Aiming to have a tangible and sustained impact in the Valley, Sabbah Haji is beckoning a bright future for the children by striving to provide quality education through her Haji Public School, a Not-for-profit‘ school located in the mountainous village of Breswana, a land that pampered urbanites would call inhospitable. Born and brought up in Dubai, Sabbah studied and worked in Bengaluru for a decade before deciding to snub the luxurious city life for an arduous journey to the humbler regions of hills to pursue her dream of ‘Making a change‘. Cutting through convoluted and clogged bureaucracy, her reverie, which has ripened from a Kindergarten to a full-fledged academic institute, has just one objective i.e. to beget knowledge at the doorsteps of inaccessible locals.The school has adopted English-speaking from kindergarten itself (which is a rarity in the region) and uses the playway method (learning with fun, games, music, dance, audio-visuals etc.) which is very effective with young children.

Recipient of L’oreal Paris Femina Award, 2013 for Education and J&K State Award for Social Reforms and Empowerment, 2017, Sabbah Haji has also represented her school at various TED events across the country. Talking about what motivated her to go on and one year after year ameliorating the lives of so many students, she quips, “What does motivate me are the children; I have known some of them since the time they were born. I have taught most subjects in all classes so I know all their quirks and expressions.”

In an interview with SheThePeople.TV, she had said, “The children in our school have very little exposure to the outside world, but we want to expand right up till class XII so that we can guide them all through the way and make them a little street smart for the outside world. We are keeping our eyes out for exceptionally bright students whom we hope to fund through their college years as well.” If not her, who is the hero of Kashmir that manifests a brighter tomorrow?