- Nusser Sayeed
It’s time for reading to become our superpower! Inspiring a Generation of Joyful Readers in Pakistan
With this post, we are joined by guest contributor Nusser Sayeed, Founder and CEO of GoRead.pk, a socially conscious, nationwide movement of registered volunteers who dedicate their time to read culturally and developmentally appropriate stories to children in underprivileged communities across Pakistan. As Sayeed explains below, there are large numbers of children in Pakistan who do not have access to children’s literature, whether in Urdu or their regional languages. Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, is a rich language with a strong history of literary works. While current publications for children in Pakistan appear to be increasing, they are expensive to buy and are not reaching the masses. Furthermore, stories with modern contexts, as Sayeed discovered, were lacking in the numbers she needed to distribute in the classrooms that she and her volunteers visited and purchasing books from the market in the volume they required was not practical. To meet the goals of their program, Sayeed chose the route of self-publication. While book sales help generate funds to support the organization, the stories are absolutely free for their beneficiaries. The popularity of GoRead.pk’s stories illustrates the need that existed for contemporary children’s literature with plots, characters, and settings relatable to Pakistani youth, irrespective of social status, ethnicity and religion. Undeniably essential, though, is the work of Sayeed and her colleagues to bring children together with stories that “nurture gentle activism and unite children across the country and the world.”
We would like to thank Nusser Sayeed and everyone at GoRead.pk for sharing their story with us.
In a high school classroom in a village in Pakistan, boys and girls squirmed restlessly on their seats, waiting for a promised visitor to come to read a story aloud to them. Little did they know that there had been a schedule mix up, and the expected visitor had arrived with a soft, green, stuffed toy turtle in her hand, ready to read a children’s story book to their class of 9th graders.
As much as I love reading aloud to children, I was nervous about the mess up and mentally tried to brace myself to face the rolling eyes, bored cynical sighs and cheeky remarks that would be coming my way soon. I introduced myself, apologised for the misunderstanding that had occurred, held up the colourful picture book and toy turtle, and asked if they were still interested in listening to the story. “Yes Miss!” replied the students in chorus. Surprised, I settled in their midst and started reading. Gradually the restless, squirmy teenagers started settling down and their eyes riveted to the pictures in the book I held up: Olive and the Dreadful Plogre. (A “plogre” is a “plastic ogre”).
While this example does not depict a typical high school student’s response to children’s stories, it does highlight the valuable place that stories play in the lives of children, particularly those who have been deprived of the experience. Most of these students had never seen an ocean or a turtle before and were fascinated. The story ended with a deep discussion about plastic pollution, turtles, and other sea animals.
Being able to read is important for success. Yet a large number of children in Pakistan cannot read. Children must be read to before they can learn to read themselves, yet many children in Pakistan have never heard a story read aloud to them by a caring adult. Some have never held an attractive story book in their hands. (ASER 2019 reports; 41% children in grade 5 cannot read a simple story in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto).
I was fortunate to grow up with access to children’s stories. When my grandmother wanted to talk about an important or sensitive matter with us, she always began with a story. Stories have the power to engage children without feeling interrogative, preachy, or insensitive. They let children step out of their inner, vulnerable selves and think objectively while allowing them to connect deeply as well.
We all know that stories can be magical. They have the potential to be fun, educational, silly, hilarious, serious, argumentative, debatable, sensitive, and engaging all at the same time. All children love stories and just as my grandmother did, we see effective storytelling being used by professionals all over the world to get their point across, not just to children but to adults as well.
Despite these benefits, many children are growing up without enough joyful story experiences.
Busy parents, overscheduled kids, and distractions with gadgets may be some reasons why pleasurable story reading with children has moved to a lower place than before.
There are also many children across the world who are experiencing a childhood devoid of storytelling, due to poverty. Meeting the physical requirements of keeping alive on a day-to-day basis consumes their families. In low quality, under resourced schools the goal of developing literacy skills and emotional well-being via joyful read aloud sessions is often not a priority. Sadly, there are many such children in Pakistan just like the ones in the village school I visited.
GoRead.pk was founded in response to this situation. As I weaved in and out of classrooms across the country, the need to bring joyful stories to children was loud and clear. Children growing up without stories gnawed on my conscience. How hard could it be? All we needed was a program that could be replicated and scaled. By tapping the existing human resource of kind-hearted, caring Pakistanis, we could do this. Using a mobile app we "uberised" the concept and conducted a pilot where 26 volunteers read stories aloud to over 600 children at 12 community schools and orphanages in Karachi. Our program design was simple: a caring volunteer, a bag of books, a space to read, and children. An impact assessment of the pilot reading series showed growth in both vocabulary as well as positive mindset change.
