<p>Although rural schools across the globe are characterized by low quality education compared with urban schools, the status of rural schools in Pakistan is desperately poor resulting in low academic achievement for students. Although, rural schools face many obstacles, recruiting and retaining quality teachers remains one of the greatest challenges. This research aims to explore the experiences of teachers serving in rural schools, particularly in relation to their working conditions and the challenges they encounter. Five teachers posted from urban/semi-urban areas to the rural schools are interviewed. The results indicate that challenges such as inadequate basic facilities, limited support of stakeholders, negative attitude of senior teachers, lack of additional compensations and incentives, weak monitoring systems, security concerns for female teachers and heavy workload influence the recruitment and retention of teachers in rural schools. The study argues that unless these challenges are seriously addressed, retaining teachers in rural schools is highly improbable.</p>