Transforming society: Sowing seeds of peace in Karachi

KARACHI:

It was an attempt to sow seeds of peace in the centre of Karachi at the Dawood Public School, Bahadurabad. The role of teachers in the peace-building process was the centre of discussion.

The two-day 'Teach for Peace Conference', an initiative of the 'I Am Karachi' peace campaign and the Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (Spelt), began on Saturday. It is aimed to equip teachers with transformative experiences that will provide them practical ideas and activities to inculcate the idea of peace among their students. The conference intends to make classrooms the ground for nurturing the roots of peace that can further extend its shoots to the larger society.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, former federal minister Javed Jabbar outlined the fourfold responsibility of a teacher. "A teacher [has to be] a transmitter of genuine knowledge, a catalyst to initiate progressive change in the minds of pupils even [at times when] external conditions in their homes and areas remain stagnant or worsen, a trainer of youth on how to build unflinchingly the practice of nonviolence, and thus become a quiet, unacknowledged yet an effectively true leader."

Businessman Amin Hashwani, who is a part of the 'I Am Karachi' consortium, reminded the audience that the root cause of all issues is social and cultural and not political or economic as everyone insists it to be. He reminisced about how socially and culturally tolerant the Pakistani society used to be in 1947. "Nobody cared who was Shia and who was Sunni. People are trying to make a Naya Pakistan. Instead, we should struggle to make it the Purana Pakistan it used to be."

At a time when school children are still affected by the Peshawar tragedy, such a conference might help teachers understand how to cope with violence and its psychological and behavioural effects on children. The conference aims at encouraging discourse on the role of teachers in peace-building.

The two-day educational discourse will focus on the richness of diversity, teachers and parents as agents of peace, media for peace and facing challenges, and a panel discussion on 'How peace can be nurtured in the society'. Distinguished speakers such as Dr Haroon Ahmad, Tina Sani, Ghazi Salahuddin, Sheema Kermani, Zohra Yusuf, Rumana Husain, Abbas Husain and others will speak on these topics during the conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2015.