This story was previously published on UNICEF Pakistan's website.

Battagram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: It’s a chilly and overcast morning as children navigate the steep and narrow lanes of Battagram colony in Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The intermittent rain has made the streets slippery and the children exercise caution as they climb. While roughly 30 children are dressed in different attire, they share a common destination.

The children converge at the end of a steep, hilly street which provides a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains and enter a room which they proudly call school.

The walls of this modest one-room school are adorned with drawings and class activities by the children. As the children find their seats, their teacher Muhammad Zakir greets them standing beside a large whiteboard.

This is the Accelerated Education Program (AEP) Centre established by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Elementary and Secondary Education Department, with funding from the Global Partnership for Education and technical assistance of UNICEF under the Education Sector Plan Implementation Grant (ESPIG).

As the class is about to commence, 10-year-old Adnan arrives carrying his cousin Aiman on his back. The girl’s legs are visibly deformed and with Zakir’s help, Aiman is carefully seated on a vacant chair.

Aiman thanks them both and takes out books from her bag. All the children, except Aiman, rise and recite the national anthem, marking the start of another day at this remarkable school.

Up until a year ago, none of these children had ever been enrolled in a school. Battagram colony is home to nearly 5,000 people but there’s only one overcrowded primary school which is unable to admit any more children.

Most of the men in the neighborhood work as daily wage laborers and the women tend to stay at home to look after the household. Given the circumstances, education was a distant dream for these 30 children and more so for 10-year-old Aiman.

Born with deformed legs, the young girl’s disability meant she was restricted to her house. To make matters worse, her father passed away while she was just a toddler and a few years later her mother lost her eyesight due to complications resulting from a disease.

Ever since her father’s death, Aiman’s family is taken care of by her paternal and maternal uncles.

While Aiman’s two older brothers currently study at a high school in the main city, due to her disability, her family never thought of sending her to school. She would spend all her time in bed at home resigned to her fate.

“I felt very lonely and bored at home. There was nothing to do except play with some toys I had. I felt sad because I couldn’t help my mother or brothers with household chores. I would cry and wonder if my life would ever be any different,” shares Aiman.

The establishment of the AEP centre in the community in November 2022 heralded a new beginning in Aiman’s life. Apart from giving her the chance to learn for the very first time, it provided her a window to the outside world she had longed for.

“When I was approached to help establish the AEP centre in the neighborhood, Aiman was the first child I thought of enrolling,” recalls Zakir, a teacher at the centre and well-known social activist in the community. Aiman’s late father and her uncles were Zakir’s childhood friends. Over the years, he has regularly checked on her family’s well-being and supported them whenever possible.

Being one of the very few people in the community with a university degree, he is an outspoken advocate for children’s education. The centre was established in a room of his house which he voluntarily provided.

Zakir fondly recalls the day he approached Aiman's uncles to discuss her education. Upon learning that the school would be free and located at Zakir's house, they not only agreed to send Aiman but also their own children. This marked the start of a heartwarming morning routine: one of Aiman's male cousins arrives at her doorstep each day, carrying her on his back to school.

“I was very scared on my first day at school. There were so many children I didn’t know, and I feared they might make fun of me. However, to my surprise, everyone was so friendly. Everyone clapped for me when I arrived and I even got a chocolate from Zakir,” shares Aiman excitedly.

Within a year, Aiman has undergone an incredible transformation. The once timid and despondent girl has blossomed into a confident and sociable student. Her peers adore her, and she has proven to be a brilliant student, with a knack for solving mathematical problems.

“Unfortunately, disabled children are considered an object of pity in our society and ignored. If God has deprived them of one ability, He compensates by rewarding them with other remarkable abilities. This is the case with Aiman,” shares Zakir.

The AEP center in Battagram Colony is part of 550 centers established with funding from the Global Partnership for Education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, enabling more than 18,000 children to learn for the very first time.

While poverty is the leading factor which discourages parents from sending their children to school, the challenging mountainous terrain also presents a significant obstacle when schools are not conveniently located within the community.

“The AEP model thrives on community support,” explains Gulnaz Jabeen, UNICEF Pakistan’s Education Officer in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “Governments and international organizations create models, but the communities are the ones that must own these initiatives if we want to have the sustained and long-term results that we strive for.”