Yousaf Adnan remembers retiring as principal of a Pakistani high school in 2011 due to a shortage of funds.
“After serving for two decades in the Catholic school, my salary was only 5,700 rupees [US$36]. The teachers used to get half of that amount. The ceiling fans were as old as our careers,” Adnan, 56, told.
“Summers were especially tough for the students amid frequent power cuts. There was no generator. Our parish priest had lost interest in the building.”
St Paul High School was located in Hajvery Town, a Christian neighbourhood of Faisalabad Diocese with more than 400 families. Students, most of them from poor families, paid 150-300 rupees in monthly fees.
The school officially closed in 2014. One of the remaining teachers is now running the facility on a self-help basis with only 60 children.
“It is one of the 63 schools that closed in Faisalabad Diocese in recent years. Most of them were primary schools [up to grade 5],” said Adnan, who now runs an organization for minority rights.