Global schools project to break down faith barriers

Boosting understanding between religions is the goal of a radical global education scheme Face to Faith, launched today by former Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The education programme, aims to engage secondary school students of different faiths across the world in learning directly with, from and about each other. Pakistan’s City School in Bhit Shah, Sindh, has been selected to be in the first wave of this exciting new project involving schools in 10 countries on four continents.

Launched by Tony Blair’s The Faith Foundation spanning Asia, North America, the Middle East and Europe, the idea behind the programme is to promote dialogue between young people from different faiths and backgrounds. "Religious literacy," it says is a "vital skill" in a globalised and multicultural society.“The Face to Faith programme provides students with a unique opportunity to interact across continents, to talk about their own faith, and learn more about other religions and cultures,” Mr Blair said today as he launched the project with an international video link-up between pupils from Bolton, Delhi and Bethlehem. “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,” he added "If you look round the different parts of the world and you look at conflicts, I would say a very large percentage of them have a religious dimension or a faith dimension to them," said Mr Blair at the launch in London."So to get young people at an early age to be comfortable with people of a different faith is extremely important."

Designed by an international group of education experts and piloted with more than 1,000 students on three continents, Face to Faith uses online forums and video conferencing to run discussions and debates between groups of 11 to 16-year-olds from different religions. It also contributes to the project component of the ‘Global Perspectives’ IGSCE from Cambridge Assessment as well as to a range of national RE, Humanities, Social Sciences and Citizenship qualifications and curricula.

Danish Jatoi, head teacher of The City School in Sindh has been an early pioneer of the programme. The school has Muslim, Hindu and Sikh students but its head teacher says the "real problem is not fanaticism", but the need for communities to get to know each other. And Mr Jatoi says his pupils have responded superbly. “The City School’s engagement in Face to Faith is indicative of the way in which Pakistan is increasingly embracing the concepts of a globalised world and the way in which people of different faiths must live within it. They have made a valuable contribution to the development of this programme,” he told local media.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children