country’s population who still live below the poverty line.