Actions lie louder than words!

If one may ask me regarding the basic and the foremost right of every individual born in a society, which shall be prearranged irrespective of race, color, gender or ethnicity, than I would refer everyone’s attention to education. The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives, and if we as a nation do not cater to the providence of this essential right to everyone, than it is but obvious that we are not just ruining the present of our society but also devastating the future of those deprived individuals and the public at large. If we value independence, if we are disturbed by the growing conformity of knowledge, of values, of attitudes, which our present system induces, then we may wish to set up conditions of learning which make for uniqueness, for self-direction, and for self-initiated learning.

Understanding the value of this need to be catered, our practicum teacher Mrs. Rashida Valika (practiccum course director & student advisor of SZABIST university) planned out a guideline for us, the students of SZABIST university, to work for educating the underprivileged children of Pakistan. It came to us as a realization that it’s a chance for us to make a difference and not only bring a favorable change in the lives of the underprivileged children, but also it’s a minute contribution towards paying back to our country in the form of our service.

In order to start from somewhere, we chose Zindagi Trust (Sultanabad Campus) as our spectrum of service where our main focus was to guide and be mentors of the preexisting teachers of the respective institution. It is a known fact that the mediocre teacher tells, The good teacher explains, The superior teacher demonstrates, but The great teacher inspires and for that matter it was indeed necessary to enrich the teachers mind with this very concept that the teachers teach more by what they are than by what they say. This is the most essential reason why our course director Mrs Valika identified this area to catered by forming a group of teacher mentors, of which I was a part.

It was a great experience working with the teachers and for the teacher of Zindagi Trust. We covered every possible aspect by which the teachers could understand that if a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn. And the idea didn’t disappoint us. We could see possible changes after every little step we took to take this understanding forward. From creativity and leadership to teachers personality and motivation, everything was addressed to the teachers at Zindagi Trust. Also Stress Management, Positivism, Class room & Behavior Management , Diversification and identification of the areas of change for themselves were also delivered and grasped with much value and consideration.

Bearing in mind this great experience with the people of Zindagi Trust I would like to assure to every individual of Pakistan who is willing to serve his/her country and community by contributing their time and service, that this is a closely knitted network and one would find a lot of support by media, NGO’s and their communities to take their spirits forward in order to serve the people of their country and make the world a better place. All you and I need to do is, take an action!

Is change possible?

Today I'd be sharing with all the readers of this blog, a very interesting article, written by Batool Aqil, a friend of mine. Batool is a Bachelors Student of Social Sciences & Economics at SZABIST university,Pakistan. This article is indeed a message to every Pakistani that today’s Youth is not just aware of their country’s problems and the system deficiencies, but is also actively participating in making their country a better place.

Is change possible?

On 23rd October, 2008 we were given a lecture by Mr Imran Sherwani (a well-known journalist in Pakistan) on “Is change possible”. It was a very interesting lecture and made us think over on what Mr Sherwani said. He said that society can be changed only when people are willing to change themselves and work collectively as a group. He even told us various incidents about how people from different parts of Pakistan (people from Okara and Dadu) worked together in solving their problems and bought a change in the society.

Therefore I, Batool Aqil a student of Bachelors in Social Sciences and Economics at SZABIST believe that “change is possible”. I believe that if we want to change the society in which we are living we first need to change ourselves. We should not consider ourselves as leaders but we should work as co-organizers with the people in order to bring a change in the society, for which networking is very important. In order to save our nation from the crisis it is facing people need to be united and should organize themselves, otherwise it will be very difficult to bring a positive change in a segmented society.

As a “Teacher Mentor” in a Government Girl’s School in Pakistan (which is a part of a course of Practicum being taught by Maam Rashida Valika, who is also a student advisor at SZABIST), I aim to educate my students on acquiring both primary and secondary education. I believe that it is very important for girls to acquire education as they will be future mothers and if mothers are educated so the whole generation is educated. Education tells man/woman how to make effective decisions. Without education, man/woman is as though in a closed room and with education he/she finds himself in a room with all its windows open towards outside world. An educated society could deal with problems more effectively and resolve its issues together.

When I am teaching the students I aim to bring out the best in them, by enhancing their communication skills, improving their learning abilities and make them better citizens.

After working for two months in the school I can proudly say that I have contributed towards a change not on a very large scale but enough to make an impact on the lives of the individuals in my class. My hard work paid off when I saw that after teaching eight parts of speech of English language the students actually grasped them and started writing in English without making grammatical mistakes. My work towards the betterment of the society will be complete when even one of these students grows up to be a successful and well educated individual.

Therefore, I completely agree with Mr Sherwani that change is possible if each and every individual makes a contribution towards the betterment of the society.