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After testing the Ethics Education for Children resource kit inSweden,ColombiaandSwitzerland, it was now the turn forIndiato test the kit. The testing took place from 2 to 5 August inCoimbatore,India, and brought together 50 children and young persons.

The South Asia workshop to test the Ethics Education for Children resource kit by the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children was held in Coimbatore, India from 2 to 5 August 2006. GNRC South Asia brought together fifty children and young persons from different religious backgrounds and nationalities to test the resource kit currently under development.

The children and young persons from Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Jordan and Lebanon took part in the three day workshop, and addressed the ethical principles of respect, reconciliation, empathy and responsibility.

On the first day, the children and young persons were introduced to the concept of respect. The second day saw the issues around the principle of empathy and reconciliation being tackled with the children and the young persons.

It was during the ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’ that children and young persons practically learnt about the principle of empathy. They were taken through pilgrimage where they visited a Gurudwara, then proceeded to a Jain temple and then visited a local mosque.

The children and young adults finally visited a church to complete the pilgrimage of peace. In the pilgrimage, the teenagers experienced the harmony, brotherhood, peace and relaxation in all these religious places.

On the third day, the principles of responsibility and reconciliation were addressed by the teenagers.

On the fourth day around 700 children and adults joined the participants for the Coimbatore Peace Festival to commemorate the Hiroshima Memorial Day.

Among the persons who attended the workshop were Committee Members of the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children Swami Agnivesh and Dr. Kezevino Aram.

Ms. Agneta Ucko, the Secretary General of the Council also attended the workshop. Also in attendance were the GNRC Coordinator for Central Asia and the Caucusus Razia Ismail Abbasi and Aruna Jayasena, representing GNRC Coordinator for South Asia Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne.

They were joined by guests who included Shri. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman of the Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Bishop William Moses, the Former Moderator of the Church of South India, Father Albert Parambil from World Fellowship of Religions, Mrs. Minoti Aram, President Shanti Ashram and the local heads of religious communities.  

The children and young persons came from Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist and Christian faith traditions. The India workshop which was held at the Shanti Ashram, was the fourth of a series of Interfaith Ethics Education workshops aimed at refining the global-scale ethics education for children document.

The initiative is taken by the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children. Previous workshops to test the Ethics Education for Children resource kit have been held in Sweden, Colombia and Switzerland.