Against All Odds: Aleema’s Journey from Student to Teacher

Aleema grew up in a modest household where dignity mattered more than comfort. Her father was a furniture maker, her mother a domestic worker—neither formally educated, but both deeply committed to giving their children a better life through schooling. When the family moved to Islamabad from Multan, they noticed children in their community attending Pehli Kiran School No.5. That decision—to enroll Aleema and her younger brother at PKS—would quietly shape the course of her life.

From the beginning, Aleema loved school. “I was seven when I started,” she recalls. “I enjoyed learning so much that I would sit my brother and cousins down at home and teach them whatever I learned in class.”

At PKS, she thrived academically and socially. Life felt stable, even joyful. Her father dropped her off at school every morning. Evenings were spent studying, reciting poetry with friends, and dreaming without fear. PKS was not just a school—it was a safe, structured space where a young girl could grow with confidence.

That stability shattered overnight. One morning, Aleema’s father ran into traffic to save a child. He survived—but with a severely injured arm, post-traumatic stress, and the permanent loss of his livelihood. Medical bills mounted. Income disappeared. Emotionally and financially, the family was pushed to the edge.

“I had never seen my father like that,” Aleema says quietly. “He would wander the streets, confused. We didn’t know how we would survive.” With no choice left, Aleema left school just two months before her matric exams to work alongside her mother as a maid. The timing was devastating—but survival came first. Around the same time, her engagement was broken off, adding emotional loss to an already unbearable period.

What could have ended her education instead became a turning point—because PKS did not let go. Her teachers—both from PKS and her public school—intervened. They encouraged her to sit for her exams. More importantly, PKS offered her a job.

Um-e-Rubab, Headmistress of PKS-5, invited Aleema to return—not as a student, but as a teacher, once she completed her matriculation. That vote of confidence changed everything.

Today, Aleema is a Grade 1 teacher at Pehli Kiran School No.5. She teaches every morning, studies as a private candidate in the afternoons, and works as a seamstress in the evenings to help support her family. PKS covers 50% of her educational expenses through its Teachers’ Fund, while additional support comes from her mother’s employer.

Her days are long and demanding—but purposeful. “I teach from 8 to 12, study and sew in the evenings, and help my mother at home,” she says with a smile. “Sundays are the only day I refuse to do anything.”

Despite ongoing financial strain, Aleema continues forward. She is newly engaged—to a partner who supports her education and career—and plans to complete her undergraduate degree and enroll in computer training. “My mother wants me to have a different life than hers,” she says. “And I want to give my parents a better life than the one they had.”

Aleema’s dream is simple and profound: to build a small home for her parents, support her brother, and grow into a professional role beyond survival.

Her journey—from PKS student, to dropout, to PKS teacher—embodies what Pehli Kiran Schools stand for.

PKS does not just educate children.
It stands by them when life unravels.
It turns disruption into dignity, and hardship into leadership.

For the children she now teaches, Aleema is living proof that education—when combined with care, belief, and continuity—can endure even the hardest odds.