Zubaida Khanam Educational Legacy Scholarship (ZKELS)

We are thrilled to unveil the Zubaida Khanam Educational Legacy Scholarship - ZKELS (pronounced zee-kels), paying tribute to the extraordinary life of Zubaida (1938 - 2023). Born in Lucknow  in 1938, Zubaida  moved to Pakistan with her family at the age of nine, settling in a remote rural area where access to formal education was limited. However, Zubaida's hunger for knowledge was insatiable. Despite the absence of traditional schooling, she eagerly sought out every opportunity to broaden her understanding of the world, voraciously consuming newspapers and magazines.

As a devoted mother, she placed immense value on education, ensuring her children received the best schooling possible. Not content to simply facilitate their learning, she embarked on her own educational journey alongside them, enrolling in English courses at an American mission. Remarkably resourceful, she also delved into various artistic pursuits, mastering skills such as knitting, macrame, ikebana, and various forms of fabric painting.

Yet, Zubaida's determination extended beyond personal enrichment. In defiance of societal norms of the times, she learned to drive, ensuring her children and neighborhood youth had a means of transportation to  access quality education. Moreover, she always applied her learned knowledge into improving her environment, constantly modernizing her home and work methods economically, doing so much more with the available limited resources. Remarkably, she attained her own graduation as a private student before her children completed their high school education.

Even in the face of numerous health challenges in later years, Zubaida remained resilient, maintaining a positive outlook and providing the hospital staff valuable feedback for improvement during her hospital stays. Her legacy lives on through the profound love for learning she instilled in her children, inspiring them to embrace education as a lifelong pursuit.

The establishment of ZKELS stands as a testament to her enduring legacy, offering others the opportunity to pursue educational endeavors and continue her tradition of intellectual curiosity and personal growth.