From Bare Feet to the Classroom
An interview by Tabia and Seerat, Class 7
Opening
Tabia: Assalamualaikum, Sir. We have heard that your childhood was very different from ours. We want to know about your journey.
Tariq Sir: Wa Alaikum Assalam, Tabia. Yes, my childhood was very different. There were very few comforts, but those difficult days taught me some of the most important lessons of my life.
Seerat: Sir, shall we start from the very beginning?
Tariq Sir: Of course. Every journey has a beginning, and mine began in 1976, when I was only about four years old.
1. What was your first school like?
Tabia: Sir, where were you admitted when you were four?
Tariq Sir: I was initially admitted to a private school. English was taught from the primary classes. We also studied subjects related to Islam. I remember Qur'an and Islamic Studies or Morality being taught.
Seerat: So, Sir, you started learning English and Islam from your early childhood?
Tariq Sir: Yes. Those subjects became a part of my early education.
2. Did your family have enough money to pay the school fee?
Tabia: Sir, you have told us that your family was poor. Was paying the school fee difficult?
Tariq Sir: Very difficult. Our income was extremely limited. I still remember the school administration sending us home when our fees were not paid.
Seerat: How did you feel when that happened?
Tariq Sir: I was only a little child. I did not understand the economic problems of my family. I only knew that I wanted to remain in school. I remember crying many times because the fee had not been paid.
Tabia: Do you remember how much the fee was?
Tariq Sir: It was about five rupees a month, but at that time five rupees was a considerable amount for our family. What looks like a tiny amount today could be a serious burden for a poor family then.
3. What happened after primary school?
Seerat: Where did you study after completing primary education?
Tariq Sir: I was admitted to the village Government High School.
Tabia: Did you face any difficulty during admission?
Tariq Sir: Yes. The admission in-charge told my father that I was underage.
Seerat: What did your father do?
Tariq Sir: My father was determined that his child should study. He requested the official to do whatever was possible to admit me. Eventually, my date of birth was entered differently in the school record so that I could be admitted.
Tabia: So your father was determined about your education even though he was poor?
Tariq Sir: Very much so. He had very little money, but he had a strong desire to educate his children.
4. Did you have proper clothes and shoes for school?
Tabia: Sir, today almost every child comes to school wearing shoes and carrying a schoolbag. What was it like in your time?
Tariq Sir: Our circumstances were very different. Most of us did not have shoes. We often walked to school barefoot.
Seerat: Barefoot?
Tariq Sir: Yes. And we did not have schoolbags either. We often carried our books in polythene bags.
Tabia: When did you get your first pair of shoes?
Tariq Sir: I got my first proper pair of shoes when I was in Class 8.
Seerat: You must have been very happy!
Tariq Sir: I was. But my father told me to preserve them and wear them only on special occasions.
Tabia: Sir, that sounds difficult.
Tariq Sir: It was. But when you grow up with scarcity, you learn to value even the smallest things.
5. What about winter clothes?
Seerat: What did you wear during the cold winters?
Tariq Sir: My father knitted a woollen sweater for me when I was in Class 8.
Tabia: That must have been special.
Tariq Sir: It was. Unfortunately, the sweater got burnt, and the colour and appearance of the front part were badly damaged.
Seerat: Did you throw it away?
Tariq Sir: No. I continued wearing it until I completed my matriculation.
Tabia: Why?
Tariq Sir: Because we could not simply replace things whenever they became old or damaged. We had to use everything for as long as possible.
6. How did your father earn a living?
Seerat: Sir, what work did your father do?
Tariq Sir: My father worked very hard. He would plough the fields of neighbours. In return, they sometimes allowed him to use their oxen to plough our own small piece of land.
Tabia: Did he do any other work?
Tariq Sir: Yes. He also worked in the orchards of neighbours. During apple season, he helped with apple picking, grading and other orchard work.
Seerat: Was that enough to support the family?
Tariq Sir: It was barely enough. We lived a very simple life. There was no financial security. We were basically trying to survive from one season to another.
7. When did you start working?
Tabia: Sir, when did you personally start earning?
Tariq Sir: I started working when I was in Class 7.
Seerat: At such a young age?
Tariq Sir: Yes. My father had started making wooden apple boxes at a sawmill. Every day, he would wait for me at around 4 p.m. After school, I would go to the sawmill and work with him until evening.
Tabia: Did you work on holidays too?
Tariq Sir: Yes. I worked on Sundays and school holidays as well.
Seerat: Didn't you want to play with your friends?
Tariq Sir: Of course I did. I was a child too. But poverty does not always give children the freedom to choose between work and play.
8. What happened when you reached Class 10?
Tabia: Sir, you mentioned that you later worked in a carpet weaving unit. How did that happen?
Tariq Sir: When I reached Class 10, someone in our neighbourhood established a carpet weaving unit. Children were being trained to become artisans.
Seerat: And your father sent you there?
Tariq Sir: Yes. My father sent me there because our family needed another source of income.
Tabia: How long did you work there?
Tariq Sir: I worked there for about seven years.
Seerat: Seven years! What was the work like?
Tariq Sir: It was very demanding. We worked from early morning until late in the evening. The work required us to sit for long hours and concentrate on very fine patterns.
Tabia: Did it affect your health?
Tariq Sir: Unfortunately, yes. Our eyesight suffered because of the fine work, and sitting for long hours with very little physical movement left our bodies weak.
9. Did your earnings help your family?
Seerat: What did you do with the money you earned?
Tariq Sir: I contributed it to the family. I also helped educate my two sisters and younger brother.
Tabia: So you were not earning only for yourself?
