PM Cameron honours first-ever British Pakistani head teacher

LONDON: An educational foundation set up in honour of the first-ever Pakistani headteacher in Britain Nawazish Bokhari has won Prime Minister David Cameron’s Big Society Award.
Bokhari, an inspirational headteacher and campaigner who was the first British Muslim to run a UK secondary school in 1985, came to Britain from Pakistan in 1960 from Sialkot.
Bokhari, whose extended family live in Epsom, Lahore and Karachi, has passed away but his children Hina and Harris Bokhari set up Naz Legacy Foundation to promote their father’s work inspiring young people to achieve their potential, promoting excellence in education and programmes spearheading positive integration into society.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Naz Legacy foundation is doing fantastic work to ensure young people across the UK are able to fulfill their potential. The National Portrait Gallery programme launching today is yet another example of how the foundation is securing the legacy of an inspirational teacher, Nawazish Bokhari. I’m delighted to be recognising the hard work of everyone at the foundation with this Big Society Award.”
They launched their new Diversity Programme at the National Portrait Gallery where school children from various communities visited the gallery for the first time and looked in to the lives and experiences of positive role models from diverse backgrounds that have made an impact in the UK.
Hina and Harris Bokhari, Founders, Naz Legacy Foundation told The News: “We are delighted to have won a Big Society Award. Our father was a champion for young people. He believed that every young person - no matter what their background or circumstances - deserved the best quality of education available.”
“Our father was very proud of his Pakistani heritage and we hope this award is not only an inspiration for others to continue his legacy but a reminder of the great contributions the people of Pakistani heritage have given to the UK and world in the field of education.”
The programme was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP and HRH Princess Badiya bint El Hassan of Jordan who awarded Sandy Naire the Naz Legacy Foundation Honorary Education Fellowship 2014 at the Annual Naz Legacy Foundation reception.
Nick Clegg MP said: “Naz Bokhari, the first Asian head teacher in the UK, was a champion for education. He would take his children to visit our country’s great galleries, museums and theatres. The Naz Legacy Foundation continues this work today, extending these brilliant opportunities to as many young people as they can. For me this work matters, because it can help inspire all children to learn and succeed in their own lives.”
Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Culture, the first British-Pakistani Conservative MP and Secretary of State said: “We are fortunate to have many wonderful museums and galleries in this country.
They are hugely popular visitor attractions, enriching people’s lives and educating in equal measure. This government is keen to ensure that people from all communities and backgrounds have the opportunity to enjoy our national museums and galleries. That is why we have continued to maintain universal free admission to the permanent collections of our national museums and galleries, which has resulted in record number of visitors.”
Zac Goldsmith MP said: “I enjoyed meeting so many students who had visited a gallery for the first time, and despite my meager offering, I enjoyed taking part in one of the ‘role model’ drawing exercises during the programme. It is important that we encourage young people from all backgrounds to visit our cultural institutions and for those institutions to diversity their collections to reflect society.”