WORLD ASSOCIATION FOR THE SCHOOL AS AN INSTRUMENT OF PEACE (EIP) INDIA

(Association mondiale pour I’Ecole Instrument de Paix (EIP)

C/o INDIAN INSTITUTE FOR PEACE, DISARMAMENT & ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

537, Sakkardara Road, Nagpur – 440009 Ind

Tel: 91-712-2745806 Fax: 91-712-2743664

Email: iipdep_ngp@sancharnet.in

Reports of the 4th National Training Session

19^th -21^st January 2007(Nagpur) India

Conducted in English & Hindi

Organized by EIP India &

EIP, Geneva International

EIP India with help from EIP international organized 4th National Training session on Human Rights & Peace Education from 19^th to 21^st January 2007 at Nagpur. 80 participants mostly teachers and some NGOs from all parts of India attended the seminar.

On 19^th January 2007, Inauguration was started at 9.30 A. M. with introduction of participants to each other in a unique way of EIP.

For Inauguration , chief guest was Honorable Justice C. L. Thool, Chairperson Maharashtra Human Rights Commission. Guest of Honors were Mr. N. M. Ahmed, Judicial Member , State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission and Mr. Sahebrao Raut , Additional Commissioner of Nagpur Municipal Corporation.

Hon. Justice C.L. Thool, Speaking at Inauguration, Mr. Sahebrao Raut, Justice N. M. Ahmed, Dr. Nalini Kurvey sitting.

The training session was inaugurated with lighting lamp in a traditional way. Balkrishna Kurvey conducted the inaugural session. After brief introduction of dignitaries and formal inauguration of training session, Honorable guests enlightened the participants on the topic, Human Rights education.

Dr. Nalini Kurvey gave information about working of EIP. She said, these national training sessions are carried out on the guidelines of EIP International.

In detail she described the objectives of these training sessions, teachers and schools are the biggest and strong media to spread the human rights values in children, who will be future citizens. In this way we can educate new generation having Human rights values and right attitude. As these training sessions are participatory, she asked the participants to take active part in all activities so that they can get fully involved in the process of learning.

Dr. Nalini Kurvey in her introductory Speech

Mr. Sahebrao Raut, Deputy Commissioner of Nagpur Municipal Commission, who is also incharge of Municipal Education Department, talked on this occasion. He said the whole concept of teaching Human rights to students in the school is very laudable. , for that purpose, teachers as a mode of transformation of information and inculcating Human Rights values in children is appropriate. One teacher can make the whole class of students aware of these values. In this way whole new generation, including all children, whether strong or weak and able bodied as well as disabled, children from city and rural area can be incorporated through such projects. Government is running such projects, which is “Education for All”.

With the help of teachers he deputed for this training session, Mr. Sahebrao Raut expressed his idea of implementing such Human rights training project for ( 2000 ) two thousand teachers of Nagpur Municipal Corporation. Likewise Women’s small saving groups can be trained in such way..

Being deputy commissioner for Nagpur Municipal Corporation, he told the participant that Nagpur is now developing city, the participants from all over India should take good impressions and memories of this beautiful city.

Mr. N. M. Ahmed, Judicial Member , State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission , Nagpur ; said to the participants, as they are teachers, it is always that they are teaching and students are at receiving end. But in this training session, teachers are at receiving end and therefore should behave like good students. As good students become good teachers and they produce good citizens.

Later on he dwelt on Human Rights concept. Earlier it was rule of king, one person used to govern all things and that was the rule of sword.

He said, Human rights were asserted on globe in 12^th century by British people. King John made some rights and rules for the benefit of people, which is the first document in the world as Magnacarta.

Then there was French revolution in 17^th century, which was peaceful revolution and had basis of Human rights. And those are- Liberty, Fraternity & equality.

Then came the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, which had given dignity of labour. It was based on Marx’s theory.

In 1948, Charter of Declaration of Human rights was formed by UN to which India was partner. It has civil, social, political rights in compact form.

In 1994, human rights act was passed in Indian parliament.

Human rights are for us as we are human being. And we have got this special power of rational thinking, which gives us superiority over other animals. Human rights are not defined as such but act of human right gives us the mechanism to lead a dignified life.

Functioning of Human right commission is concrete. And our rights are covered under act. There are six rights in our constitution. Out of these Right to life is most important.

