Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India: India is home to one of the largest youth populations in the world, with over
66% of its population (more than 808 million) being below the age of 35 and
every fifth person being an adolescent. Although
in India, young people are key to integrity, peace, health and sustainable development, many face several challenges that impact their well-being and condition their present and future opportunities. In the village of Mirzamurad, Varanasi, one of the most pressing challenges that youth face is limited access to quality education.
In Mirzamurad, young people are vulnerable to a broad range of social and economic issues due to inequality, digital and gender divides as well as limited economic opportunities. This makes them susceptible to risky behaviours or to becoming involved in exploitative situations. To address these challenges, UNODC Regional Office in South Asia has been supporting the Round Table Abhinav Vidyalaya (RTAV), a rural school in Mirzamurad, to build the capacities of rural educators and secondary-level students on SDGs, peace, crime prevention and integrity, using free-of-cost educational resources developed under
UNODC’s GRACE Initiative.
In December 2022, UNODC trained over 50 rural educators from across the state on using education to strengthen the socio-emotional resilience of students. “Education with experience can transform lives. It was helpful to know about the GRACE initiative, and how educational resources can be used in classroom activities to build integrity in students as a core value. Our engagement with UNODC over the last two years has been a story of impact. RTAV stands ready to be a hub such activities for students and educators from other rural areas as well,” said Ms. Jaya Shukla Tewari, Principal of the RTAV.
Discussions also focused on creating safe classrooms where students can learn, think and act in socially responsible ways to prevent crime, discrimination, risky behaviours, misinformation, gender inequality and drug use, among others. “With the GRACE initiative, teachers can act as lighthouses for young minds. Children today are faced with multiple negative influences and social risks. To protect and enable them to stay away from risky behaviours, it is important to nurture integrity in every student and educator. I found the session very useful, because it is necessary to promote education on social themes in the classrooms,” said Ms. Savita Tripathi, an educator.
An interactive session was also conducted with over 70 young students from the village to sensitize them on crime prevention, SDGs and integrity. Calling integrity a ‘superpower,’ students pledged to be ‘integrity guardians’ to build a safer, peaceful and inclusive future. Blue Heart badges, developed under
UNODC’s Blue Heart campaign against trafficking in persons, were also distributed among the students.