Muhammad Ejaz: Teacher & Community Activist

“To me, a girl’s education is far more important than a boy’s education. Educated girls can brighten the future of this country.”

Muhammad Ejaz joined Iqra Fund as a primary school teacher in 2014. Since then, he has not only been educating the school going boys and girls in his village of Basha valley, but he has also been working hard to motivate other parents to send their out of school children to school, particularly their girls. “People here had too many misapprehensions in their minds about girl’s education,” says Ejaz, “ I had to work very hard in order to convince them.”

Ejaz started motivating parents to send their girls to school by first conducting a survey of his village. He would visit the parents of out of school girls at their homes, and discuss their reservations. “For most parents, not sending their daughters to school was a cultural or economic decision. They were too poor to afford it, and they believed that education would not be of any value for them or their daughters.” However, Ejaz was persistent and eventually he won everyone over. “Now 100% of girls are enrolled in school, and all parents in Basha valley understand the important of education.”

Along with his primary students, Ejaz aspires to bring education to all the children of Gilgit-Baltistan. “I hope Iqra Fund will wipe out illiteracy from this area.”

Don’t worry, Ejaz, we’re working on it!