Yesterday was a fabulous new beginning for Sangam India, thanks to Prajnya, a “non-profit centre for research, public education and networking, working on issues relating to peace, justice and security” based here in Chennai, India. Visiting member Katie Bush and I traveled to a lovely meeting place called The Madras Terrace House for a seminar hosted by Prajnya, launching their Education for Peace initiative. This is the first time that members of Sangam have represented the organisation in a gathering of other organisations and individuals, and it was a lovely opportunity for us to meet new people in addition to the main purpose of learning more about Education for Peace.
The morning began with Ms. Swarna Rajagopalan introducing Prajnya and the new Education for Peace initiative. Prajnya has recently completed several studies on Peace Education in Tamil Nadu, India, and South Asia.
Ms. R. Akila, a sociologist who works as a consultant in the development sector, presented her findings on “Mapping Educational Policy Structures and Processes in Tamil Nadu.” This was particularly edifying as we are working towards education projects but have very little specific knowledge on the existing education structure and policies. Broadly, she discussed the various hierarchies of school governance, from the Centre to the district and block level. She spoke with a particular focus on understanding where the peace education initiatives can fit into the existing structure, rather than developing and conducting parallel programs, which is understandably unsustainable. The take home message from this presentation was certainly that successful interventions will have to be made at the teacher level, changing attitudes and mindsets to make peace education and value education part and parcel of the whole educational process.
Ms. Anupama Srinivasan, a journalist and filmmaker, presented next “A Survey of Civil Society Peace Education Programs in South Asia”, which was an extensive and exhaustive listing of all of the peace education programs in South Asia. Although there were limitations in that not all programs are documented and publicized, it was truly inspiring and enthusing to find that many programs are, in fact, in place throughout South Asia. An important point brought up by Ms. Srinivasan was that real peace is not the mere absence of war, but also an absence of cultural and structural violence, which is a fact often missed by those speaking of “peace.” There were also repeated mentions of independent and collective security as well as responsible citizenship. The most important message that came out of this presentation was once again sustainability, this time through collaboration and communication between various organizations, groups and individuals working towards similar and synergistic goals. It is important to ensure that groups are not working in isolation and attempting to “reinvent the wheel” numerous times.
Ms. Priyadarshini Rajagopalan spoke briefly on her still ongoing study on “Peace Education Guidelines In the NCERT National Curriculum Framework” which was a snapshot of what precisely is in the current textbooks and guidelines. As her study comes to a close, more information will become available from Prajnya.
Overall, it was a truly eye-opening session, a gathering of dynamic women charged to make a difference. We are looking forward to collaborating further with Prajnya as well as with other women that we met at the seminar, including Ms. Uma Vangal among others. We are also hoping to learn more specific education-related ideas from Ms. Priyadarshini Rajagopalan perhaps in a workshop or seminar of our own.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Ms. Swarna Rajagopalan for her gracious invitation to the seminar, and we look forward to more similar events and chances for learning from one another. We would also like to encourage you to visit www.prajnya.in/peace for more information on Education for Peace, and the newly launched Peace Blog at www.prajnyaforpeace.wordpress.com. You can also follow Prajnya on twitter.
