Education

More than 130 people head to Bulmershe International Peace Conference

By Jon Nurse
December 03, 2012

Race, ethnicity and culture were promoted as pupils and councillors united for an International Peace Conference.

More than 130 people travelled to The Bulmershe School on Saturday, November 17, for the event organised by its GCSE citizenship pupils.

Seven school speakers delivered speeches on different conflicts ravaging the planet and the necessity of peace.

Citizenship pupil Sadiya Attiq said the aim of the conference was for people to understand the views of young people and expressed her delight at the quality of the message delivered by her peers.

Beena Joshi of Year 11 said: “I really enjoyed this peace conference as it opened my eyes into understanding how young people’s voices can be heard.

“From our passionate speakers to our creative designers, we really reached our guests into understanding what our opinions are and how we feel about conflict.”

Parents, teachers, religious leaders and pupils from different schools filled the hall for the conference that spanned more than three hours.

The conference also heard from guest speakers Pekka Huhtaniemi, international ambassador of Finland, and Dr Prem Sharma OBE, patron of the South Asian Development Partnership.

The world’s hot topics were not shied away from as international aid, refugees and Islamophobia were all discussed. With the speeches delivered, the conference moved on to a question and answer session which included a panel with Reading West MP Alok Sharma, poet and rapper Ibrahim Sincere, Member of Youth Parliament Sumaiya Karim, international ambassador Pekka Huhtaniemi and Bulmershe and Whitegates ward councillor Shahid Younis.

The panel tackled questions from the floor on local and global conflict.

The conference was organised with the South Asian Development Partnership and followed the pattern of a similar event held at Portcullis House in London in April.

Beena added: “Planning the conference has helped me to get involved in my community, which makes me feel like I’m giving something back to the place I’ve been brought up in.

“I hope that everyone enjoyed the whole day and understood the key message that young people can make a difference.”

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Most recent user comments 4 of 4

I am ashamed that people still have such little regard for the young people. Especially those who went out their way to organise this to prevent others from becoming influenced.

They want their communities to become more cohesive, lets look at ways to achieve it rather than suspecting stumbling blocks already!!

Educated_Citizen
07/12/2012 at 16:10

Thank you for Parlovero for such an irrelevant and simply ignorant statement. Students should be commended, rather than belittled.

Hopefully, school teaches them to be honest, frank and open to all and themselves. They should not be influenced by such matters- especially if they have already taken steps to avoid it!!

Educated_Citizen
07/12/2012 at 16:08

No we won't! We have our own mind, our own brain. I strongly believe in peace and want to live my life trying to gain peace in my community first, then hopefully help find ways in gaining peace in this world. We're young people who are finding out about the world through CITIZENSHIP. The school I go to is a very diverse and multicultural school and we are very proud of that. You cannot say that we will be influenced by our parents when they are the ones who teach us that we are all equal and should get on with each other. A small minority does not represent the whole population.

Young Student, England
06/12/2012 at 21:02

Sadly all these young people will eventually take on the predjudices of their families and cultures and continue the same old dialogues and conflicts.

Children have no bounds to their outlooks and are colour blind when it comes to race and culture but undoubtedly they will be taught to hate by loving parents and others in their own groups.