Peace Education for Intra & Inter-faith Youth

We live in a country where religious dimensions of the conflict have attracted a lot of attention and the reason is cultural and religious diversity and extremism. We live in one of the most culturally diverse regions where we have different languages and ethnic surroundings but over the past several years a rise has been observed in fundamentalism. This has ultimately resulted in increased religious discrimination and intolerance among youth. This extremism has also affected the education system. The means of education in our country are Madrassas, Government and Private Schools and there are more children studying in the schools than Madrassas. The teachers, who are the products of the system, are just limited to the books only. With few noble exceptions, they make their students swallow hook, without even moderating the ideas conveyed. There is a need to initiate value education programs/peace education in institutions to cultivate essential values in the students so that the civilization that teaches us to manage complexities can be sustained and further developed. Once, we understand our values in life, we can examine and control the various choices we make in our lives. It is our duty to uphold the various types of values in life such as cultural, universal, personal and social values. Thus, value education/peace education is always essential to shape a human life and to give him/her an opportunity of performing on the global stage.