Reimagining the School of Tomorrow

The last weekend of November 2015 saw a unique convergence of minds at Beaconhouse’s School of Tomorrow (SOT) Festival in Karachi, Pakistan’s first and largest educational and cultural event organised to debate the shape of schools and society in an unknown future. 

The eclectic mix of over 130 local and international speakers featured renowned educators, environmentalists, social activists, futurists, senior government ministers, performing and visual artists, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, national sports heroes, journalists, and other out-of-the-box thinkers, among them.

Dr Roger Schank

Speaking to a packed audience at the SOT, radical US educator Roger Schank questioned the need for schools – as they presently exist.  Schank argued that modern schools kill individual creativity by a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and declared that children should not be ‘forced’ to learn subjects they dislike – such as algebra!

Alan Kay

Alan Kay addressed SOT Karachi delegates at the Mohatta Palace followed by a conversation with Zaheer Kidvai and Jehan Ara, Head of PASHA.  Best known for his pioneering work on ‘windowing’ the graphical user interface, Kay was a close associate of Steve Jobs and is considered a founding father of modern computing.

Shahzad Roy

Speaking on a panel at the SOT, singer and philanthropist Shahzad Roy stated that strangely, exam results plummeted after his organisation recently adopted a government school!  Explained Roy: “But we soon discovered that this was because previously 5-6 kids used to sit at a desk and routinely cheated, so when we spaced them out properly, their grades instantly fell!”

HSY and Deepak Perwani

Pakistan’s leading fashion designers Hassan Shehryar Yasin and Deepak Perwani were on two very different panel discussions at the SOT.  While HSY highlighted the benefits and pitfalls of social media, Deepak addressed a packed audience on gender inequality and cross-cultural perceptions of men and women.

Jibran Nasir

Discussing ‘Is privacy no more a social norm?’ Jibran Nasir explained that public figures need to regulate how ‘public’ their lives are. Sharing every detail on social media will only invite the public to interfere in one’s life, therefore the control must come from the individual himself.

Vaneeza Ahmed

Former supermodel Vinnie, also a mother of two, conducted an interactive session ‘Making Healthy Fun’ with Chef Shai, emphasizing the importance of providing an organic and nutritious diet to young children that is both delicious and healthy. Easy recipes were also shared with the audience, many of whom were young parents.

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi

Tennis ace Aisam-ul-Haq discussed the challenges inherent in choosing sports as a career in Pakistan and stressed the need for government-backed initiatives to support sports other than just cricket. He encouraged youngsters to participate in sports and for schools like Beaconhouse to provide opportunities to budding athletes.

Sana Mir

Sana Mir, captain of the Pakistan Women’s Cricket team, underscored the enormous role that parental support plays in helping women succeed in a traditionally male-dominated career. She lauded her family for supporting her unusual move from engineering to cricket and urged other parents to similarly encourage their daughters.

Adnan Malik

Actor and model Adnan Malik, while speaking on the concept of freedom of expression and how its boundaries are defined, described his generation as ‘a product of an education system of dictators’ where awareness of rights and liberties had been ‘dumbed’ down, often making it difficult for them to fight for these rights in their adulthood.

Ali Azmat

Legendary rock star Ali Azmat concluded the two-day festival for Beaconhouse with a crowd-pleasing performance of his best hits. The lawns of Beach Luxury were overrun by fans of all ages, as youngsters and adults alike danced to his electrifying performance and the dazzling fireworks display.