There are functioning bodies.

Law is made in the parliament.

Its protection is done by Police.

It is kept in balance by court.

Justice Ahmed said, in democracy nobody is supreme. There is always check and balance.

Honorable Justice C. L. Thool, Chairperson Maharashtra Human Rights Commission, addressed the participants of 4^th National training session. He said, though teachers are neglected in society, development of nation is assessed on the teachers. Teachers are most important factor of nation than industrialists. India has its own culture, our Vedas, shastras had given us ways to lead life. Our social workers and saints in different ages worked for development of society from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Kolkata to Mumbai. They were teachers of the society.

He cited the example of sati –pratha, which was denying of natural right of life of woman. This was abolished by making law. The lead was taken by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

Natural rights are fundamental rights and are entitled to us from birth, and those are non-transferable.

As a Human being all are equal, there is no discrimination.

Right to life for man and woman are equal and though there is no definition of Human rights, those rights are- life, liberty, equality and dignity.

In 1942, 2^nd world war finished and globally millions of people were dead. After which official document of Declaration of Human rights was formed by UN in 1948 on 10^th December. All the countries decided to integrate those human rights in their constitution.

In our constitution, human rights are incorporated as fundamental rights, which gives us the rights of life, equality, liberty and dignity. Even environment protection and healthcare, education are fundamental rights and are enforceable through law and different conventions. Protection of these rights of the people is the responsibility of state. For that Directive principals are given for the states to protect these rights. If state fails in its responsibility, Human rights commission can take the action.

State or any persons dealing with it or public servant, If fails in their duties, thatis violation of human rights and human rights commission can be approached for redress.

In our country, 80% populating is below poverty line. Social justice should be given to people but society is weak financially. Therefore social justice should be getting at the doorstep of common people. By writing simple application to HR Commission and it is taken as petition on which cognigence is taken

Lastly he informed about the violations of Human rights done by government in healthcare and police department. Also education institutes and women’s rights violations are on large scale. Not only Right to life, liberty and dignity but right to education, health should pass to common people and it is the duty of teachers, media, NGOs to make awareness in people of city as well as villages. He informed to the participants that HR Commission has requested the Government of Maharashtra to introduce Hr subject from middle school to LLM.

After Tea break Justice Thool, explained the participant teachers about the role of teachers I teaching Human rights in children. He also answered the queries of the participants regarding working of Human rights and how one can protect his / her own human Rights. With examples in which Human rights commission has given justice to the common people, he highlighted the important role played by human rights commission. In getting the job to eligible person to get proper health services to common people, he cited many examples.

2^nd session- Dr. Balkrishna Kurvey talked on Declaration of human rights. Pictures say a lot than words. With the help of pictures he made the participants aware of Human rights, which are given by declaration of human rights. One by one he explained in simple language the meaning of these rights with citing suitable examples. From atrocities in the 2^nd world war to modern racial discrimination, he explained all rights.

Next speaker, Mr. Naresh Bansod talked on the consumer rights. Because of the ignorance, people do not know about the rights as consumer and are taken advantage. He asked the participants to read all the details on the product and understand those completely. Also one should save the bills, so that in cases of malpractice by the provider, consumer can make the complaints to proper agencies and get adequate remuneration.

After tea break, Workshop was conducted on

Workshop 1

Which Human Rights are followed and which are violated in society/

Being a part of society, what you can do?

Participants at Workshop

2^nd day

The day was started with recap of the activities conducted on 1^st day. Participants were invited to give the brief reporting of first training session and some of them commented on the 1^st days elaborations.

1^st session on the 2^nd day was started with Dr. K. M Bhandarkars’s deliberation on Modules of Human Rights Teaching . With the help of his sketches and drawings and with examples from old mythologies, he gave the participants in depth knowledge about purpose of teaching Human rights to the school, children.

Step by step, he guided the participants, how Human rights can be taught to the students and why every stage is important. His speech was very well studied and well documented.

Dr. Varsha Deshmukh, talked about Human Rights in Indian constitution, case studies. With the help of cases in Indian context, she explained, how some decisions were given by Judiciary for the protection of Human Rights of people. With various examples, she made the participants aware that people are entitled to get their human rights. If those rights are violated by any agency, including government, judiciary compels the agency to retrieve the grievances and protect human rights of the people. It is the duty of the nation to protect human rights of their citizens and if these are violated, there judiciary to rectify it.

