Peace-Building workshop conducted in Gujarat Public School in Vadodara (Gujarat, India)

Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a joint Indo-Pak Initiative of Mission Bhartiyam (India) and The Catalyst – Tc (Pakistan), conducted a peace-building workshop in Gujarat Public School in Vadodara (Gujarat, India). The workshop was organised by Ms. Abhilasha Agrawal, the Director of Gujarat Public School.

The workshop was conducted by team members of Aaghaz-e-Dosti – Devika Mittal and Shruti Arora. It was facilitated by Nidhi Shendurnikar Tere, the Baroda Coordinator of Aaghaz-e-Dosti and Helly Bhat.

In Gujarat Public School, the workshop was conducted on 11^th August. The workshop was titled “Understanding Conflict and Importance of Peace Building”. It was an interactive session involving students from 9^th-12^th grade.

The workshop discussed the basics of Conflict and Peace-building. It discussed about what involves a conflict, the factors contributing to it focusing specifically on the role of stereotypes, the importance of resolving conflict, the victims of conflict and the beneficiaries of peace.

The students were quite active and conversant. There was a long discussion on the conflicts within the society, on the social evils like gender inequality, casteism and class inequality. The students initiated a debate on the affirmative action, the pros and cons of reservation, the Land Bill and other issues.

There was also a discussion on Indo-Pak Conflict. The speakers talked about the major issues, the role of stereotypes and misconceptions sustained by lack of communication and miscommunication and the victims of Conflict.

The second part of the discussion was on the importance of peace-building and the approaches of peace-building. The speakers focussed on the indirect approach which talked about creating a culture of peace and critical thinking. This was discussed in the light of Indo-Pak relations and the role of people in fostering Indo-Pak Peace was discussed.

The highly interactive students made the workshop an enriching experience for the team as well.

 

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