Shehzad Roy is combating screen addiction among children, one chess piece at a time

In a digital age where screens dominate children’s attention, Pakistani singer and activist Shehzad Roy is trying to help parents counteract this growing trend.

Roy has made a chess curriculum developed through the Zindagi Trust, his non-profit organisation, publicly available for free. The initiative seeks to inspire children to spend less time glued to their devices and more time fostering critical thinking and strategic planning skills.

On Sunday, Roy took to Instagram to share a heartfelt message for parents struggling to manage their children’s screen time. Highlighting the transformative power of chess, he said, “If you want to lower your kids’ screen time, teach them chess.”

Recalling how Zindagi Trust introduced chess as a subject in its schools years ago, Roy reflected, “Because this is a competitive mind sport, we observed kids sitting alone for hours, thinking and strategising. They were spending time with themselves.”

He elaborated on the success of Zindagi Trust’s chess initiative, mentioning how girls from the programme have gone on to win Pakistan’s top chess championships. Roy urged everyone to teach children chess using the curriculum available on the Zindagi Trust website, explaining that it could lead to noticeable changes in their routines and improve their mathematical and cognitive skills.

The journey of incorporating chess into Zindagi Trust schools began in 2011 as part of the organisation’s broader goal to enhance education in underprivileged communities.

The chess curriculum, meticulously crafted over a decade, combines fundamental techniques, strategies, and cognitive training to enhance critical thinking skills, foster a culture of strategic problem-solving, provide a structured foundation for advanced chess learning, and create a more engaging and interactive learning environment.

The chess curriculum is just one of the many innovative programmes under Zindagi Trust’s umbrella. The organisation has consistently worked to transform government schools in Karachi and beyond by integrating Scrabble into school curriculums to promote mental agility, teaching students essential skills like mental health management, music financial literacy, and child rights.