Students pledge to building peace

[caption id="attachment_179378" align="alignnone" width="550"] Peace club members pose for a group photo during the inter-school peace campaign in Wokha town on April 25.[/caption] Dimapur, April 27 (EMN): Students from four schools in Wokha town have pledged to work for ‘genuine peace,’ a ‘kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, a peace that enables men and nation to grow, to hope and to build a better life for the future generation, not merely a peace in their time but peace for all time.’ Students took the pledge during a daylong inter-school event dubbed the ‘call for peace campaign,’ which was organised by local motivational group the Peace Channel. Interestingly, the event was conducted with the theme ‘end plastic pollution.’ It was conducted at the Don Bosco Youth Centre of Wokha town on April 25, updates have informed. Speaking during the occasion, assistant professor at Bailey Baptist College in Wokha, N Yanpothung Ezung exhorted the students to help end plastic pollution ‘as the material takes 1000 years to decompose.’ While explaining that even though the ‘use of plastic materials is an epidemic,’ he said people can rise above the use of it by reducing use of the material or recycling them. He has encouraged the students to support the ban on plastic bags, polystyrene, and plastic bottles. A speaker at the event Patrick W Tungoe, also encouraged the students to replace the old paradigm of war and conflict with the paradigm of waging peace. He urged the students to be the pioneers in pushing the boundaries of human understanding—’a doctor to cure the virus of violence, a soldier of peace who can do more than preach to the choir and a the artist to make the world our master piece for peace.’ In another programme, Peace Channel organised a teachers training programme based on the theme “education for transformative life” at the Don Bosco Youth Centre in Wokha. The training event was organised to ‘capacitate teachers to impart education for a transformative life, to train them to equip with leadership skills and to have peaceful classroom environment in the institutions.’ Altogether seven teachers from four schools participated in the programme, it was informed. Speaking during the occasion, a member of the group, Garrol Lotha, explained how peace education can be incorporated in the educational system to bring about a ‘transforming life.’ She explained that peace education was the process of acquiring values, knowledge and developing the attitudes, skills, and behaviours to live in harmony with oneself, with others, and with the natural environment. A press release from the Peace Channel also informed that she spoke to the teachers about how peace education can be used to impart knowledge and prepare the youths to have a positive outlook in life. Further, the updates stated, Lotha spoke about the main objectives of ‘peace education’: Appreciating the concept of peace, addressing fears, understanding the nature of conflict, providing information for solution, developing inter-cultural understanding, and exploring potential for a future without violence. She spoke about the strategies that can be used to promote peace in times of conflicting situations, the updates stated. She encouraged the teachers to be a role model by building better rapport with students.