Govt taking steps for education (11/23/09)

The News

Monday, November 23, 2009
LAHORE

RENOWNED singers Shehzad Roy and Jawad Ahmed called on Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif here on Sunday.

During the meeting, Shehzad Roy said that after Karachi, the Zindagi Trust would make two schools in Punjab centres of excellence out of which one would be set up in Lahore and the other in southern Punjab.

According to a handout, the chief minister said the Punjab government would extend all-out cooperation to the singers in their efforts for the promotion of education. He said both the schools should be of the highest standard. He commended the Zindagi Trust for the promotion of education and added that the Punjab government was attaching top priority to the uplift of education sector and revolutionary measures were being taken for the purpose.

The CM said that in order to provide quality education to people, Danish Schools were being set up in the far-flung and backward areas of the province. He said that the schools would not only be of the highest standard of education but free boarding and lodging facilities would also be provided to the poor students. He said the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund had been established for polishing the talent of promising students. Mrs Shaista Pervez Malik and Schools Secretary Aslam Komboh were also present.

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Pakistani pop star uses music to educate (11/13/09)

Pakistani pop star uses music to educate

for the Chicago Tribune

by Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah

11/13/09

Shehzad Roy, 32, a Pakistani pop star turned humanitarian, was in Chicago last week as the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' 2009 Koldyke fellow. Winner of two Pakistani MTV awards and the youngest-ever recipient of one of Pakistan's highest honors, Roy started Zindagi Trust in 2002, raising funds through concerts and offering underprivileged kids a chance to get a quality education with his "I am Paid to Learn" schools. He is now working at reforming the country's public school system.

Q Why did a rock star decide to reform Pakistani schools?

A Why not? One of my cousins used to come.......

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Chicago Public Radio Interview (10/28/09)

Worldview 10/28/2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Shehzad Roy is one of Pakistan’s biggest pop superstars. He’s also Founder of Zindagi Trust, an organization that works to improve primary and secondary education in Pakistan. We'll talk about children's education in Pakistan. Also, cronyism, corruption, and chronic absenteeism by teachers have left Pakistan with 30,000 “ghost” schools. Then, commentator Barry Weisberg tells us where China's at, 60 years after the Cultural Revolution. And, on our Global Notes segment, Jerome and Tony Sarabia listen to Soulico, an Israeli DJ crew that fuses Middle Eastern music with raggaeton and American hip hop.

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Article on the HuffingtonPost (08/09/09)

Though the news can be deceptive, good things can and do come from Pakistan! The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has awarded the 2009 Patricia Blunt Koldyke Fellowship on Social Entrepreneurship to Shehzad Roy, Pakistani pop star and president and founder of the Zindagi Trust, an organization working to improve primary and secondary education in Pakistan.

For complete article, follow the link below:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naazish-yarkhan/shehzad-roy-pakistani-pop_b_246605.html

2009 Patricia Blunt Koldyke Fellow Selected - Shehzad Roy (06/29/09)

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has awarded the 2009 Patricia Blunt Koldyke Fellowship on Social Entrepreneurship to Shehzad Roy, Pakistani pop star and president and founder of the Zindagi Trust, an organization working to improve primary and secondary education in Pakistan. The fellowship recognizes Roy’s commitment to providing better learning opportunities in government-run schools, and honors his goal of encouraging Pakistan’s youth “to value education and provide them with the knowledge and opportunities they need to realize a peaceful, democratic political future.”

As a Koldyke Fellow, Shehzad Roy will spend one week in Chicago exchanging ideas about education, philanthropy, and nonprofit management with the city’s civic, government, business, and academic leaders. Roy will deliver a major public address about education in Pakistan to a Chicago Council audience the evening of October 29, 2009.

The Patricia Blunt Koldyke Fellowship was established by the Koldyke family to recognize leading social entrepreneurs from around the world between the ages of thirty and forty-five, who are working to transform their societies through creative innovations to social problems. In 2009, the Koldyke Fellowship selection committee focused on primary and secondary education in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Roy uses the proceeds from his hugely popular concerts to fund the work of the Zindagi Trust, which since 2002 has established vocational centers and health-care clinics and has worked to improve Pakistan’s educational system. One of its first projects, “I am Paid to Learn,” provided child laborers nationwide with monetary compensation for attending school, an important initiative in a country where more than 10.5 million children under the age of fifteen work menial jobs to support their families.

More recently, Roy received the government’s permission to take over the 2,500-student Fatimah Girls School in Karachi, where he introduced new textbooks and a curriculum that embraces individual growth, arts, and sports. “The aim is to produce a ‘thinking’ individual,” says Roy. “Students must learn to inquire freely rather than becoming book parrots. There has to be a culture of discussion, interaction, and proactive thinking.” His goal is nothing short of reforming the entire government-run school system in Pakistan.

Shehzad Roy is one of the youngest-ever recipients of the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, one of Pakistan’s highest civil honors. He has also been awarded Pakistan’s highest humanitarian award, the Sitara-e-Eisaar. He recently won two MTV Pakistan awards for his music, and was a torch-bearer for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Click here for the press release