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10 May 2026
Alif Laila Book Bus Society was founded in 1978 with the vision of establishing the first children’s library in Pakistan. In 1979, the project took an innovative and child-friendly form when the library was set up inside a stationary double-decker bus parked in the rectangular area of Main Market Gulberg, Lahore. What began as a creative experiment gradually evolved into a much broader movement committed to bringing books and reading opportunities to children who had little or no access to libraries, literature, or safe reading spaces. Over the years, Alif Laila Book Bus Society has expanded its outreach through a variety of mobile library services using buses, rickshaws, bicycles, camels, and boats in order to reach children across urban settlements, rural villages, underserved neighbourhoods, and geographically isolated communities. Alongside these mobile initiatives, we have also developed community reading spaces, school-based reading programmes, book distribution projects, storytelling sessions, outreach events, and emergency educational interventions during periods of crisis and instability.
The primary aim of Alif Laila Book Bus Society has always been to foster a reading culture among children, particularly in underserved communities where reading is often associated only with examinations and academic performance rather than imagination, pleasure, creativity, and lifelong learning. The work therefore focuses not simply on distributing books, but on transforming the meaning and experience of reading itself. Secondary goals have included building safe and welcoming reading spaces, supporting teachers in the practice of reading aloud, and encouraging families to participate in shared storytelling experiences. Historically, this initiative emerged in response to the limited importance given to children’s literature, libraries, and reading culture in many parts of society. Large sections of the population grew up without access to books beyond school textbooks, limiting imagination, language development, confidence, and opportunities for self-expression.
Through decades of sustained work, Alif Laila Book Bus Society has reached hundreds of thousands of children from diverse communities, often creating a child’s first encounter with books, nurturing reading habits, and helping children discover the joy and possibility found within stories.
The motivation behind this work came from a lifelong belief in the importance of education, culture, and public responsibility. Growing up in an environment where books, discussion, and learning were respected created an early understanding that one’s life should also contribute to the wellbeing of others. Over time, greater awareness of social realities revealed that many children possessed intelligence, creativity, and potential, yet lacked access to books, libraries, and spaces where imagination could grow. This absence was understood not merely as an educational gap, but as a deeper social inequality affecting confidence, opportunity, and participation in society. The strongest motivation remained the conviction that if society genuinely wishes to create meaningful change, it must begin with children, and if it begins with children, it must begin with books.
My leadership within Alif Laila Book Bus Society has been understood more as stewardship than authority. The role has involved holding a long-term vision steadily, building trust with communities and partners, managing limited resources carefully, and continuing the work quietly and patiently even when progress appears slow. It has also required remaining closely connected to children themselves by listening carefully, observing their responses, and allowing their needs and experiences to guide programmes and activities.
Some of the most enduring memories from this work are simple but deeply meaningful moments: a child touching a book for the first time, children waiting excitedly for the arrival of the Dastangou (mobile library), or a quiet child suddenly finding confidence and expression through storytelling. These moments continue to serve as the truest measure of the impact of Alif Laila Book Bus Society.
Over the years, Pakistan’s education sector has faced a range of serious and interconnected challenges. Unequal access to books, libraries, and quality education continues to affect large numbers of children, particularly those living in low-income and rural communities. Poverty and economic pressure place enormous burdens on families, often making educational enrichment seem secondary to immediate survival needs.
Reading culture itself remains weak in many contexts because educational systems continue to prioritise examinations and rote learning over curiosity, imagination, creativity, and independent reading. Public libraries and safe community reading spaces remain limited, while teacher training in reading promotion is often insufficient. At the same time, the rapid expansion of digital technologies has introduced both opportunities and concerns, particularly in situations where children experience unregulated screen exposure without meaningful literary engagement or guidance.
There is also a continuing shortage of quality children’s literature in local languages, making it difficult for many children to see their own identities, cultures, histories, and experiences reflected in books.
