Pre-reading:

a) How would you feel if you were not allowed to go to school?

b) What do you want to become when you grow up?

c) What should you do to try and achieve your aim?

Reading Text

The Story of Zahra

This is the true story of a little girl called Zahra. She wanted to study in a school and become a teacher. She wanted all the children in her village to get a good education.

Zahra was born in a small village near Mirpur Sakro. When she was five years old, she started going to school with her brother, Mateen. She loved her school. She learned to read and write. Her books told her about the sun, its light, and its heat. She also learned about many insects, butterflies, birds, and animals. She wanted to read more and more.

One day, her teacher told her about two famous nurses, Hazrat Rufaida and Florence Nightingale. Zahra said, “I also want to help people in some way.”

Zahra worked hard. She did very well in class five. Her small village only had a primary school. After class 5, all the boys went to the Boys’ Middle School in the nearby village. But there was no middle school for girls. Zahra said to her mother, “I want to go to middle school too. I want to study more. I want to be a teacher. I want to help children in their studies.”

Zahra’s father and mother went to the middle school and said to the headmaster, “Zahra is good at her studies. Please let her study at your school.”

The headmaster was a kind man. He said, “All right, Zahra can come with Mateen and study at the school.”

Zahra was very happy. Every day, she walked three kilometres with her brother to go to the Middle School. However, the villagers did not like Zahra going to the boys’ school. They said, “Zahra must stay at home with her mother.” But Zahra’s mother and father replied, “No! She will go to school. She wants to be a teacher.’

The villagers were angry. They said, “She must not cross our village streets, because when our daughters see her, they will also want to go to school.” Poor Zahra and Mateen! Now they had to take a longer route to the Middle School. They had to walk five kilometers to school to avoid the angry villagers.

Zahra was alone in the boys’ school. She could not play games. She had no one to talk to, but she was very good in her studies. Her teachers were kind to her. She worked very hard. Year after year she studied, and passed her Secondary School Certificate examinations with a Grade-A.

Now Zahra has completed her studies. She will soon become a teacher!

Post Reading

Exercise: All the following sentences are wrong. Read the text and rewrite it correctly.

Example:

Zahra wants to be an engineer. (wrong)

Zahra wants to be a teacher. (correct)

1. She was born in a big town.

2. She started going to school when she was seven.

3. She didn’t like her school.

4. One day her teacher told her about Fatimah Jinnah and Razia Sultana.

5. Zahra said, “I want to be like them. I want to rule my people.”

6. Zahra failed in Class V.

7. The headmaster said, “Zahra cannot come to school with her brother.”

8. The villagers said, “Zahra must go to school with Mateen.”

9. Zahra and her brother walked six kilometres to go to school every day.

10. Zahra did not study hard in the school so now she sits at home.