It was delightful to see our vision translating into reality. We saw compassionate caring adults enter classrooms of underserved, often forgotten children, greet them warmly and settle in their midst to read them a story. We saw chaotic, not always warm environments slowly transform into spaces that emanated comfort and trust. Children, brought up by authoritarian caregivers started speaking up, feeling safe to voice their thoughts, and ask questions. Stories acted as gentle springboards to start discussions about things that really mattered.
Where do our stories come from? We want children to experience culturally relevant stories that develop positive character traits, inspire compassion, and activate social change. We also want to give them an opportunity to develop a healthy perspective on their own cultures as well as the world around them. Given the volume of books we require, the program design, our financial situation, as well as the specific themes and criteria that guide our content, we decided to create and publish most of the stories used in our program.
We explore a range of topics from colourism and diversity in “Matching Dupattas” and “Noori” to supporting our elders in “Dadima’s Secret” and social responsibility in “Olive and the Dreadful Plogre.” “Prickly the Porcupine” helps children delve into their personal self-worth and learn that we are all different, and that those differences which at first might seem like weaknesses can actually be strengths. “The Waterhole” invites children to engage with the critical issue of water scarcity, climate change, and how it is affecting wild animals in Africa. The Defeat of the Coronasaurs allows children to relate to the Covid19 pandemic and discuss simple measures they can take to remain safe. More stories that aspire to help children develop character qualities that will help them navigate their place in a rapidly changing environment are in the pipeline.
Children in Pakistan need to see themselves in some of the stories they read and listen to. With so many biases and misconceptions floating around in the fabric of the communities and world they live in, changing that narrative is extremely important. Stories allow us to do that. An experience I recently had highlights this idea. I was assigned to read stories at a school for street children in Karachi. Each afternoon, after school, the children would go around with their parents picking up recyclable items from garbage dumps and from the streets to sell to recycling companies for a
living. Given their profession they were called ‘rag pickers’—a label that diminishes both the work and the worker. The first story I read to them was about pollution. Once again, the children loved the story about Olive, the cute little turtle who was saved after being stuck in a plastic sack in the ocean.
What was surprising was that none of these children viewed themselves as valuable contributors to relieving the global pollution crisis. They are heroes for the work they do, yet they are viewed by others as well as themselves as scruffy, untidy street urchins. These children and many others in Pakistan need to see themselves in joyful stories, stories that change the narrative about who they are.
Children need to see their peers and people from other parts of the world as well. They need to see that while we all have unique, diverse characteristics, traditions, cultures, geographical features etc, we are also one and share the same humanity.
These are some of the considerations that steer the development of our content for children, thus allowing them to have universal appeal.
In the process of teaching children through engaging story sessions we learn from them as well.
We learned that children are far more capable, resilient, and enterprising than we perceive them to be. They are intrinsically pure hearted. We learned that when you respect children and have high expectations for them, they give you love and respect in return and try to be the best versions of themselves that they can be. To be able to engage with them in discussions via stories is a privilege as well as a powerful and inspiring experience.
We hope that GoRead.pk is able to unite children through their stories. We aspire to share stories across Pakistan so all children growing up can relate to the plots, characters, and settings of the stories, irrespective of social status, ethnicity and religion. The thought of nurturing gentle activism and uniting children across the country and the world through the stories they read, share, and discuss excites us. We are hoping to reignite the flame of joyful reading in children of this generation creating bonds and shared values one story at a time.
Discover the GoRead.pk library and learn more about our work at GoRead.pk.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nusser Sayeed has over 25 years of experience in the Education sector. She started off her professional journey in the field of Product Design, which she continues to pursue as a hobby. She developed an interest in Education, particularly Primary Education as her own children started school. A keen observer of the different ways in which children learn new concepts, she moved towards acquiring knowledge and experience in education. Her journey took her from being a Primary School teacher, to a teacher of student’s with learning differences, to a Teacher Trainer. Nusser feels that while formal education played a role in her professional growth, most of her learning is a result of the wisdom of practice. The last few years of Nusser’s career have been focussed on supporting education in underprivileged communities. She founded GoRead.pk, an organisation that works to bring joyful stories to underserved children across Pakistan. She is also a children’s author and major contributor for the developing children’s library, published in-house by GoRead.pk.