By Salman Yousafzai

When Arab Shah’s five sisters had to quit their education due to lack of transport in Peshawar, he decided to provide free pick-and-drop services to schoolgirls when he grew up. And he did it.

It has been 10 years since he started working on his idea to address the transport problem in his hometown. Shah lives in the city’s Warsak Road area, a 30 to 35-minute drive from the main city.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s literacy rate is 55.1%, according to the literary statistics reflected in the Economic Survey 2022-23. The survey also stated that the province has 32% out-of-school children with more girls than boys deprived of education.

The provincial government website says that about 50% of the population is young.

“In 2014, I bought a rickshaw on rent and started free pick-and-drop through that,” Shah told Aaj News about his idea and how he has been able to work over the years.

The rickshaw driver stated that he provides free transport service to as many as 200 girls from schools, colleges, and madressahs daily. He performs his duty from 7:00am to 8:30am and then from 1:00pm to 2:30pm when the schools close.

Shah went on to add that he continued to provide service through rickshaw for five years, but then his story reached Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai who provided him with financial assistance by which he bought at least four Suzuki vans.

He has given one of them to a high school and the rest he operates for providing free rides.

“Because of her help, we got an advantage that earlier our service was limited to primary school but I also provide service to high school and college girls.”

Malala’s father Ziauddin Yousafzai confirmed to Aaj News that they provided financial support to Arab Shah so that girls could study because “his story and his work are very inspiring.”

In a message on X, formerly called Twitter, Ziauddin said that they got to know about him through social media and contacted him a few years ago.

He added that inflation and transport issues have made it difficult for families to meet financial expenses. Ziauddin praised the rickshaw driver for his work.

Shah vowed to expand his service to every district if given resources, saying: “Women’s education is very important because when they grow up and get married they will better nourish their children.”