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School in sufi saint’s hometown signs up for ‘Face to Faith’
LONDON: Nearly three hundred years after the sufi saint of Bhit
Shah unveiled his message of peace, tolerance and religious harmony,
a school from Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s hometown has signed up with
‘Face to Faith’, a project that aims to get schoolchildren of
different religions and countries talking to each other using the
latest in video-conferencing technology.
Backed by the former British prime minister’s Tony Blair Faith
Foundation, the project will involve more than 1,000 secondary
school students in Asia, Europe and North America who will discuss
their views on global affairs.
Among the participating schools is The City School in Bhit Shah. A
small town on the main national highway that links Karachi with
Peshawar, Bhit Shah’s claim to fame is the final resting place of
renowned sufi poet and mystic Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai.
Teachers said the issues they hoped to tackle varied from the need
to steer children away from militant influences in Pakistan to
preventing Islamophobia in British schools.
Head teacher Danish Jatoi said he wanted his students to understand
there were parts of the world where many people had no religion at
all. “The real problem is not fanaticism ... (but getting) to know
each other,” he said.
Other countries with schools taking part in the scheme are Lebanon,
Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, India and the United States.
Organisers hope schools in India and Pakistan could hook up via the
project in the coming months — and even Israeli and Palestinian
students.
Blair, who became a Roman Catholic in 2007 after stepping down as
prime minister of the UK, said in a statement: “It is only by
discussing different cultural and religious perspectives that young
people can build their awareness of the role of faith in today’s
world.”
Britain’s pilot school for the initiative, Westhoughton Technology
College in Bolton, northern England, has a broad mix of religions
and many non-practising or non-believing children. “The kids will
come up with phrases which generalise about all Muslims.
Islamophobia exists at our school but it exists at loads of schools
at a low level,” said the school’s religious education teacher, Jo
Malone. agencies
Daily Times: June 9, 2009
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