Replacing clay with books: Building a dedicated school for brick kiln children in Sheikhupura.
Sheikhupura is home to a massive concentration of brick kilns, where generations of families have been trapped in the Peshgi debt cycle. The most devastating casualty of this system is the children. From the moment they can walk, they are pulled into backbreaking labor to help their parents meet impossible daily brick quotas.
Without intervention, these children grow up entirely illiterate, guaranteeing they will remain trapped as bonded laborers just like their parents. The United for Community Development (UCD) is actively developing a dedicated Kiln School in Sheikhupura to break this exact chain.
"When we legally free a family from debt, we provide immediate relief. But when we educate a child, we eradicate the vulnerability that caused the debt in the first place. A child with a pen can rewrite their family's entire future."
A completely tuition-free primary curriculum focused on literacy, mathematics, and basic sciences, removing the financial barrier to learning.
Children at the kilns suffer from severe malnutrition. Our school program includes daily healthy meals to ensure they have the physical energy to learn and grow.
Because kiln communities are highly isolated, the project includes secure transport to safely ferry students away from the dangerous kiln environment to the school.
Providing uniforms, textbooks, and stationery to restore dignity. Giving them an identity as students, rather than laborers.
Developing a school from the ground up requires land acquisition, building materials, teacher salaries, and operational funds. By contributing to the Sheikhupura School Project, you are not just laying bricks for a building—you are dismantling the bricks of generational slavery.
Are you an educator, NGO, or corporate sponsor who wants to partner on the Sheikhupura project?
100% of your donation to the Kiln Schools fund goes directly toward construction materials, educational supplies, and teacher salaries for the Sheikhupura school.