New Delhi, India/22 September 2025: In today’s world, young people are navigating a landscape marked by conflict, violence, inequality and digital risks. To build socio-emotional resilience and equip young minds with the skills to resist risky behaviours, education can be a powerful tool.
Targeted educational interventions can help prepare children to imbibe positive values and integrity, resolve disputes peacefully, promote the rule of law and build a society rooted in justice and inclusion. That’s the idea driving UNODC’s RiseUp4Peace initiative, which supports schools reimagine themselves as spaces of resilience and hope.
In September, activities led by schools and young people across India took these efforts forward. In Salem, Tamil Nadu, over 1,200 students and teachers pledged to strengthen action on justice, peace and the Sustainable Development Goals in a multi-school program convened by the Sri Seshaas International School.
Through slogans, creative performances, art and group work, students explored challenges to peace and ways to promote understanding and empathy through their day-to-day actions—for instance, listening to a classmate, countering bullying, or standing up for inclusion.
In Kolkata, West Bengal, educators and students from six schools--Douglas Memorial Higher Secondary School, B.D. Memorial Jr. School, Sushila Birla Girls’ School, Garden High School, Narula International School, Sri Sri Academy, Silver Point School, and Funlish Language School--joined hands to show how partnerships and creativity can create change.
By painting murals of unity, using technology to spread messages of kindness, and staging performances on harmony, they promoted the spirit of collaboration and unity to develop solutions, encapsulated in a video integrating aspects of art and tech.
At the same time, the call for inclusion also echoed. Enable Education, led by RiseUp4Peace youth champion Ms. Aarushi Gambhir, hosted a virtual dialogue on Indian sign language, where activists and students with deafness and hearing loss reflected on challenges as well as practical ways to advance inclusion.
Mr. A.S. Narayanan, President of the National Association of the Deaf, reflected on need for widespread ISL recognition and how advocacy, technology integration and education can bridge divides and promote understanding. Participants concurred that peace and equality begin with accessibility.
With the RiseUp4Peace initiative, UNODC’s emphasis is on mainstreaming a culture of lawfulness, integrity and peace through education, ensuring a real hands-on approach that puts young minds and educators at the center.
This activity contributed to SDG 4, SDG 16 and SDG 17: https://sdg-tracker.org/
