Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, Seenlasht, Chitral, organized student activities to commemorate International Day of Peace on September 21, 2019. As a responsible seat of learning imparting educational excellence to the youth in the region, the school focuses both on academic and co-curricular activities.

The activities aim to prepare its students to compete with the challenges offered by the globalized society of today and to make them responsive to the challenges faced by modern society. In doing so, the focus of the school is to bring international dimensions, themes, and activities into the teaching and learning processes of the school by incorporating the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) of the United Nations with the syllabus and students learning outcomes.

These objectives are being met by organizing student activities in collaboration with the British Council’s International School Award initiative and in partnership with national and international Schools. Observance of International Peace Day was one of the 21 such activities the school plans to perform during the academic year 2019.

The Day was observed after 2^nd break where students participated in different creative activities to commemorate the world peace day. The guest speaker was Mr. Qazi Salamt, religious Scholar from Chitral and the chief guest was Mr. Sherdoom, manger ITREB lower Chitral and attended by other guests.

Specific activities included Observance of “Minute of Silence”, Presentation by students on the “Charter of Madina”- the earliest document on peace presented 1400 years ago by the Prophet of Islam Muhammad (PBUH), student’s talk show on the topic, “Peace Education through Pakistan Studies”, student research presentation on “Noble Peace Prize”, and student’s sketch making competition on Noble Peace laureates.

The MoC shedding light on the importance of the day linked it with the theme of the Day for 2019 and said that “Climate Action”-the theme of this year, and campaign for the protection of the environment is in the priority list of the school. “The activities of the school including cleanliness campaign, plantation drive, observance of World Environment Day and World Wild Life Day to name a few, observed by the school this year by involving government departments, civil society and partner school is a witness of the school’s international commitment towards achieving the SDG’s of the UN”, added the comparer.

A faculty member of the School, Mukhtar Ali shared the objectives of the program. The guest speaker explored the notion of peace as propounded in the Quran and in the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He said that “Quran is actually promoting peace by discouraging enmities, fostering fair relations and unity through its various verses”. He shared that the notion of peace has been referred to in the Quran as a “blessing-Rahma”, and students should refer back to the holy Quran if they wish to know the philosophy of Peace.

The chief guest said that to bring peace in the society, the students should focus on their self-transformation and become responsible citizens at the first place and work towards the elimination of all sort of injustice and prejudice, which will result in the permeation of peace in the society. He invited the students to explore the three words, Islam, Musalman and Salam-the three words signifying the faith, its subscribers and their method of interaction-all referring to various dimensions of the notion of peace.

The venue of the program was decorated with students artworks depicting the theme of the day and various SDG’s of the UN. The school is planning to share these activities with a foreign school through the partnership mechanism as envisioned in the British Council’s International School Award initiative.

The program concluded with the words of thanks by the principal of the School Mr. Tufail Nawaz.

To protect school children from natural disasters and other insecurities, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) convened government education departments, academia, district disaster management authorities and the media in Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab.

Mr. Hafiz Noorullah, Education Development Officer, Chitral, said on a radio talk show:

“A lack of awareness and knowledge makes the disaster happen. So there is a need to have more and more information sharing through different media platforms and involvement of young people in interactive discussions to sensitize them on the topics of safety and security.”

Mr. Nawab Ali Khan, Chief Executive Officer, AKAH Pakistan said:

“In the 2005 earthquake, Pakistan lost around 20,000 children due to vulnerable structures and lack of awareness and preparedness, which cannot be repeated. We need our schools to be resilient and better prepared
for similar situations. We are thankful to our public and private-sector partners for joining hands with us to achieve this objective.”

For the last 20 years, AKAH has been designing and implementing programmes on Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation in some of Pakistan’s most vulnerable areas. More than 1,000 schools in disaster-prone areas have benefitted from the development of hazard and risk maps, school safety plans, provision of school safety kits, and awareness raising and capacity building of individuals.

School-level awareness raising sessions have been part of the work of the Aga Khan Agency since the Islamabad Conference on School Safety held in 2008. AKAH’s School Safety Programme will contribute towards the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s one million safe schools and hospitals global campaign, and contribute towards the achievement of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and the practical implementation of the Pakistan School Safety Framework.

For further information, please contact:
[email protected]

NOTES:
The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH), which merges the capabilities of Focus Humanitarian Assistance, the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, and the Aga Khan Development Network’s Disaster Risk Management Initiative focuses on preparing for both sudden and slow-onset disasters. AKAH works to ensure that people live in physical settings that are as safe as possible from the effects of natural disasters; that residents who do live in high- risk areas are able to cope with disasters in terms of preparedness and response; and that these settings provide access to social and financial services that lead to greater opportunity and a
better quality of life. Initially, priority areas of AKAH will include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and India.

Read more about the agency at: http://www.akdn.org/our-agencies/aga-khan-agency-habitat