The Pencils and Erasers Foundation

Improving access to education has been one of the 21st Century’s most sought after goals. This is especially true for countries in the global south in which education had never been a priority for the ruling colonial governments.

The British Raj in the Indian subcontinent never witnessed a concentrated, committed governor general that was interested in bringing elementary education to the masses. Though there were academies and private institutions built to support colonial administration and feed troops into the Royal Army, there was never a concerted effort aimed at establishing reliable and effective centers of learning. The consequent lack of educational infrastructure was particularly felt in the remote and isolated parts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), now the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK) of Pakistan.

When Pakistan came to being, the young state had too many pressing issues to properly address the deteriorating education system in the country. The economic and political woes would continue through the turn of the millennium and access to education, though seeing great improvement, had left considerable work to be done.

While in Pakistan, on a trip to Malkidam (an area with a collection of small villages surrounded by vast fields), I stopped by a village known as Sandoka. Now Malkidam is surrounded by two mountains and begins as a person comes off the main road into Swat and ends as the flanking mountains narrow until they finally merge at a place called Sandoka. The village of Sandoka has a small population that lives on farming rice and tending to their livestock of sheep, goats, cows and buffaloes.

Due to its position far from the main road and away from the commercial areas of Swat, Sandoka lacks all sorts of facilities. There is no nearby school of any level and though the nearest school technically falls within the area known as Malkidam, it is nearly a 90 minute journey by motorcycle from Sandoka! There is no paved road to the naturally elevated village so anyone travelling must make a 30min hike down the mountain before they actually reach the point where a vehicle can pick them up from!

Due to the socioeconomic condition of the people, there are a privileged few who own a motorcycle, the cheapest form of transit. The rest of the population must travel by foot, which is both dangerous and unsafe (especially for children) in the often silent, remote and hilly area. A realistic, tangible and appropriate solution is needed to address the inequalities in education such circumstances create. Therefore, an elementary school is sorely needed for the children whose precious time and talent continues to be wasted.

An elementary school to provide basic education for the children of villagers, in not only Sandoka but also the adjoining villages of Kandak, Jehangir, Jurbandai, Balo Kalay, will all benefit from reduced transportation time and the increase in convenience and the service it will bring. In addition to the convenience, the fears of parents’ who dread sending their children off to school every morning will be allayed by the close distance. Furthermore, when the first batch of children graduate, their success will motivate other parents to allow their own children to attend, thereby increasing the overall literacy of the area.

A school in the village will mean great benefits at little cost and I will be very excited to work on such a productive and meaningful endeavor in the upcoming days and weeks. Please follow me on my Instagram @marwankhanofficial and my Facebook page, to stay up do date with any and every development!