Musician and child rights activist Shehzad Roy has drawn praise from Pakistani actors for introducing a Wall of Secrets at his school, an initiative aimed at helping children communicate experiences of abuse they are too afraid to speak about openly.
Actors Omair Rana, Sarwat Gilani and Zhalay Sarhadi all took to the comments section of Roy’s video to commend the effort.
Rana, who said that he had witnessed the wall himself, called it “powerful,” adding that “children get to express themselves in a manner that they could not have,” and urged people to check out the art curriculum.
Gilani said that “a safe space to tell their side is absolutely necessary in today’s world,” thanking Roy for always giving children that space.
Zhalay called it “a brilliant idea”.
In the video, Roy explained that the Wall of Secret works through art, a medium he described as particularly effective for children who cannot verbalise their experiences, especially in cases of sexual abuse.
He said that feedback boxes are placed across his school so children can share concerns without approaching anyone directly, with the artwork then passed on to a counsellor who has discovered and resolved several cases through this method.
Roy, who has long worked on education and child welfare through Zindagi Trust, said that safe touch and unsafe touch is also taught at his school, a curriculum now available across Sindh. He called on all schools to put up a Wall of Secrets, saying that even those without a counsellor would at least be able to gauge what children were feeling.
