Wanted: 100 young messengers of peace

Malappuram: A project under the Vienna-based King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Interultural Dialogue (KAICIID) has started scouting for 100 students from the state for a six-month course on peace and conflict resolution. The students, primarily undergraduates, will be selected through orientation camps and aptitude tests at various institutions in the coming days.

The project, which was launched at the G20 Interfaith Summit held last week in Thiruvananthapuram, is meant to introduce the peace education in the state where the subject has got mere academic attention, said Dr Abbas Panakkal, the KAICIID fellow in Kerala. “The peace studies and conflict resolution is one of the less explored academic areas in Kerala. The objective of peace education and training programme is to equip students with essential ability and talent to be effective facilitators in inter-religious commitments and make them peace builders by fostering openness and develop a creative sense for interreligious understanding and actions,” Dr Panackal, who is also the project coordinator of the G20 Interfaith Summit, said.   

“Orientation camps and aptitude test will be conducted soon for the selection of students who are interested in peace studies.” The students have to send an intention letter and short bio to kaiciidpet@gmail.com as part of the selection procedure. The KAICIID, an intergovernmental organisation jointly established by Austria, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Vatican collaborating with UN agencies, will bear the travel and food expenses.