Monthly Archives: July 2008

An Exercise in Self-Help: Pakistan’s Garage School Offers Its Students a Way Out of Poverty

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: The WIP

Anil is now a young man of 19, studying for his high school examinations at Bahria College. He is also working a summer job with a cell phone company to earn a few extra rupees for his family.

• Shabina (standing at left) and her first group of students at the original Garage School site. •

I have known Anil since he was a child, when he joined The Garage School in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi where he lived with his family. The school opened in 2000 when Shabina, an enterprising widow, decided to utilize her garage space to help poor children acquire some education. Anil was amongst the first 15 or so children who enrolled. Today he acknowledges, “Under the discipline and guidance of Madam, my life has changed.”