Zoroastrians Abroad
Campus connection
"In Pakistan only 56 percent of children have minimal access to formal education and the remaining will never see the inside of a school… 70 percent of the children from slums do not have access to education.” These statistics were highlighted by Jamsheed Mistri, a sixth grader from Covington Elementary School and the president of the student body in his 3.24 minute film on Deena Mistri Campus as part of his submission to the LASD (Los Altos School District) Film Festival that will be judged on March 29 this year.
Associated with Karachi’s Bai Virbaiji Soparivala (BVS) High School for 60 years, Deena Mistri is known to have taught three generations of students. In memory of their principal the School’s Alumni Association has tied up with The Citizens Foundation, USA to build the Deena Minoo Mistri Campus on a one acre plot in Korangi, an impoverished area of Karachi, to offer educational opportunities to the underprivileged. Their goal for 2013 is to build a two-unit primary school that will accommodate 360 children. The cost of building and operating the school in the first academic year is expected to be $ 294,000. The long-term goal is to build a full primary and secondary school with capacity to educate 1,440 students in two shifts with 50 percent of the seats reserved for girls.
As a tribute to his grandmother Deena Mistri, the youngster conceived this film that is available for viewing on YouTube. It shows graphic images of children growing up in the slum areas, construction work at the Campus under progress, and the school as envisaged on completion, equipped with science laboratories and art facilities. Attempting to pull on the heart and purse strings, the film ends with "One dollar would do wonders. The children in Karachi are counting on you.”
Besides her longstanding commitment to BVS, on innumerable occasions Deena Mistri would anonymously contribute money to keep a needy child in school. Starting her teaching career in 1945, she semi retired in 2004 from BVS. At the time of her death in 2011 (see "Lady of learning,” In Memoriam, Parsiana, April 7, 2011) she was chairperson of the Westminster School and College and a consultant at The Accel School in Karachi.
Associated with Karachi’s Bai Virbaiji Soparivala (BVS) High School for 60 years, Deena Mistri is known to have taught three generations of students. In memory of their principal the School’s Alumni Association has tied up with The Citizens Foundation, USA to build the Deena Minoo Mistri Campus on a one acre plot in Korangi, an impoverished area of Karachi, to offer educational opportunities to the underprivileged. Their goal for 2013 is to build a two-unit primary school that will accommodate 360 children. The cost of building and operating the school in the first academic year is expected to be $ 294,000. The long-term goal is to build a full primary and secondary school with capacity to educate 1,440 students in two shifts with 50 percent of the seats reserved for girls.
As a tribute to his grandmother Deena Mistri, the youngster conceived this film that is available for viewing on YouTube. It shows graphic images of children growing up in the slum areas, construction work at the Campus under progress, and the school as envisaged on completion, equipped with science laboratories and art facilities. Attempting to pull on the heart and purse strings, the film ends with "One dollar would do wonders. The children in Karachi are counting on you.”
Besides her longstanding commitment to BVS, on innumerable occasions Deena Mistri would anonymously contribute money to keep a needy child in school. Starting her teaching career in 1945, she semi retired in 2004 from BVS. At the time of her death in 2011 (see "Lady of learning,” In Memoriam, Parsiana, April 7, 2011) she was chairperson of the Westminster School and College and a consultant at The Accel School in Karachi.
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From the archive