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A few miles away from the port of Kiamari in the midst of the sea lies too closely, populated islands called “Baba” and “Bhit”. Every day, a group of teachers, both male, and female travel over the sea to teach at the government schools located on these Islands. Despite showing their utmost dedication, these light bearers of the society are deprived of their basic needs of safety and resources.
“Last month, a teacher slipped into the water while trying to get on the boat,” says Ms. Parween, Headmistress at the Govt. boys secondary school at Bhit. When inquired about how the teachers commute to and from these islands, “We wake up at 5:30 in the morning as we have to reach the port by 6:30. The boat hired by the school is a local fisherman and sails around 7:00 a.m.” she says. The average commute time to Baba Island is 20mins, while the Island of Bhit is a further 10 minutes away. Despite the perilous travel every day, these teachers are paid minimum wages in contrast to the government teachers posted within Karachi.
These islands are solely inhabited by fishermen and the literacy rate is extremely low. The teachers complain of schools lacking basic teaching needs such as books and stationery. “Around 350-400 students are currently enrolled at bhit,” says Ms. Yasmin, English teacher at the Government school at Bhit Island. “NGO’s like Indus Resources Center(IRC) sometimes visit and distribute books and stationary amongst students that help us to teach, however, in my two years of service, I haven’t seen any support from the government” she adds.
Senior teacher, Ms. Kehkashan, traveling to Baba Govt. school to distribute result amongst her students told, “The trend of sending kids to school is increasing in backward Islands like Baba and Bhit”. She will be retiring in 2 years, after serving at the school for 10 years time. “When I started off here, there were hardly 15-20 students, however, now the classes seem packed” she adds.
The Govt. Secondary school at Bhit was shut down for a time period as it was operational in a rented building and the government was unable to pay the rent on time. It was reopened in 2011 with the help of NGO’s like IRC. “When it reopened, the enrollment was zero however, it gained pace with time,” says Shahid Hussain, Assistant Head Master at Bhit Govt. Secondary School, who travels every day from Clifton to Bhit Island to fulfill his duties.
Despite minimal wages, irregular time of salary payments is another cause of discontent amongst the teachers who feel they are giving more than they are being paid off. Mostly teachers complain of receiving their salaries in the mid of month, thus finding it difficult to run the expenses of their houses efficiently.
Despite the arduous job, teachers like Shahid Hussain refuse to give up on these schools. “Last year we managed to pass out a batch of Matric students and this year we are hoping for another one,” he says.
