Life Skills Education (LSE) in a Volatile Context for Promotion of Peace and Harmony: A Model from Gujarat, India

Abstract

Life Skills Education (LSE) is one of the most accepted preventive, promotional models for dealing with various challenges, and for reinforcing positive behaviour among children and adolescents. Use of LSE in after disasters is still limited, and LSE is mostly used to enhance resiliency among students in school as part of routine activities. The age group of 6–16 years is the ideal time for inculcating life skills, in various simulated situations by following participatory exercises, to facilitate experiential learning among the participants. The purpose of LSE activities is to help the students develop their internal psychosocial resources, and thus, to manage the situational demands in favour of the self. This chapter explains the use of life skills education for the promotion of communal harmony among students in the post-riot context of 2002. The communal rift in Gujarat had torn apart the basic social fabric and human relationships, deeply affecting the minds of the young and adolescent who were caught in the hostility, fear, mistrust, myths, stereotypes, prejudices, and the environment of hatred between the majority (Hindu) and minority (Muslim) communities. There were two prominent peace-building initiatives driven by the NGOs and other civil society organizations: ‘Aman Samudaya’ and ‘Gujarat harmony project’. Working with students in schools was a priority like any other disaster, as establishing normal routine of functioning was quite crucial. Similarly, reopening schools and getting the students back in a protective learning atmosphere was initiated. The students and their families, being the survivors of the communal rift, were suffering the psychological effect of the riots, along with multiple losses in the socio-economic sphere. The situation posed a major challenge for continuing with the regular functioning in the school and classroom. The students’ interactions were reflecting the hostile community relationships in the school. In this context, LSE was designed to work with ten identified Government-aided schools, located in the most communally-sensitive areas. It was also realized that a large number of students belonging to Muslim religious education system (Madarasa) were deprived of any psychosocial interventions though they were equal suffers of the situation. Thus, life skills education was also promoted in these religious schools. In both these interventions, model teachers were the key functionaries who were trained, and who worked with the students through designing a module on communal harmony promotion, and psychosocial resiliency building. This produced a major change in the interaction pattern and understanding among the students, which helped them to deal with prejudices and develop a perspective towards teh values of acceptance and pluralism.