NESNIM’s

message of peace

Hundreds of youth from different Northeastern states got together at Agartala recently during the three day North-Eastern Students’ National Integration Movement (NESNIM) programme to spread the message of peace and harmony in the region.

The theme of the programme was, ‘Together towards tomorrow for peace’ and the programme was organized by the Father’s of Holy Cross and was initiated with the idea that peace and harmony could be achieved by bringing together youth representatives from various ethnic, religious groups in the region which in the past have been hostile towards each other, for a live-in educational experience and exposure in an atmosphere of cordiality.

Interactive classes, workshops, sports activities, cultural activities and a Peace March were organized during the programme in which more than 2000 youth participated.

The educational approach during the workshop offered insights and guidance in a wide variety of situations that involve religious, ethnic, and civil conflicts and is based in ethical and moral values and has broad implications for the societies.

“NESNIM has been designed for peace education in multi-ethnic and multi-religious settings utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative improvement in the mindset of the youth,” said Joe Paul, the Chief Co-ordinator of NESNIM. According to the organisers, NESNIM has been effective to a large extent as a peace education programme and helps to break down prejudices between various ethnic groups. They argue that Peace Education is a concern of every person and organization interested in the future of humanity and NESNIM is one of the successful models of Peace Education in a pluralistic setting of the North East region.

Other than from the North East, a few representatives from the United States of America also participated in the programme.