May 04, 2023
President Arif Alvi conferred the Education Excellence Award on philanthropist and education activist Shehzad Roy for his services in educational reforms and child support.
The award was conferred at a summit organised by the Rawalpindi Chamber Of Commerce And Industry (RCCI) at the Aiwan-e-Sadar.
The president conferred the award on a few other educationists, including Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib, the head Akhuwat Foundation.
Roy is a singer, founder and president of Zindagi Trust, and has received Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Eisaar, and Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his exemplary service to the country.
As a result of his untiring efforts, the National Assembly passed a law criminalising corporal punishment, before that hitting children in good faith was acceptable.
Due to Aahung and Zindagi Trust's incessant work, Ahung's curriculum of life skills-based education (LSBE) was integrated into the school curriculum of Sindh, hopefully helping to protect millions of children from being abused.
A new teacher performance evaluation format developed by Zindagi Trust for government teachers was approved by the Sindh government, and teachers will now be evaluated on factors related to the teaching profession, such as student-centred teaching and active classroom management instead of the generic metrics of the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) applicable to all civil servants.
As an ambassador for family planning and population for the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination, Roy is in the process of finalising an online reproductive health course developed by the National Committee for Maternal and Neonatal Health.
The course will be linked with National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra), which means any couple who gets married will have to complete this course to get their nikkah nama registered with Nadra.
This will immensely increase couples' knowledge about spacing, contraceptives, mother and child health, and, at the end of the day, impact population growth.