Karachi school principal pledges to bear educational expenses of boy seen selling samosas outside hospital

A school principal, Basim Ahmed Faridi, has taken up the task of bearing the educational expenses of a child who went viral on the internet after he was seen, in a video, selling samosas outside a hospital in Karachi.

“I come here after I am done with school,” the boy had said in the video. When asked about the grade he studied in, the boy replied, “I am in class four.”

Sharing the post on Facebook, Faridi said that he had decided to take a permanent and long lasting step for the boy, by giving him what can never be taken away.

“I got a chance to meet this child whose videos went viral past day, Zahid is a son of an Afghan-origin family and he lives near Mamji Hospital water pump in a house where his grand father and mamu worked for 30 years,” he wrote, adding that Zahid’s family was an upright and honest one.

“I have offered to his parents that Zahid can study at my school, Speak & Spell Schooling System near Ayesha Manzil, up to his matriculation and I can even teach him up to his intermediate,” he said.

“All the time I only thought that these days do bring joy to that poor hardworking child, but where this community will take this child, by interviewing him, calling him on media sets, boosting their TRPs and then leave him alone to the same life pattern that he is living right now," he noted.

"This will definitely hurt this child a lot, so I just decided to take a permanent and long lasting step for him just by giving him what can never be taken away, education," he added.

Commending the boy, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar on Friday said: "We can all learn from him."

"What an inspiration," he added.

On the other hand, one social media user had a different view on the matter; she said: "What about all the other little Afghani, Hindu ,Christian , Muslim “Pakistani “ kids we see picking filth from garbage dumps on their backs around Clifton DHA and elsewhere in Pakistan to be able to buy one time meal for their family.”

“What about the under age 5 year old child who sells flowers at traffic lights and you hush him away. The girl child who chases your car with poor hygiene begging for some support,” she asked.