As dawn spills gold across the shifting dunes of Cholistan — locally known as Rohi — the desert’s stillness is broken by the rustle of school bags and the low murmur of lessons.

Not in a proper schoolhouse, but beneath a lone acacia tree or inside ramshackle shelters of mud and brush. This is how classrooms form in the vast desert that spans Bahawalpur, stretches into Bahawalnagar, and spills into parts of Rahim Yar Khan, where scattered, often nomadic populations live far from roads or reliable schooling.

In this arid landscape, the educational infrastructure is nearly invisible. Where a school exists, it is often windowless, chairless — a hollow echoing of what should be a place of learning. Boundary walls, washrooms, drinking water, furniture, and non-teaching staff are luxuries almost unheard of here. Teachers — few in number — often face multi-grade classes in makeshift settings. With no transportation available, especially in these marginal desert towns, girls suffer the most: parents simply cannot afford to send them, and walking long distances through shifting sands is simply not an option.

The numbers reflect that neglect. According to the 2023 census, Bahawalpur district’s literacy rate is just 53.35 per cent, split as 59.4 per cent for males and 47.09 per cent for females. Bahawalnagar reports 57.01 per cent, with 63.55 per cent literacy among males and 49.95 per cent among females. Rahim Yar Khan and parts of Bahawalpur’s desert tehsils fall even lower, with tehsils registering as low as 44 per cent and sometimes below. These starkly lag behind the provincial average of around 66 per cent, and point to vast educational deprivation in the southern districts.

Yet, across the shifting sands, a quiet revolution is unfolding. Since around 2014, the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF), in collaboration with the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA), has introduced mobile schools that travel to where the children live. In some places, lessons are held on woven mats; in others, under makeshift “desert classrooms” sketched from mud and branches. Mohammad Sharif, a teacher, recalls how children once followed livestock from dawn till dusk — now they come to class, clutching books, eager to learn. Ijaz Ahmad, another mobile-school teacher, logs 60-km every day to reach 40 children, promising, “If they move deeper into the desert, I’ll follow them.”

Today, 76 mobile schools serve about 2,680 children, while 140 community schools educate nearly 9,383 children in Cholistan’s remote corners. In November 2024, PEF organised a landmark event in Yazman’s Toba Kotanewala tehsil. 2,680 students — mostly attending mobile schools — were gifted school bags, notebooks, geometry boxes, pencils, sharpeners, and more. Officials announced plans to upgrade all mobile schools from primary to elementary level, and even elevate the Bijnot mobile school to high school status.

In August 2023, a new wave of hope washed over the desert: PEF launched the Cholistan Literate Project-II, pledging to open 113 new schools across Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, and Rahim Yar Khan. This expansion aims to enroll 8,961 underprivileged children and bring education closer to those long deprived.

These efforts are bearing fruit. Not only do remote children now have access to pencils and lessons, but the very concept of schooling is spreading. Mobile and community schools have brought girls and boys into classrooms where none existed before. “More girls attend these mobile schools than boys,” notes Imtiaz Lashari of the Cholistan Development Authority, signaling progress toward bridging the gendered gap in these remote areas.

But the challenges remain immense. Cholistan covers an area of more than 25,800 km² across the three districts, with only pockets of educational and health facilities across this expanse. Most children still trek long distances; infrastructure is fragile; schools lack safe walls, water, toilets, and steady staff. Rural female literacy remains stubbornly low, while enrollment and retention lag behind provincial norms.

What is needed now is sustained commitment: permanent school buildings with running water, boundary walls, toilets, furniture, female teachers, and safe transport — especially for girls. Mobile and community schools are lifelines, but they are the first step. The government must now deepen investment and oversight to convert these fragile sprouts into strong, rooted institutions.

In the golden dawn of Cholistan, as lessons unfurl under trees and stars, the seeds of education have started to take hold. Children here want to learn, and teachers — walking miles through sand — are determined to teach. Now, it is up to the authorities to water these roots, build walls around the schools, and pave lasting paths out of the desert’s long shadow — so every child, boy or girl, can rise with the dawn to a future beyond the dunes.