Applying to the School
The school has been an overwhelming success, as evidenced by its 90% pass rate, and has won great acclaim as one of the best schools in Azad Kashmir. Entry to the school is means-assessed, meaning that A Better Tomorrow only accepts children who are unable to afford an education. The majority of the students either come from working class families or are refugees from the neighbouring troubled North West Frontier Province and Afghanistan and as such have never received a formal education. This strategy has paid huge dividends as it has nurtured many gifted and talented young children whose potential would otherwise have been squandered in the injustices of the society.
Lord Nazir Ahmed was born in Kalyal Sheroo, Mirpur, Azad Kashmir and was brought up in this village until the age of 11 ½. He then moved to the UK with his mother and siblings to join his father who had migrated in the early 1960’s. Lord Ahmed was elected president of Thomas Rotherham College and served as chairman of the Young Socialists in Rotherham before he was elected as the first ethnic minority ever to serve on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. He was appointed to be the youngest magistrate in 1992 and was elevated to the House of Lords in 1998 and took the title of Baron Ahmed of Rotherham. Lord Ahmed was not only the first Muslim in the House of Lords, but was also one of the youngest peers. Since then, Lord Ahmed has used his position in the House of Lords to pursue various interests but has focused on issues of equality, religion, race and gender. He is a leader within both the Muslim and Pakistani communities and continues to be an advocate for those who experience injustice, discrimination, or persecution around the world.
Lord Ahmed is involved in numerous charities and travels around the world to assist fundraising efforts. The school building for A Better Tomorrow was a family building inherited by Lord Ahmed, who now runs it as a family charity.