Agencies, " School in sufi saint’s hometown signs up for ‘Face to Faith’ " - Daily Times - Lahore, PakistanWednesday, June 10, 2009
London, UK: 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.
[Picture from Face to Faith website. Visit Face to Faith at the Tony Blair Faith Foundation]
London, UK: 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.
[Picture from Face to Faith website. Visit Face to Faith at the Tony Blair Faith Foundation]
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