Tariq Sir: No. In a poor family, the earnings of one member often support everyone.
10. How did you manage to complete graduation?
Seerat: Sir, after working for so many years, how did you continue your education?
Tariq Sir: That was one of the biggest challenges of my life. Despite all the difficulties, I completed my graduation and appeared in the university degree examination. When I was selected for university admission, another problem appeared.
Tabia: What problem?
Tariq Sir: Money.
Seerat: How much did you need?
Tariq Sir: I needed around ₹5,000 for university fees and hostel expenses.
Tabia: That sounds like a huge amount for your family.
Tariq Sir: It was almost unimaginable for us at that time.
11. What did your father do?
Seerat: Then how did you manage?
Tariq Sir: My father took a very difficult decision. He sold about five malras of land for ₹7,000.
Tabia: He sold land for your education?
Tariq Sir: Yes.
Seerat: Sir, that must have been a very emotional moment.
Tariq Sir: It was. When I look back today, I realise that my father's greatest investment was not in land. It was in his children's future.
12. Did you stop working after joining university?
Tabia: Once you entered university, did you stop working?
Tariq Sir: No. I could not afford to.
Seerat: What did you do?
Tariq Sir: I managed my university education on a kind of rotation. I would spend about fifteen days at university, and then return home for about fifteen days.
Tabia: What did you do when you returned home?
Tariq Sir: I worked at the sawmill, making wooden apple boxes and earning money for my university expenses. I also helped my family meet its daily needs.
Seerat: So you were simultaneously a university student and a worker?
Tariq Sir: Exactly.
Tabia: Was it difficult?
Tariq Sir: Extremely difficult. But sometimes necessity gives a person a strength he does not know he possesses.
13. Did you complete your degree?
Seerat: Despite all these difficulties, were you able to complete university?
Tariq Sir: Alhamdulillah, yes. I completed my degree in three years.
Tabia: What did you do after returning home?
Tariq Sir: I again started carpet weaving during my free hours. At the same time, I wanted to enter the teaching profession.
14. When did you become a teacher?
Seerat: Sir, when did your teaching career actually begin?
Tariq Sir: In 1998, I joined a school during the daytime. My salary was only ₹650 per month.
Tabia: Only ₹650?
Tariq Sir: Yes. But I was grateful to have an opportunity to teach.
Seerat: Did your salary increase?
Tariq Sir: By March 2000, my salary had increased to ₹1,025 per month.
Tabia: And then?
Tariq Sir: In August 2000, I received a contractual appointment with a salary of about ₹3,500 per month.
15. What was your next step?
Seerat: Did you get a permanent government job immediately?
Tariq Sir: No. After about six months, I was selected as a Rehbar-e-Taleem, with an honorarium of about ₹1,500 per month.
Tabia: That seems like very little money.
Tariq Sir: It was. But that position offered hope of regularisation after the prescribed period. So I continued teaching.
Seerat: Did you completely stop carpet weaving?
Tariq Sir: No. I continued carpet weaving alongside teaching because my income was still insufficient.
16. When did your life begin to change?
Tabia: Sir, when did you finally feel that your struggle was beginning to change your life?
Tariq Sir: A major turning point came in May 2003, when I was selected as a General Line Teacher. My first salary in that post was around ₹6,000 per month.
Seerat: How did you feel when you received that salary?
Tariq Sir: I felt deeply grateful. For someone who had once walked barefoot to school, carried books in a polythene bag, worked at a sawmill, woven carpets for years and travelled between university and home to survive, becoming a teacher was much more than getting a job.
Tabia: What was it?
Tariq Sir: It was a feeling that the long struggle had finally begun to bear fruit.
The Most Important Question
Seerat: Sir, after telling us your whole story, what is the one lesson you want us to learn?
Tariq Sir: I want you to understand one thing: your circumstances do not have to decide your destiny. I was born into poverty. I studied without shoes. I carried books in a polythene bag. I worked after school, on Sundays and holidays. I spent years weaving carpets. I worked at a sawmill. I studied at university while returning home to earn money. I taught for a very small salary. But I never allowed poverty to convince me that education was useless.
Tabia: Sir, were you never tired?
Tariq Sir: Many times.
Seerat: Were you never discouraged?
Tariq Sir: Many times.
Tabia: Then what kept you going?
Tariq Sir: Hope, hard work, my father's sacrifices, my family's needs, and above all, Allah's help. There were times when I could see no way forward. But Allah opened a door after every difficult period.
Final Question
Seerat: If you could meet your younger self today, what would you tell him?
Tariq Sir: I would tell that little boy: “Do not be ashamed of your poverty. Be ashamed only if poverty makes you give up.” I would tell him: “Study whenever you get the opportunity. Work honestly whenever you have to work. Respect your parents. Never laugh at a poor child. You do not know what struggle may be hidden behind his silence.” And I would tell him one more thing: “One day, the hands that worked at a sawmill and tied carpet threads will hold a piece of chalk and stand before a classroom full of children.”
Tabia: Sir, that is a beautiful story.
Tariq Sir: It is not merely my story. It is a story about hope, sacrifice, education and perseverance.
Seerat: And perhaps it is also a lesson for us.
Tariq Sir: Exactly. Never take your education for granted. The shoes you wear, the books you carry, the classroom you sit in and the teacher standing before you may all represent sacrifices that you cannot see.
Tabia: Thank you, Sir.
Seerat: Thank you for sharing your life with us.
Tariq Sir: And thank you, girls, for listening. Now take this message with you: “Your beginning may be difficult, but your ending is not written by your beginning. Keep learning, keep working, keep praying, and never surrender your dream to your circumstances.”
