Sri Venkateshwar International School, Sector 18, Dwarka, hosted an Orientation workshop for Face to Faith for School Principals and Co-ordinators on 15th May, 2010. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s Face to Faith or F2F is a compelling educational programme that engages secondary students of different faiths across the world in learning directly with, from and about each other’s faith. By learning about those of differing social, cultural and religious perspectives, young people build their awareness of the role of faith in their life and in the lives of others. Face to Faith is designed to improve young people’s religious literacy, which is a vital skill in an increasingly complex, global society. Twenty well known schools from Delhi and NCR participated in the meet. The Chief Guest, Group Captain Ishwar Singh, Advisor to Venkateshwar Group of schools, Mr. Anupam Kishore Gakhar, an eminent educationist from GRG Consultants, Mr. Sailander Solanki, School Chairman, Mrs. Nita Arora, Principal and Ms. Simmi Kher, India Co-ordinator of Face To Faith programme, lit the lamp of knowledge to invoke the divine blessings. Ms. Simmi Kher made a multimedia presentation on the programme and also held a technical session where a demo video-conferencing with the Programme Moderator at USA, Ms. Linda
The school choir presented a song motivating everyone to join for the welfare of nation and mankind. Totally mesmerized by the musical performance Mr. Gakhar remarked, “The musicians weaved magic with their instruments and the composition was just amazing.” The delegates discussed a wide range of opinions, values and beliefs by video-conferencing with the people of other faiths across the globe, to investigate specific global issues and explore the reasons for similar and different views. They were also introduced to the modules of the programme which addressed a range of different curricula subjects including humanities, religious and cultural studies and social sciences. Mr. Gakhar expressed his views and said,” The programme was an introduction to a new approach to religious literacy. It ticked the mind towards a fresh thought process and was a rewarding experience.” Stimulating and engrossing the minds, the workshop, made the delegates think about the role of religion, in today’s world and engaged them in determining how an understanding about one’s faith can contribute and meet the challenges of the 21st century global society.