The education sector also faces significant challenges related to equity, access, and inclusion. Many rural and low-income communities continue to experience limited access to educational resources and reading opportunities. In some areas, gender-based restrictions affect girls’ mobility and participation in community programmes.
Minority languages and identities remain underrepresented within available children’s literature, while children with disabilities continue to face exclusion because of inaccessible infrastructure, learning materials, and educational environments. Social stigma also affects the inclusion of transgender children and other vulnerable groups.
Geographic isolation further deepens inequality by limiting safe and regular access to reading spaces and community programmes. Over time, it has become increasingly clear that access to schools and educational institutions alone cannot be equated with inclusion. Genuine inclusion requires ensuring that every child feels visible, respected, safe, and represented within educational and cultural spaces.
Alif Laila Book Bus Society’s work depends heavily upon collaboration with a wide range of institutions and actors. Government bodies and public institutions play an essential role in shaping educational policy, funding structures, library systems, and access opportunities. Schools and education authorities are equally important because reading must be integrated into everyday educational practice rather than treated as an optional or secondary activity.
Civil society organisations and NGOs contribute through collaboration, shared learning, and efforts to reduce duplication of work. Communities themselves remain central because sustainable change depends upon local trust, participation, and ownership. Young volunteers bring energy, creativity, and commitment to reading programmes and facilitation activities, while publishers and media organisations are important for improving access to quality children’s literature and increasing the visibility of reading culture.
The private sector and philanthropic actors also remain essential sources of long-term and flexible financial support. However, the effectiveness of all these partnerships could improve significantly through stronger collaboration, reduced fragmentation, and a greater shift away from short-term projects towards sustained investment in children’s long-term development.
Internally, programme implementation is influenced by the stability and flexibility of donor support, the commitment and continuity of staff and volunteers, the availability of financial resources, internal coordination, leadership alignment, and the organisation’s capacity to retain trained facilitators and librarians. In response to these concerns, increasing emphasis has been placed on self-sustainability through personal donations, the development of markets for publications, craft products and services, and efforts to reduce dependence on donor-driven agendas. An endowment fund has also been established to strengthen long-term sustainability and continuity.
Despite these difficulties, important opportunities are emerging. Digital technologies are opening new possibilities for storytelling, mobile libraries, educational outreach, and learning support. Public-private partnerships offer opportunities for expansion and sustainability, while stronger collaboration between NGOs and communities can create more resilient and connected support systems for children.
International funding opportunities focused on continuity-based programming are also creating new possibilities for long-term educational investment. In addition, data-informed planning can strengthen understanding of community needs, while social enterprise models may provide more sustainable financial structures. Greater investment in training and capacity building for educators, librarians, facilitators, and volunteers also offers important possibilities for strengthening future impact.
Looking towards the future, several recommendations remain essential for strengthening the sector. Children must be placed at the center of all policy and planning processes. Reading, libraries, and children’s literature need to be integrated fully into national education policy and educational reform. Partnerships between government institutions and civil society organisations should be strengthened in order to improve coordination, sustainability, and reach.
Most importantly, communities themselves must be empowered to take ownership of learning spaces and reading culture initiatives so that these efforts become locally rooted, sustainable, and capable of serving future generations. Evaluation systems must also begin to recognise and value long-term qualitative impact rather than focusing solely on short-term quantitative outcomes.
Too often, reading is treated as secondary- something that comes after infrastructure, examinations, technology, or policy reform. Yet my experience has shown the opposite. When a child begins to read with joy and curiosity, many other things begin to change as well. Reading nurtures confidence, imagination, empathy, language, and the ability to dream beyond one’s immediate circumstances. It allows children to see themselves differently and to imagine futures they may never have thought possible.
Over the years, I have learned that meaningful change is rarely loud or immediate. It grows slowly through repeated and ordinary acts- a child reading under a tree, a mother borrowing a book for her family, a teacher telling a story with care, or a volunteer carrying books into a distant community. These moments may appear small, but together they build the foundation of a more thoughtful, compassionate, and hopeful society.