Demystifying Intolerance and Promoting Peace

- A guest post by Mrs. Bindu Sharma

Intolerance and anger pose many problems rather than giving solutions. At times, there is a possibility of unethically stigmatizing people whom we think as our rivals due to the apparent customs, caste, race, language, religion, the way they dress, etc., which may take the form of intolerance. The diversity across the globe in terms of traditions, religions, languages, cultures and ethnicities should be a treasure that enriches us all rather than be a ground for struggle or conflict. 

In order to fight intolerance, individuals should become aware of the link between their behaviour and the vicious cycle of mistrust and violence in society. As these ideas are rooted in the child at a premature age or early childhood, the main areas of concern should be to teach children about open-mindedness, curiosity, tolerance, justice, rights and ways to lead a life of high morals in their early years.

In this modern age, there is a need to understand that problems are global, but they can be solved at the grass root level itself. It is us who need to take the initiative to act alone. Parents and the teaching fraternity need to be equipped with tools to counter the presence of abusive behaviour towards any students, which may further contribute to an enhancement of violence and intolerance in schools. Hence, the necessity to be a part of the solution and not the problem.

Why practical knowledge is important for students?

-          A guest post by Ms Keya Sen

When an engineer says, “I am building a bridge”, the expression not merely focuses on the fact that she is creating something, but also talks about her way of expressing her knowledge through practical application. She is exercising what she learnt through books in a real-world scenario. No matter how many tests she might have given or how many assignments she may have aced, what mattered at that moment is how accurately she could apply her learning of so many years. Here arises the question of practical knowledge.

A person who is able to experience things not just gets a hands-on understanding of the subject, but also learns in a faster and easier manner. The same theory applies to students.

A child’s personal mode of learning is in fact through experiencing what is happening and recognising things through practical approach. This makes the child enhance her speculative knowledge and she is able to judge in accordance to the facts.

The child’s practical knowledge paves the way of knowing about things. For example, the teacher may say, if one is building a bridge out of concrete and steel one should use such-and-such a formula to measure the load, she can produce a technical drawing, and she can show a student how to calculate the depth of the foundation. But what would really come handy is to actually let the student work on a model of a bridge, to let her build one from scratch, so that she is able to apply the theory into practice.

So, be it building bridges or making a documentary film, a student should be given the opportunity to explore and gain knowledge, acquired through training, practice, learning facts, and so forth.

Ms Keya Sen is our Senior School Coordinator (Academics).