Mr. Virag Pachpore, Sub-Editor, Hitwada, largest selling daily newspaper from central India was the chairperson, and he talked about the role of media in creating awareness about Human rights in public and how media can highlight the Human right issue and how because of public opinion, Human rights get protected.

Adv. Anniruddha Deshpande and Mr. Rajkishor Parieek chaired this session.

After lunch break, 2^nd session for the day was started with Convention on Rights of Child.

Dr. K. Shete, was the speaker. He talked on the necessity of having convention on rights of child as a separate convention. As the children are vulnerable physically and mentally, they need some more rights for their protection. These rights are provided under this convention and almost all countries except very few had accepted and ratified those conventions.

He said there are fifty four rights, which are grouped in four sets. The child gets the rights of survival from the mother’s womb, so there are government programs to protect the unborn child also, like prevention of sex determination act, provision for nutritious meals to pregnant women and provision of iron and multivitamins etc.

Protection- children are protected from harmful acts, sexual abuse, drug trafficking. Even physical punishment in schools is not allowed. Parents are obliged to take care of their children, if not possible, government agencies take care of the children.

Provision is made to all round development of the children including Social and cultural development. Children should be nurtured in their own cultural environment and tribal customs are protected for the future of the children.

Participation- Children are allowed to take part in decision making at least those decisions which are related to their issues, like choice if higher education, way of living etc.

In the last he asked the participants to take all these child right in consideration which teaching in classrooms. No child should be deprived of his / her rights and at the same time children should be made aware if their duties, and should have discipline in their behavior.

Workshop was conducted after this.

With the help of Innovative modules of teaching, how child friendly school can work, was the subject for this workshop. Participants were divided in groups and asked to work by methods of drama, sketches, pasting with colored papers and writing methods.

These way participants could know the various modules of teaching any subject as well as they were made aware of the child friendly school. They were made to introspect and think which best environment is for their pupils and what measures they have to take to improve their daily teaching.

3^rd day- started with recap from 2^nd day’s deliberations and workshops. Participants could revise and add new ideas about the workshops.

It was followed by participant’s views and ideas and projects run by participants in their respective places of working. Very innovative ideas were shared by the participants. One participant came out with the idea of inculcating the Human rights and peace education through spirituality. As spirituality gives the holistic approach towards learning and accepting anything, it is good idea to include spiritualism while teaching Human rights, so that seeds of peace and spiritual culture are imbibed in the minds of small children.

One participant showed the practical ways of teaching to the students from the beginning. In their school the children are taken to the field visits whenever possible. For example for teaching the ways of religious education, children are taken to temple, churches, and mosques so that students can understand the different ways of religious practice.

For teaching about aquatic animals students are taken to ponds and study the life cycle of fish etc. This was new to many participants and they appreciated the efforts and could use at their places whenever possible.

One participant came with the idea that there should be universal education system so that children from all strata should get equal education opportunities.

Dr. Kishor Mahabal conducted the session on Human Rights Literacy. With the examples of stories he made the participants aware of the violations of human rights in day to day activities. Women and children are often not given much importance in decision making, which deprives the rights of that section of society.

He explained the ways to show empathy to the underprivilaged section of society, so that they can be brought up to the equal platform in society.

He involved the participants in his session, which made them understand the meaning of Human rights and how one should behave with fellow human being.

Advocate Anand Giradkar talked about the right to information. He told the participants that because of this act, people will have access to information in the governing process and that wil bring transparency in the working of administration. People will benefit and get their rights.

After lunch break- concluding session was started. Nalini Kurvey made the concluding address. In her concluding address, she appreciated the participation of the delegates. She asked them to carry out activities to promote Human rights ideas, which should spread in general public as well as at school level. She asked them to keep three key words to keep in mind, Human Rights, Duties and Life with Dignity. As a Human being every human being have human rights, every human being has to perform duties towards fellow citizens as well as towards nation, and these rights and duties are a to be followed to lead the dignified life as a human being.

She asked the teachers to inculcate Human rights values in children, as teachers are the role models for the pupils. And they are responsible for nurturing the values in the tender ages of children, so that these children can become future good citizens.

She promised the participants to organize whatever activities are suitable for the Spread of human rights education and willingness to help in such activities through EIP India.

Participants at National Training Session

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