I learnt not to discriminate

SAHANA’S life revolves around college, home and dance class, in that order. Plus the 20-year-old loves attending meetings and workshops that further her knowledge - where she “can grow”.

It was this quest for self development that prompted the third year B.Com student to sign up for CMCA’s Diversity & Social Justice workshop listed on the Mount Carmel College website.

The most memorable part for this Bengaluru native was one of the activities in the session. She recalls: “We were asked to sit down, others were asked to sit up on the benches. That gave us a very awkward feeling, then we were asked about the experience. Though it is not our real life, we could relate to people going through that. That was a very magical moment.”

This particular activity is designed to nudge students to think about caste, class or any other manifestations of inequality and how discrimination of any kind could make one feel.

It is one of several two-hour workshops we offer young adults covering themes of citizenship and life skills.

We believe that students imbibe the lessons better when the methods of learning are non-preachy, interactive and experiential, as Sahana has endorsed.

In 2022-23, we have conducted workshops in 60+ colleges in Karnataka and Maharashtra involving more than 2,500 students.

Their value is evident from what students themselves say.

“It helped to freely air my opinion in a friendly atmosphere and frame my opinion, ” said Nuthan R, doing his 1st B.Com at Christ University after a workshop on Social Scientific Temper. His classmate Vikas V.P. added: “This was my best seminar. We received good information about fake news, the four w’s [who, what, where, whether], rights and duties.”

Second-year Arts student Chayadevi said: “Through this class, I learnt that we should not discriminate, and treat and think about everyone equally. Also learnt to apply equality principles to all kinds of jobs,” after attending the Equality & Gender workshop at the Government Girls PU College, Hoskote.

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