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Peace Education
Why this Peace Education ?
Youth have to learn to co-exist, understand and appreciate others’ faiths and lifestyles and use their skills for the welfare of all creation that leads to equity and justice based social order with sustainable peace. Gandhiji insisted on this ‘Character based education’.
What is Peace Education?
Education that helps one to understand the correlation between hand-head-heart is Peace Education. It is based on the Oracle for Peace.
Introduction to ORACLE
ORACLE stands as an acronym for six words:
Observation holistically.
Restraint oneself.
Accept what comes.
Celebration of inner resources.
Labour manually for love.
Evolve every moment.
How is this Peace education imparted?
It is not imparted but rather explored together. Every child has an inbuilt structure of peace and harmony which they can explore by themselves if the social structure can provide them the suitable space.
To whom is this education?
Of course, to all mankind, but it is easier to relate to younger children. So we try to take this to children in the womb, cradle and in classrooms.
The Methodology
Though there cannot be a methodology for this, because a method itself leads to structural violence, lesson modules are created with the help of teachers and students who have great concern for building a world of peace.
To start with, children are encouraged to observe their day to day activities and form basic rules for themselves to develop a culture of peace within themselves.
Who can be the Teachers for peace ?
Anyone concerned about the future of our children. School teachers are being invited to be the major part of this project.
College students are also being enrolled as volunteers who get orientation initially and conduct classes in schools periodically.
Teachers and college students who complete 20 classes in schools are awarded with a ‘Teacher for Peace’ certificate. NSS volunteers find this project creative and complete the 120 hours duration joyfully.
Merit of this project:
Education lesson modules are focussed on self realisation, service and self-restraint. It removes hatred and stress from one’s personality so both students and teachers become co-explorers of peace and travel in the path of creative Joy. Full credit goes to Mahatma Gandhi and his message of Sarvodaya lifestyle.
How can one enrol in this project?
School teachers can spend 3 minutes of their class hours and share these 6 basic rules and later convey one story from our books. There are 150 stories in this pack of 21 tiny books.
Tiny Books for Peace
All the 150 lesson modules present themes which are based on the correlation of eternal truth to our day to day complicated lifestyle.
A few schools have found relevance of these lesson modules to the present day problems and have prescribed them for their value education classes encourage the children to explore their childhood nature by which they can enrich their inner resources and resolve conflicts peacefully by micro actions. 150 micro actions are suggested in these stories that by following would culminate in Macro Peace.
Most importantly these books try to empower children to rely upon their inner voice, the voice of the truth within, which ultimately leads to independent decision making, the root of decentralised governance, gram swaraj as visualised by the Mahatma.
Gandhi had demonstrated how non-violence can be applied in the national freedom movement and also in small family quarrels. Vinoba Bhave had demonstrated the same by his Bhoodhan Movement how by appealing to even big landowners with humility and concern for the downtrodden he could get lakhs of acres of land.
Instead of directly teaching the noble thoughts of Gandhi and Vinobha to children, we help children to explore their day to day problems and seek solutions with the help of their inner resources and self-reliance in resolving conflicts. So here hero worship is avoided and instead the search for truth is given importance which save the youth from ‘hero-addiction’.
These books neither offer solutions to all problems nor give directions. Rather they encourage the children to explore seriously within which allows freedom for the students to explore solutions by themselves.
What do we expect from
your participation in the seminar?
Receive a gift
of this book set, listen to the experiences of the activists, participate in the dialogue and start your mission of peace in your school.
Join the Forum
You may please join the Forum of Teachers for Peace.
Invite Our Volunteers
You may invite our volunteers to conduct sessions in your school.
Certification
Finally, receive the Certificate at the end of the year.