The cross-border youth group Aaghaz-e-Dosti recently held its 9th “Indo-Pak Classroom Connect” recently, virtually bringing together students from Gujarat Public School, Vadodara, Gujarat, India, and SMB Fatima Jinnah Government Girls’ School, Karachi, Pakistan. Interacting with each other over large video screens, the students shared folk dances, with the Karachi students presenting a Sindhi dance to the popular folk song “Lathe di Chadar”. The Gujarat students did a garba.
The Indo-Pak Classroom Connect sessions are part of Aaghaz-e-Dosti’s peace education activities that aim to connect two classrooms through video conferencing and initiate informal dialogue between the students. The citizen diplomacy youth group conducts peace education activities in schools and colleges across India and Pakistan. These sessions help students to get to know each other, explore everyday life and culture, bond over the similarities and learn from each other’s uniqueness. These exchanges help to dispel popular stereotypes that arise from misinformation and the lack of interaction between the people of both countries, due to ongoing visa restrictions that prevent people-to-people contact and inhibit peace-building.
Indo-Pak classroom connect sessions have witnessed students bonding over similar food culture, singing songs together, reciting peace poems, celebrating birthday of a student by cutting a cake on both sides.
This report is based on inputs from Abhilasha Agrawal, Director of Gujarat Public School, who has a special interest in cross-border women’s sports.
Schools or colleges wishing to participate in the “Indo-Pak Classroom Connect” programme are welcome to email [email protected] or [email protected]
