25 Facts About Humaira Bachal

Humaira Bachal is a Pakistani female education advocate who is the founder of The Roshan Pakistan Academy.

Bachal was born in 1988 in Thatta, Sindh, Pakistan to an Iranian Baloch mother Zainab Bibi and Pakistani Sindhi father Muhammad Bachal who was a truck driver by profession.

When Humaira Bachal was eight years old, her family have to sell all their belongings due to indebtedness and leave Thatta.

Humaira Bachal gave an idea to her mother to start selling the wood thus the family started collecting woods from nearby acacia shrub fields and started selling that.

Humaira Bachal regularly helped her other family members in preparing the wood for a sell-able state.

Humaira Bachal was the first female child in her family to be educated.

Humaira Bachal started sneaking to the school without the knowledge of her father and kept her books and school uniform hidden from him at a friend's house.

Humaira Bachal's mother kept this secret for three years while Bachal attended the school in Baldia Town where she has become the head of the students' union.

Humaira Bachal was able to take the 9th grade exam due to her mother's intervention against her father's opposition.

Humaira Bachal went on to complete her metriculation in 2004.

Humaira Bachal went on to complete her bachelor's degree eventually, learned English and is pursuing a master's degree.

In 1998, when Humaira Bachal was ten years old, one of her cousins died after taking an expired medicine given by his mother because his mother could not read the expiry date due to her illiteracy.

Humaira Bachal started teaching her neighborhood children with that donated learning material in a makeshift classroom in her home.

In 2003, Humaira Bachal's resolve for education advocacy further strengthened when she passed the 9th grade exam and she started paying close attention around her neighborhood.

Humaira Bachal started knocking at people's doors and requested the parents to send their kids to school.

Humaira Bachal visited fathers at their job locations and tried to convince them to send their daughters to school while she warned mothers to educate their girls if they do not want their daughters to be treated in a similar fashion in the society and home as they are being treated.

Humaira Bachal employs an interactive teaching approach instead of passive approach of rote learning for which the government schools are known for.

Humaira Bachal's teaching approach earned the school World Summit Youth Award in Education for All category in 2011.

Humaira Bachal's advocacy resulted in big change at her home as she gained respect in her community, her father became big supporter of her efforts and he started advocating for girl's education alongside Bachal.

Humaira Bachal is working to revive those schools through her trust and has revived couple of them so far.

Humaira Bachal worked as a mobilizer for a micro-finance project then she began exporting beauty products to Iran but when the border was closed, she started giving leadership training.

Humaira Bachal was portrayed as one of the extraordinary Pakistanis in Humaira: The Dream Catcher filmed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

Humaira Bachal was the subject of Salma Hayek's documentary production Humaira: The Game Changer.

In 2012, Humaira Bachal was selected as Asia 21 Young Leader in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Humaira Bachal was awarded Women of Impact Award in 2013 at 4th annual Women of the World Festival hosted at the Lincoln Center in New York City, United States.