Practicing a culture of peace with school teachers!

Our facilitators -Ram Paudel and Sharada Sharma facilitated AVP workshops recently for all teachers from a local school called Little Steps. 24 teachers from diverse backgrounds (different caste, ethnicity, gender, age, and educational-economic-cultural background) participated in a staff retreat. A helper and school principal also joined the workshops.

The school management has a commitment to practice nonviolence both within the school and with the school community. They also want to use nonviolence education to build skills in learning from differences and to practice nonviolence in their classrooms.

The workshop was a combination of experience sharing, games, reflection, identification of core-self, and personal transformation. There was transforming power discussion and practice. It began with stopping/silence practice.   It continued with stories of violence and non-violence, Transforming Power, Red and Green messages, and so on.  We shared by writing letters, and creating folk songs and performing them together!

The teachers expressed that everyone had enjoyed the retreat, and felt that the learnings would be useful to implement in their personal lives and school situations. It has also provided opportunities to discuss their challenges and successes. This was the first time that all teachers came together to reflect and to find new ways to handle difficult situations. They expressed that experience-based learning techniques are effective for education.  The teachers requested that management continue to pay attention to this environment regularly so that the quality of their education will be improved.

At the end of the workshop, they formed a committee of three members to look closely/observe classroom and teaching practices, and to prepare plans for improvement.

They want to continue these types of workshops, and others that will provide more pedagogical training for teachers on a regular basis.

Sharada and I had a good opportunity to practice our own skills, and to learn from the teachers’ openness and boldness.