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Why
does CMS organise Internatinal Conference of Chief Justices
of the World ? |
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In order to appreciate reply to the above question, it is necessary to first understand the philosophy, vision and mission of CMS. Being the world’s only school to receive the '2002 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education' and recipient of the '2004 Nuclear-Free Future Special Achievement Award' and the 'World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the child' and listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest school by pupils with a current enrollment of over 30,000 students, CMS sees itself as the self-appointed guardian of the rights and welfare of the world’s children and generations yet-to-be-born.
CMS — A SCHOOL
LIKE NO OTHER
The Press Release issued by UNESCO (see the box on the
right) dated 6th June 2002, throws some light on the
philosophy, vision and mission of CMS. |
| HOW
THE WORLD TREATS CHILDREN
An excruciating paradox of modern times is the
unprecedented prosperity we are witnessing amidst
scenes of inhuman poverty and disease. A look
at the hair-raising data given on the inside
of the front cover of this brochure is sufficient
to show the inhuman treatment being given to
the world’s children — 40,000 of
whom die everyday from malnutrition and vaccine-preventable
diseases.
Now a new, more deadly threat to the safety
and security of children all over the world
has emerged in the form of international terrorism—particularly
in view of the reported attempts of terrorist
groups to obtain some of the over 36,000 strong
nuclear stockpile of warheads and the threat
of a third world war intensified by the fear
psychosis. Countries are spending precious resources
on arms and armaments even as their citizens
suffer from lack of clean drinking water and
health benefits.
SCHOOL IS THE
LIGHTHOUSE OF SOCIETY
CMS believes that ‘School is a building
with four walls with tomorrow inside’
and the ‘destiny of a man is shaped in
the classroom’. CMS, therefore, upholds
that school must act as the lighthouse of society—to
provide a meaningful education, spiritual direction
and leadership to students, parents and society
— and that a modern school must be concerned
with the affairs of the age. Hence, this is
a CMS initiative on behalf of the world’s
children.
EDUCATION — A POWERFUL
INSTRUMENT OF SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
CMS believes that at certain moments
in history education |
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THE
CITY MONTESSORI SCHOOL (INDIA)
AWARDED THE 2002 UNESCO PRIZE FOR
PEACE EDUCATION |
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Paris,
June 6 - UNESCO Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura awarded the
UNESCO Prize for Peace Education
to the City Montessori School (India)
on June 5 following its recommendation
by the prize's international jury.
Meeting on June 3 and 4 at Organization
Headquarters, the jury commended
the school "in recognition
of its efforts to promote the universal
values of education for peace and
tolerance and to renew the principles
of secularism at a time when these
values and principles are increasingly
being challenged."
The City Montessori School (CMS),
founded in 1959 in Lucknow in the
state of Uttar Pradesh, is not a
school like any other. It is distinctive
not only for its size -- with 25,000
pupils from kindergarten up to high
school level, it figures in the
Guinness Book of Records as the
biggest private school in the world
-- or the quality of its teaching.
Its students systematically score
higher on exams than the national
average. More than anything it stands
out because of it its philosophy:
For more than 40 years it has educated
students to respect the values of
tolerance and peace and sought to
make them citizens of the world.
The school's founders, Jagdish and
Bharti Gandhi, inspired by the non-violence
of Mahatma Gandhi, founded their
school on four fundamental principles:
universal values, excellence, global
understanding, and service to the
community. Students, for example,
give literacy classes in neighbouring
villages, as well as teaching health
and hygiene.
The school aims to give pupils the
skills permitting them to face the
complex problems of the world today,
by displaying trust for each child,
by developing their sense of responsibility,
by the theoretical and practical
teaching of moral values, and by
opening their eyes to other religions
and cultures.
The recognition given to the importance
of the family is one of the characteristics
of the CMS. The school sensitizes
parents by giving them books on
their educational influence and
involving them closely in the life
of the school. And the teachers
benefit from continued training
in the main principles of the school,
as well as in child development,
psychology and sociology. Each child
has a mentor who engages in a personal
relationship with his or her charge's
family.
Another characteristic of the City
Montessori School is the emphasis
it places on educational research.
Its Innovation Wing employs 25 people
who identify and bring in the best
educational theories and practices
from whatever country, sourcing
techniques from the Montessori method,
robotics, tutorial systems or management
practices.
The US$30,000,UNESCO Prize for Peace
Education has been awarded since
1981 to promote initiatives that
seek to improve public awareness
and to mobilize opinion in favour
of peace. Funding for the Prize
is provided though a donation from
the Nippon Foundation. In 2001,
the Prize was given to the Jewish-Arab
Center for Peace in Givat Haviva
in Israel and to Ugandan Bishop
Nelson Onono-Onweng. Previous prize-winners
include: the Mothers of the Plaza
de Mayo (Argentina), Prayudh Payutto
(Thailand), Mother Teresa (India),
Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Guatemala),
and Paulo Freire (Brazil).
