Zubair Qureshi
Founder President of the Zindagi Trust (ZT) and celebrated showbiz personality, Shehzad Roy has proposed learning of Chess, Music and Liberal Arts from Class III to Class VIII at all the Islamabad schools working under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE).
The courses prepared by the ZT should be incorporated in the curriculum of all the public sector schools in Islamabad. He made this proposal during a meeting with Caretaker Federal Minister for Education & Professional Training Madad Ali Sindhi here on Monday. Director of the National Curriculum Council (NCC) Mariam Chughtai was also present in the meeting.
Federal Minister Sindhi appreciated Roy’s contribution towards education reform in Pakistan, especially his work on the integration of Child Protection into the provincial curriculum of Sindh.
Due to Shehzad Roy’s efforts, the Sindh Government approved a new “Teacher Performance Evaluation” format developed by Zindagi Trust for government teachers across the province. It also goes to his credit that the National Assembly passed a law criminalizing corporal punishment.
Shehzad Roy briefed the minister about the ZT and discussed the initiatives taken by the trust to make education accessible to all children in Pakistan and especially in Sindh.
He proposed to develop and implement special elective courses focused on Chess, Liberal Arts, and especially music in all public sector schools in Islamabad. He said that Zindagi had developed a curriculum in collaboration with the International Chess Federation for the students of class 3 to class 8.
Shehzad said the aim of introducing such a course was to provide the children with a platform to enhance their cognitive learning. He emphasized that chess, along with other liberal arts, enabled children to further develop and enhance their mental capabilities.
On the Minister’s direction the NCC along with Zindagi Trust would develop a curriculum focused on teaching Chess and Musical instruments to students from grade 3 to grade 8. Later it would also be offered to the students of grade 9 and 10.
Madad said that such elective courses should be developed by the NCC which could further be implemented by the FDE. He said that it was imperative that extra- curricular activities were formally taught and encouraged at public schools.
Madad said that he had given special instruction to FDE to ensure that sports events, debates and other such events are regularly organized in all FDE schools and colleges.
Shehzad said that while recognizing the vital role of art education, Zindagi Trust (ZT) initiated its Art programme in 2015, offering a diverse range of activities that would act as conduits for creative expression.
To this end, ZT curated a space conducive to artistic expression by making a designated art room in all its managed schools.
