A day in the life of Shehzad Roy and his team is a busy day indeed. The celebrity has already been the recipient of three national awards, the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence, 2005), Sitara-e-Eisaar in 2006 and Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 2018 from the Government of Pakistan — all testaments to his social development cause towards humanity.
A down to earth person and easy-going with everybody he meets, he insisted on driving me during our talk to visit the Khatoon-e-Pakistan Government School. I understood his thinking and his commitment as he knew very well that without submersing oneself into the school and its culture and actually going through the different departments, it would have been difficult to write about the programme itself.
A walk through Khatoon-e-Pakistan, a government school adopted by Roy’s Zindagi Trust was incredible. Strolling through the pathways with refreshed green lawns I noticed how they had revamped the place completely: rejuvenated and re-established with a competitive modern approach. A bench preserved from the original establishment in 1955 sat next to the inauguration plaque with rare photographs of our founders, Fatima Jinnah and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Beautiful pieces of history conserved in today’s world. The same structure of rehabilitating the school grounds and syllabus was earlier done in 2007 for SMB Fatima Jinnah Girls Government School.
The school’s computer lab featured classes making use of the latest technology to teach children modern and relevant course matter. Both schools run on funds collected from individual donors and charitable organisations, and are completely free of charge to the children with the textbooks, art supplies, sports equipment and other school supplies all provided for.
Starting out as a singer, Shehzad Roy has built up his Trust through a relentless dedication and efforts towards educational reforms in Pakistan. Zindagi Trust was formed in 2003 and works on the goal of giving every Pakistani child a chance at transforming their life through education. The organisation focuses on reforming government schools into model institutions imparting quality, holistic education. As he jovially says, it was his “intellectual drive” that started the idea of creating the Trust.
Adopting the two schools, SMB Fatima Jinnah Government Girls School (2007) and then Khatoon-e-Pakistan (2015) was a first step in trying to bring mainstream education up to modern standards of holistic quality education. Antiquated school systems in the country promoting rote learning and teacher-centred classrooms have resulted in a gradual decline of not only critical thought but stunted economic growth as well. Gauging these needs, Shehzad saw an opportunity for creating change by establishing an example in a government school, to give a reason to believe in the possibility of excellence in education.
In both government schools adopted by Zindagi Trust, the girls starting from toddlers in Kindergarten to young adults in Class 9 and 10, are given a holistic education which includes art, chess, music and sports in addition to the more traditional language, math, science and social studies classes. Their strategic thinking is moulded in chess class and their ability to reason and communicate is developed through their debate clubs. Recently a young student Rimsha Ali Zulfiqar from SMB Fatima Jinnah Government Girls School was in the news for speaking passionately on the impact of climate change at the Climate March.
With the Life Skills Based Education (LSBE) programme that Shehzad and his Zindagi Trust are now advocating, it seems possible to create a marked change in the way of thinking of students. LSBE has been a conversation starter. The programme teaches children how to identify and protect themselves from child abuse, disease, nutritional injustice and the violation of other human rights. It covers in an age-appropriate, culturally-sensitive manner various child protection concepts such as “good touch, bad touch”.
Zindagi Trust also advocates for its best practices to be adopted by the government across their system, i.e. child protection topics to be integrated into the existing curriculum. Four out of 10 LSBE themes, including one on child protection, have now been incorporated into the official textbooks in Sindh to be taught across Sindh’s 45,000 government schools.
As Shehzad Roy and his team press on with their drive towards the betterment of education, we are hoping to hear more from this vibrant personality with his commitment to the future of education in Pakistan.
