Posts Tagged :

Interfaith School of Peace

School of peace 1024 682 Riko Eichner

School of peace

School of Peace has been an ongoing program of the India Peace Centre for many years now – that had also been known as Interfaith School of Peace earlier.

The School of Peace is designed as a training program aimed to coach youth and students on Peace Education. The India Peace Centre believes; peace is multidimensional and not just the absence of war or conflict. It reflects life, dignity, and integrity. India Peace Centre together along with its regional Chapters reflected on the necessity of peace education for young people.

Four School of Peace were organized in the year 2024-25 at Khurda (Odisha), Shillong (Meghalaya), Gandhi Nagar (Gujarat) and Pathnamthita (Kerala).

The India Peace Centre (IPC), in collaboration with KT Global School and Master Peace, organized the School of Peace Program in Khordha, Odisha, from September 18th to September 21st, 2024. This event marked the inaugural session of the four School of Peace Programs envisioned by the India Peace Centre for the year 2024 and 2025. Formerly known as the Interfaith School of Peace, the program has undergone a remarkable evolution. While it continues to embrace the essence of interfaith dialogue, the School of Peace Program now envisions a comprehensive training module for youth centred on the principles of Peace Education. It seeks to disseminate the multidimensional aspects of peacebuilding, advancing well beyond the notion of negative peace, which is merely the absence of conflict. The core idea is to equip youth with the essential tenets of peace: Life, Dignity, and Integrity.

The Second School of Peace was held from 20th to 22nd November 2024 at the Rural Resource Centre in Umran, Meghalaya. This event was organized by India Peace Centre in collaboration with North East India Christian Council (NEICC) Peace Centre. The programme brought together 47 participants from various NEICC units, along with special invitees.

The Third School of Peace was held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat from 27th to 30th November, 2024 at Jeevantirth. About 20 youth participated in the four days extensive program.

The four days training highlighted:

Life and Dignity

Indigenous people, gender equity, child protection, youth formation, education, SDGs

Sustainable Planet

Climate Change, SDGs, UN Climate Conference, Sustainable, life style, economy, and ecology, agriculture

Just and Inclusive Communities

Interfaith relations and harmony, equity and justice, overcoming, discrimination and prejudices

The fourth School of Peace was held at Pathnamthita, Kerala at the Rajan Ecumenical Foundation from 6th to 9th March 2025. About 30 youth attended the program. The four school of peace brought together about 130 youth and students together to reflect on peace from the perspective of justice, life, dignity and integrity.

The first School of Peace Program brought this vision to life with profound impact. The overarching emphasis of the four-day training was on the interconnection of peace with justice, intercultural and inter-religious harmony, environmental stewardship, and the use of sustainable technologies. The training program witnessed active participation from 25 youth, 8 organizations, 10 distinguished scholars, and over 100 school students. This report offers a glimpse into this transformative journey.

“Interfaith School of Peace” Leona Moldenhauer Leona

“Interfaith School of Peace”

When one turns on the TV, opens the newspaper or listens to the radio one of the first things you will probably recognize is headings about war, terrorist attacks or hate speech against minorities. India Peace Centre is concerned about keeping the global peace, which is why the IPC organized a Program called “Interfaith School of Peace”. Around 50 students from Orissa were invited to participate in the program, which took place at CYSD in Bhubaneswar, Odisha between the 10th and 14th of October 2019. The program was all about peace, it’s importance in today’s contexts and how to keep it.  In a total of three full days of deliberation the participants as well as speakers held discussions on different topics, shared their own experiences and figured out new ways of handling issues, seeming to threaten peace.

The topic peace is so complex, multiple speakers emblazed it from different perspectives. Sudhansu Naik, General Secretary, Bhubaneswar YMCA, talked about the general understanding and context of peace and reiterated that the “Absence of war is not peace”. Furthermore many other speakers shared their inputs.  They include  Jyotsna Rani Patro, Secretary of Utkal Christian Council, expressed her opinion on the role of gender in context of peace, Angelious Micheal, Coordinator for Partnership Desk at Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church, informed about how the youth is dealing with issues these days and Ajaya Singh, Director of Excellence Academy, talked about different perspectives of peace. In relation to the title “Interfaith” Dhirendra Panda, convener for Civil Society on Human Rights, shared his concerns on dealing with peace between different religions. In between the speeches the participants discussed questions such as: “Is peace present today? “, “What are the factors of peace building? “, “What are the factors of conflicts?”. Kasta Dip, the Director of India Peace Centre, led the program and gave some input himself on the caste system and what we talk about, when we talk about neighbourhood. To give some examples on the power of peace, Leonie Kühl and Leona Moldenhauer, two German volunteers, presented examples on global peace movements.

On the last day the participants got the opportunity to experience their gained knowledge on respecting each other and different religions practically. Exposure Visits made it possible to visit places of historical and religious importance: Dhauli Shanti Stupa, a Buddhist temple followed by a Christian Church and the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves.

Meanwhile these three days friendships were built, knowledge was gained and mindsets were changed. All the participants got new impressions on peace and took one step further to being a peace maker themselves in their local contexts and situations.