Armed with pens, students set to wage war against stereotypes

Under the programme initiated by CAP and Route 2 Roots, 3,500 children will exchange letters.

KARACHI:
Over 3,000 school children from Pakistan and India are getting ready to use their pens to break the ice between the two belligerent neighbours which have shared a very frigid relationship in the past.

Yet again, the Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) in collaboration with Routes 2 Roots, a Delhi-based non-profit organisation, is all geared up for what they dubbed a “round two of Exchange for Change.” Under this initiative, around 3,500 children between the ages 10 and 14, from 17 schools across Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai will exchange letters for twelve months, after which there will be cross-border visits. The formal launch of the programme was announced during a press conference at the Marriot Hotel on Monday.



“Our stories are the same - we just need to share them,” said CAP’s executive director Swaleha Alam Shahzada. “When we took this initiative as a 16-month-long pilot project in 2010, we believed that this was one small step towards enabling our next generation to build bridges with our neighbouring country.”

She explained that both organisations launched the pilot project in 2010 as an interactive initiative which linked 2,400 school students from 10 schools across Karachi, Lahore, Delhi and Mumbai. Shahzada said a continuous exchange of letters, postcards and photographs along with cross border visits to Delhi and Lahore had helped to dispel stereotypes in children’s minds and encouraged them to form their own opinions. “The analysis of the pilot project revealed that perceptions had changed in around 54 percent of the participants after it concluded.”




Pakistani popstar Ali Zafar, who happens to be India’s third-most googled singer, is eager to lend his support to the initiative. He was present at the launch and said that it will take time to break perceptions that have been drilled into children’s heads. He added that the future of the relationship between the two countries depends on what the current generation feels about their neighbours. “Physical exchange programmes will provide schoolchildren ample opportunities to exchange their thoughts. This is a great idea and I’m here to support it.”

The singer and actor was not the only superstar supporting the initiative - a promo video was screened at the press conference in which Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla congratulated both the organisations for the Exchange for Change programme. “[This] wonderful programme would encourage friendships across the border. I wish them all the very best.”

For those participating in the programme, the idea of students crossing the border is an opportunity for a lifetime. “I think it is a good way to unite again and stop the fighting that has been going on all these years,” said Zaha Bhagat, a student from Indus Academy, Karachi, who was participating in the programme.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2012.
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