Over 100 educators from schools all over Delhi, as well as the country, came together for a two day conference on ‘Schools as Nurseries for Peace”. The conference was co-hosted by Pravah and the Active Citizenship Teachers Resource Center, Bluebells School International, New Delhi. For Pravah and Active Citizenship Teachers Resource Center at Bluebells School, the conference was a part of the endeavour to begin a movement of schools as nurseries for peace. The conference aimed to be a forum for classroom practitioners and school administrators, academicians and researchers, and government department officials to come together and share their ideas, experiences and concerns, and support the discourse on education for peace.

Prof. Mridula Mukherjee, Director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, was the keynote speaker at the event. She addressed the challenges that lie ahead of educators and elaborated on ways in which one can try and overcome these obstacles. She went on to sat that as teachers one has to internalise certain processes and behaviours to be able to effectively transmit them to students. The children must have faith in non-violent dialogue. They must have the skill to diffuse conflict right from the beginning- something that will help them in the larger perspective. Such issues have to be handled with a certain level of complexity.

A panel discussion helped highlight the different shades of classroom activity. The panel was chaired by Annie Koshi, Principal, St Marys School, New Delhi. During the course of the discussion there was an interaction with Prof. Farah Faruqui of Jamia University, on reality of violence and discrimination in the classroom. She highlighted the case of Muslim students in Delhi and how they have been affected by the current socio-political scenario in the country. Jane Sahi, Founder, Sita School, spoke of the possibilities and challenges in working towards peace in a classroom setting.

The panel discussion was followed by an interaction with Dr. Binay Patnaik, Chief Consultant Pedagogy, Sarva Shiksha Abhigyan. The SSA is a flagship programme of the Government of India for achievement of universalization of elementary education. This talk provided the audience with SSA’s perspective of working towards education for peace. The focus till this session was largely on the urban population. However, Mr Patnaik, showed the perspective from the rural area.

The second day saw the showcasing of the action projects undertaken by teachers. Teachers from Bluebells School and Bharat National Public School presented their findings on the action projects they had carried out.

There were also group interactions with educators from alternative schools across India. The aim of the session was to showcase innovative approaches, school processes and ideologies. The sessions were chaired by Jane Sahi, Tej Chitra (Wardha School, Gujarat) and Preetima Khandelwal (Bluebells International School).

The conference was interspersed with fun activities such as a puppet show and theatre activities. The puppet show was put up by the Ishara Puppet Theatre group. It revolved around the issue of drug abuse and peer pressure. The theatre sessions were conducted by Jaya Iyer, who works in the field of development theatre and education. The session was well received by the audience and helped them to expand their thinking and break stereotypes. On day 2, there was also a performance by Dileep Shankar and Mandakini of the Karmic Research Centre. They sang poems written by Kabir. The melodious singing and storytelling followed the theme of love for all, pursuit of higher truth and peace.

It was followed by a talk by Shashi Mendiratta of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, after which teachers from various schools presented the findings of the Action projects. This was followed by an interaction with Ms. Jamali, teacher from Pakistan. She spoke about the similarities in the education system between India and Pakistan. She also spoke of efforts being made to address conflict and peace resolution.

This was followed by an interaction which showcased innovative approaches to education. The audience was asked to choose which speakers session they would like to attend. The different parallel session that took place were:

1. Interaction with Jane Sahi of The Sita School
2. Interaction with Tej Chitra of the Wardha School, Gujarat.
3. English Language learning by Preetima Khandelwal, Bluebells School, New Delhi.
4. Experiences with Pravah.

During the course of the sessions, the audience learnt about the innovative methods of teaching in the above mentioned schools.

The Workshop ended on a positive note with the felicitation of educators working towards peaceful education in classrooms. The felicitation address was given by Prof. Hema Raghavan, Advisor (Formerly Principal) Gargi College and Dean of Students, Delhi University.

The conference critically analysed the need and scope of “Education for Peace” in the context of schools in India. Different forms of violence were identified, through curricular and teaching-learning practices within the school. The conference also analysed the challenges and possibilities for teachers with peace building processes. Lastly, the educators who are part of the movement working towards transforming schools into nurseries of peace were felicitated.