EDUCATING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: A TRAINING-OF-TRAINERS

WISCOMP conducted a two-day workshop titled Educating for Social Change on 28-29 August 2016 at New Delhi which brought together over 70 educators from various geographic regions in India that have experienced intense conflict as well as those from areas of “relative safety and security” to engage with issues of equity. The synergy between teacher educators and school teachers from India (particularly from Jammu & Kashmir) and from Peshawar (Pakistan), through the discussions helped in opening of minds on pedagogic practice and the transformative role that education needs to reflect. The focus was on a horizontal engagement with society in education as opposed to a vertical one in redefining social responsibility in education.

The screening of the film He Named Me Malala helped to highlight the challenge of providing equal educational opportunities to young girls especially in conflict areas in the face of forces of obscurantism and extremism. The discussion that followed foregrounded the role of education in countering violent extremism through the expansion of dialogue beyond the canvas of equity. It brought together a multiplicity of experiences for addressing diversity and non-violence within the school space.