ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 03

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 75

B.5.4
Application of Ahimsă in High Schools for increased wellness therein
Shugan C. Jain
We all hear an alarming growth in violence with children going to school with guns and using the same for trivial matters like bullying, feeling left out or ignored growing? Those who go to school are always scared and lot of parents shy away from sending their children to school. This is more so in inner city schools where broken families, poverty, lack of facilities to provide space for letting the youngsters use their energy for constructive or productive purposes. Intolerance, loneliness, absence of parental love /guidance and effect of media (particularly TV creating ideals of becoming heroes using violence, intimate relationship amongst young boys and girls in the name of friendship are all conditioning the youngsters to become violent and hence feel left out lonely. What happens in USA today happens in Europe 2 to 3 years hence and about 4-6 years hence in countries like India. In India, the problems with inner city schools are primarily of lack of motivation of teachers, parents and students as well towards the role of education resulting in significant absentee rate, low academic attainments and teachers spending their time in other irrelevant activities.
A group of fourteen school teachers from all over USA decided to learn the concept and practice of Ahiṁsā in Jainism and see if they can find some solutions to their problems cited above. ISJS organized a three weeks program on Ahiṁsā with particular reference to Jainism with its practice through case studies of a number of Jain managed schools in different categories, such as inner city with free education, suburban schools for middle and upper middle class/rich communities, rural schools who practice Ahimsă in their daily management of children, delivery of education and relationship with the community. The results were amazing as all the fourteen teachers felt transformed and armed with new tools and applications of Ahimsa in their own schools.
1 Incidence of violence in US schools Department of Justice U.S. Government: excerpt: Preliminary data show that there were 33 school-associated violent deaths from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010 (Indicator 1). In 2010, among students ages 12-18, there were about 828,000 nonfatal victimizations at school, which include 470,000 victims of theft and 359,000 victims of violence (simple assault and serious violence) (Indicator 2). In 2009-10, about 74 percent of public schools recorded one or more violent incidents of crime, 16 percent recorded one or more serious violent incidents, 7 and 44 percent recorded one or more thefts 8 (Indicator 6).......
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STUDY NOTES version 5.0