Taskeen
I Rise because: “In Pakistan
because of few number of female
doctors the casualties of women are
higher than male. A girl can better
understand the problem of females.”
“
I
am a brilliant student,” Taskeen
Ahktar says confidently. “I am going to
be a doctor.”
Taskeen
attends
Musarat
Saheen
Sheed Government Girls’ High School in
Muzzafarabad, Pakistan, and she has just
completed her grade 10 final exams. A few
years ago her dream of finishing school and
becoming a doctor didn’t exist.
In 2005 a horrible earthquake shook her
village and destroyed her home. Taskeen
was trapped in the wreckage and lost her leg.
Her family is poor, and, with two brothers
and three sisters, they couldn’t afford to send
her to school after the accident. She stopped
going for a year, but her determination and
resilience grew.
“I decided to continue my studies because
education is the only hope in my life,” says
CentralAsiaInstitute.org
Taskeen. However, she needed help to get
back in the classroom. “I belong to a poor fam-
ily. My parents face a lot of problems to pay my
[school] fees and other education expenses.”
CAI’s partner in Pakistan Central Asia
Educational Trust (CAET) came to the res-
cue and is helping Taskeen reach her dreams
through a scholarship. Now, her favorite
subject is biology and she has her sights set on
medical school.
Taskeen is grateful for the help she’s
received, and she knows that her education
will help change the world. “Scholarships not
only support the girls to get education, but
also help to change the thinking of society,”
she says. “By getting an education a girl will
know her rights and responsibilities, then they
will become an important part of this man
dominated society.” n
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