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The
time and venue of the prize-giving
ceremony will be decided later.
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must
also act as a powerful instrument of profound social
transformation and that such a moment has now arrived.
CMS believes that education is a continuous and creative
process. Its aim is to develop the capacities latent
in human nature and to coordinate their expression for
the enrichment and progress of society by equipping
children with spiritual, moral and material knowledge.
PURPOSE OF TODAY’S
EDUCATION — REDEMPTION OF MANKIND FROM ITS GODLESSNESS
CMS believes that the main reason for the weakening
of the social fabric and the spreading of global unrest
is the meaninglessness of education which has filled
the mind of man with godlessness, ignorance, confusion
and conflict. Therefore, we believe that the purpose
of today’s education should be the redemption
of mankind from (i) its godlessness, (ii) its ignorance,
(iii) its confusion, and (iv) its conflict. CMS also
believes that human beings have three realities, that
is, (i) material (ii) human and (iii) divine. Only a
balanced development of all the three realities of life
can make an individual a total quality person and a
useful member of society.
LET US MAKE EVERY CHILD
GOOD AND SMART
CMS believes that every child is potentially the light
of the world but at the same time the cause of its darkness.
Therefore the question of meaningful education must
be accounted as of primary importance. CMS believes
that now the time has arrived when we must try to make
every child both good and smart, a gift of God to mankind,
the pride of the human race and a light of the world.
TRUE EDUCATION RELEASES
CAPACITIES
CMS also upholds that true education releases capacities,
develops analytical abilities, confidence in oneself,
will-power and goal setting competencies and instills
the vision that enables one to become a self-motivated
agent of social change, serving the best interests of
the community.
EDUCATION — THE GREATEST
SERVICE TO GOD
CMS believes that among the greatest of all the great
services that can possibly be rendered by man to Almighty
God is the education of children, building their character,
and inculcating in their tender hearts the love of God.
CMS teaches its students — ‘do not busy
yourself only in your concerns, but let you thoughts
be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes
of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men.’
CMS IS TRYING TO ACHIEVE
THE GOAL OF ‘VASUDHAIV KUTUMBAKAM’
(The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens)
CMS was established 45 years ago, in 1959, with the
vision of making children spiritually aware and of implanting
in their tender hearts the ideas of world unity and
world peace based on the ancient Indian philosophy of
Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam, that is, the Earth is but one
country and mankind its citizens. Therefore, for the
School's motto, the founders, Mr and Mrs Gandhi, selected
the words ‘Jai Jagat’ (Do good to the whole
world) which was coined by Mahatma Gandhi and propounded
by his disciple Saint Vinoba Bhave. Consequently, CMS
strives to teach every student the lofty ideals of the
oneness of God, unity of humankind, universal brotherhood,
world unity and world peace, in addition to the teaching
of the prescribed school syllabus.
PEOPLE OF LUCKNOW HAVE
APPRECIATED THE VISION OF CMS
The people of Lucknow have so greatly appreciated the
CMS philosophy of ‘Jai Jagat’ and the school’s
globalism-oriented approach to education that their
support helped CMS grow in strength from only five students
in 1959 to over 30,000 students presently on roll, and
is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records
as the world's largest school in a single city.
CMS IS A DISTINCTIVE SCHOOL
CMS is a distinctive school where the first period of
30 minutes is solely devoted to morning prayers and
in which prayers of all religions are said on a common
platform. Its moral education books contain teachings
from all major religions of the world and the children
are taught universal values of oneness of God, unity
of religions and oneness of humankind. CMS organises
16 international events every year for students of primary
to higher secondary levels to provide international
exposure to them so that they develop an international
perspective and a global vision and become active agents
of social transformation, promoting world unity and
world peace.
A MODERN SCHOOL MUST CONCERN
ITSELF WITH THE AFFAIRS OF THE AGE
In this age of globalization, no person or society can
live in isolation. Events in various parts of the world
affect their life, even if such events like war or low
intensity conflicts or environmental degradation, take
place in far off areas or countries. For example, deforestation
in a country is bound to affect not only the climate
of a neighbouring country, but may also disturb the
environmental balance of the world, resulting in climatic
changes and adversely affecting rainfall. Besides, since
the economies of various countries are interdependent,
especially in view of quick means of transportation
and even quicker means of communication, every person
is affected by events like wars, conflicts and acts
of terrorism.... |
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