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Lot Essay
This is not just another school. It is not an act of charity. It is an act of seeking for means which will enable us to reach a better future –
S. R. Kazim
The Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust (SNPET) was established in Lahore 1995 under the patronage of Syed Raza Kazim, an internationally acclaimed lawyer, politician, musicologist, photographer, philosopher and philanthropist. With a belief in the potential of all young people and a focus on those likely to be excluded from opportunities to nurture their potential, SNPET established a free English medium high school for underprivileged girls in the Kot Lakhpat industrial neighbourhood of Lahore.
The SNPET Higher Secondary School shifted to its current purpose built facility in Glaxo Town a few years later in 2003. A co-educational institution since 2006, the new flagship campus was a single-shift facility with 910 students enrolled from pre-school to grade twelve, providing fifteen years of rich experiential learning, respecting equality and diversity. SNPET opened two additional independent campuses in Lahore under the umbrella of the Sanjan Nagar School System, which were merged in 2013 to form their Hima Campus, an educational facility offering the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program program and affiliated with local and federal education boards. With the school motto ‘Enabling our Future’ crafted by the students themselves, SNPET is a transformative space for students and their families. Many SNPET students have achieved great results, working as engineers, software and health care professionals, economists and educators, and several alumni return to the school as teachers and young leaders.
Currently the SNPET Board of Trustees is looking to expand the facilities available at the Hima Campus catering to students enrolled in pre-primary to higher secondary programs. SNPET is seeking funds for scholarship endowments for the most deserving students, new building projects, technology enabled learning, career counselling, in-house professional development programs and upgraded sports facilities.
In November 2004, the artist Maqbool Fida Husain, a friend of Raza Kazim and believer in his vision, spent a few days in Lahore. During this trip, the artist visited SNPET and demonstrated his drawing techniques to the students on two classroom blackboards. Husain also painted a vivid portrait of a striding tiger holding a sword on canvas while he was at SNPET, in the presence of several fascinated students, and answered their questions about his creative process. A few days later, Husain attended a fundraiser for SNPET at the historic Asif Jah Haveli, where two of his paintings were auctioned to raise funds for the Trust, one of which he painted in front of the audience that evening to the accompaniment of Farida Khanum’s classical vocals.
One of the students, Sidra Husain, who was in grade six at the time, and now serves as a member of the school’s faculty, recalled, “Husain said ‘never use scales in your drawings but draw freehand; the original art that comes from you must be allowed freedom of space and colour. The scale restricts you. One has to think through art; scales divert the mind, ideas and colours.’ At that time, it may have been too much to digest, but I can never forget these words, and have tested his tips in my own art practice.” (S. Husain, in conversation, April 2018)
Christie's is honoured to offer the three works the Husain gifted to SNPET at auction to support the Trust in their mission to expand facilities and reach out to even more students in meaningful ways, enabling their futures in today’s globalised world, and in turn ensuring a brighter future for all of us.
S. R. Kazim
The Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust (SNPET) was established in Lahore 1995 under the patronage of Syed Raza Kazim, an internationally acclaimed lawyer, politician, musicologist, photographer, philosopher and philanthropist. With a belief in the potential of all young people and a focus on those likely to be excluded from opportunities to nurture their potential, SNPET established a free English medium high school for underprivileged girls in the Kot Lakhpat industrial neighbourhood of Lahore.
The SNPET Higher Secondary School shifted to its current purpose built facility in Glaxo Town a few years later in 2003. A co-educational institution since 2006, the new flagship campus was a single-shift facility with 910 students enrolled from pre-school to grade twelve, providing fifteen years of rich experiential learning, respecting equality and diversity. SNPET opened two additional independent campuses in Lahore under the umbrella of the Sanjan Nagar School System, which were merged in 2013 to form their Hima Campus, an educational facility offering the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program program and affiliated with local and federal education boards. With the school motto ‘Enabling our Future’ crafted by the students themselves, SNPET is a transformative space for students and their families. Many SNPET students have achieved great results, working as engineers, software and health care professionals, economists and educators, and several alumni return to the school as teachers and young leaders.
Currently the SNPET Board of Trustees is looking to expand the facilities available at the Hima Campus catering to students enrolled in pre-primary to higher secondary programs. SNPET is seeking funds for scholarship endowments for the most deserving students, new building projects, technology enabled learning, career counselling, in-house professional development programs and upgraded sports facilities.
In November 2004, the artist Maqbool Fida Husain, a friend of Raza Kazim and believer in his vision, spent a few days in Lahore. During this trip, the artist visited SNPET and demonstrated his drawing techniques to the students on two classroom blackboards. Husain also painted a vivid portrait of a striding tiger holding a sword on canvas while he was at SNPET, in the presence of several fascinated students, and answered their questions about his creative process. A few days later, Husain attended a fundraiser for SNPET at the historic Asif Jah Haveli, where two of his paintings were auctioned to raise funds for the Trust, one of which he painted in front of the audience that evening to the accompaniment of Farida Khanum’s classical vocals.
One of the students, Sidra Husain, who was in grade six at the time, and now serves as a member of the school’s faculty, recalled, “Husain said ‘never use scales in your drawings but draw freehand; the original art that comes from you must be allowed freedom of space and colour. The scale restricts you. One has to think through art; scales divert the mind, ideas and colours.’ At that time, it may have been too much to digest, but I can never forget these words, and have tested his tips in my own art practice.” (S. Husain, in conversation, April 2018)
Christie's is honoured to offer the three works the Husain gifted to SNPET at auction to support the Trust in their mission to expand facilities and reach out to even more students in meaningful ways, enabling their futures in today’s globalised world, and in turn ensuring a brighter future for all of us.