Udayakumar August 4, 2000

Tags: Youth , History

Unlike my usual “Political Meditations” pieces, this time I would like to share with you a long- cherished fantasy, a fantasy that needs to be translated into reality before our nuclearized reality consumes all of us.

rel="tag" href="/tag/Pakistan">Pakistan Reconciliation School” to be organized during December- January 2001-02 for 50 high school seniors (+2 level) from India and Pakistan. The School may be conducted either in India or in Pakistan or in Nepal depending upon the responses of the Indian and Pakistani authorities.

With bilateral relations between India and Pakistan steeped in mistrust and disdain, many citizens of these two countries foster prejudices and ill-will about each other. The ways they think about each other are often clouded by the old feelings of fear and hatred. Distorted historical narratives, bigoted political rhetoric and vehement religious overtones characterize their understanding of the Other. Dangerous shifts are taking place in the bilateral relations between these two countries with nuclear weapons, missile programs, increased military expenditure, protracted conflict in Kashmir, renewed religious and ethnic intolerance, proliferation of militant outfits and hate groups, and an overwhelming cynicism. The situation is so alarming that South Asia has even been termed as “the most dangerous place” in the world.

The young people in both these countries are rendered even more vulnerable as media reports, political rhetoric, history textbooks and popular discourse are all distorted and even bigoted. Any attempt to reverse this trend and inject some hope and faith among the people of India and Pakistan has to start with the youth and it should be an educational endeavor. Bringing fifty young men and women from both these countries together to discover the humane side of each other’s society, discuss the outstanding issues between the two countries, and envision a common peaceful future for us all would be an important step in the right direction.

As a pilot project, twenty-five high school seniors (+2 level) each from India and Pakistan would be brought together to live and study together for three weeks. This intensive educational experience, the India-Pakistan Reconciliation School, will be built on four basic foundational principles:

[1] COMMUNITY SPIRIT: Emphasizing community spirit in all the programs, the program would require the students to prefer community to exclusivity. The shunning of division, isolation, separation and gender bias is to instill a sense of togetherness, to appreciate unity in diversity, and to realize the need for collective efforts to accomplish our common future.

[2] LIBERATION PEDAGOGY: Unlike the mainstream “schooling” approach to education, this program would underscore what we call “liberation pedagogy”: integrating ideas and activities, matching words and deeds, promoting horizontal solidarity rather than hierarchical authority, emphasizing freedom, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

[3] TRANSCENDING CONFLICTS: “Peace,” as they say, “comes not from the absence of conflict in life but from the ability to cope with it.” The young men and women in the program would be encouraged and trained to manage/resolve their intra- and inter-personal conflicts, and conflicts at the larger (national, regional, and international) levels through the TRANSCEND approach ({ HYPERLINK http://www.transcend.org }www.transcend.org). The South Asian heritage of nonviolence would also be highlighted.

[4] TRANSFORMED FUTURES: The program would help the students envision preferred futures at various levels, chart out detailed road-maps to get to those desired destinations, and drive life along those futuristic routes.

On a typical day, the young people would spend 1.5 hours in one of the five courses:

Poverty, Economic Cooperation, and Human Development

Population Imbalance and Environmental Degradation

Human Rights (with emphasis on children’s, women’s and minority rights)

Religion and Worship and Secularism

Conflict Management/Resolution

Select female and male Indian and Pakistani faculty members will run these courses with a collectively agreed-upon syllabus and course material. There will be no examination at the end of the program but the students in each class would be required to share creatively what they have learned over the past month in their respective classes.

After a break of 30 minutes, the students would spend 1.5 hours in an Integrative Seminar with another set of scholars and a faculty member. The students would be free to bring up any subject of their liking for a free and frank discussion.

Lunch break will follow these two programs and the afternoon would be spent on performing arts, community service projects, and other group activities.

After dinner, there will be talks, debates, alternative theatre, cultural performances, film shows and other such activities followed by discussions. Some of the other components of the program would include occasional field-trips, resource persons in residence, student-run internal newspaper and so forth.

This project brings together fifty bright and public-spirited young men and women to study some of the common issues of India and Pakistan and to address them meaningfully. Fifty is not a significant number in the context of more than a billion people in India and Pakistan, but it is a good and much-needed beginning which will have a great symbolic value.

On a more substantive level, these students could be organized informally through an email network and/or other conventional means of communication so that they would stay in touch with each other in a sustained way and contribute to the promotion of good will between the two countries. Moreover, the long-range impact of this project would be significant as these students will be leaders in various walks of life in India and Pakistan.

This project also has a promise of lasting impact on another level. This experiment could be used as a basis for establishing a South Asian community school or university in the future that will include other countries of the region also. After all, all the seven countries of South Asia are intricately linked to one another.

The estimated cost of the program would be roughly US$ 40,000. The following is the breakdown of this amount:

Preparatory Meetings and

Consultations 7,000 US$

Transportation: 10,000

Room and board (21 days) 10,000

Books and course material 2,000

Staff Salary 5,000

Office supplies 1,000

Communication 1,000

Medicines 1,000

Fieldtrips 2,000

Exigency Fund 1,000

Total 40,000

I am trying to receive a grant for the entire estimated cost of US $40,000. This is not a small amount; however, this project would be worth the money given the fact that India and Pakistan are spending a humongous sum for mutual destruction and nuclear annihilation. Once the pilot project is successfully carried out during the winter of 2001-02, an endowment fund can be created with the help of Indian and Pakistani entrepreneurs, philanthropists and donors and foundations from around the world. The program could be broadened and carried out every year without relying on one particular source of support.

What do you think the strengths and the weaknesses of this proposed project are? Besides money, what other problems do you foresee? What modifications would you make to this plan? Thank you for your input.