Fifteen-year-old Hasan and 13-year-old Shireen Zafar started The Street School for homeless kids in Karachi, Pakistan, six months ago.  Students of grades 9 and 7 respectively, Hasan and Shireen, the brother sister duo, offer their teaching services to over 50 street children after they are done earning their day’s livelihood. For those unfortunate children who are unable to go to school, this duo has brought the classroom to them.

Shireen and Hasan Zafar teach more than 50 street children, who sell flowers and tissue papers or beg at traffic signals on the streets of Defence Housing Authority. The siblings set up tables and chairs near Café Clifton on Khayaban-e-Shamsheer and spend nearly two hours every day teaching the children basics, such as alphabets and counting. The street school runs six days a week from 4:30pm to 6pm.

The duo found its current spot near Café Clifton and was able to maintain attendance at the classes for several weeks. Now some people have started helping them by providing juice boxes to the children along with providing a daily stipend of Rs50 to keep these children motivated.

Rana Yasmeen, a government school teacher of basic pay scale grade 15, also spares time from her busy schedule and helps Shireen and Hasan conduct classes. She said this is her attempt to help make the city more educated.