ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s celebrated singer, songwriter and social worker Shehzad Roy has been awarded the Education Excellence Award by President Dr Arif Alvi in recognition of his work for the cause of education in Pakistan.
President Alvi conferred on him the award at a ceremony organised by the Rawalpindi Chamber Of Commerce And Industry (RCCI) at the Aiwan-e-Sadar.
Shehzad Roy has not only worked in the education sector but also spearheaded public awareness campaigns against corporal punishment, underage marriages and overpopulation.
Roy is also founder and President of Zindagi Trust (an NGO striving for schools reforms) and DurbeenPK (a non-profit organisation working for teacher education), and has received Pakistan’s prestigious awards including Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Eisaar, and Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his exemplary service to the country.
Expressing gratitude to Alvi and RCCI, Shehzad Roy in a tweet said:“Through Zindagi Trust & DurbeenPK, we have changed education policies across Pakistan and created an enabling environment for other NGOs to uplift government schools.”
Corporal punishment already banned
Due to his unceasing efforts, the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2021 banned corporal punishment through a legislation.
The famed singer in a tweet on Friday announced that soon marriage document (Nikah Nama) would be registered only after a couple completed an online course related to family planning and mother & child health.
“When I was nominated family planning ambassador, friends said ‘Its a lost cause.’ Today NCMNH1 is finalising their reproductive health course,” said the singer-cum-social worker while referring to the National Committee on Mother & Neonatal Health.
The course will be linked with the 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.
Teacher performance evaluation format
His Zindagi Trust has also developed a new teacher performance evaluation format for teachers of the public sector educational institutes. The format has been 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 (MNHSR&C), Roy is finalising an online reproductive health course developed by the National Committee for Maternal and Neonatal Health (NCMNH).
