Global Citizenship

The Global dimension to Education is about a global perspective in education. It is strongly linked to Global Citizenship, our role within society and the wider world.The Global Dimension in Education is about enabling people to critically engage in local and global issues, to actively participate and make informed and ethical choices in an increasingly global society. It is about seeing ourselves as global citizens. 

School  education plays a vital role in helping the young citizens to recognize their responsibilities as citizens of the global community. It equips them with the skills required to make informed decisions and take responsible actions. Global dimension in teaching helps critically examining their own values and attitudes, appreciate the similarities between people live everywhere in the world and learn to value diversity, understand the global context of their local lives and in developing skills that will enable them to protect justice, peace, environment and good health. Such knowledge, skills and understanding empower young people to become responsible Global Citizens and help them to play an active role in the global community.

The term “Global” explicitly encompasses the local/urban, national and inter- or transnational levels of analysis and action. And the word “Citizenship” refers to not only the legal or juridical membership in a specific national polity, but more broadly to the phenomenon of active engagement in the public life of the local, national or transnational communities within which people live. It is worth noting that there are many modalities of citizenship. A partial list of such modalities would include: public intellectual, advocate, dissident, activist, voter, neighbour, public office holder, and community organizer. 

The Main Objectives of the project are:

• to build global academic networks by strengthening International Relationships for Sustainable Development.

• to exchange Local Knowledge and Wisdom • to get to know about the different sectors of economy including major business organizations, Universities, Research Institutions etc.,

• to provide cross cultural learning experiences in arts, music, dance, theatre, media etc.,

It is an Interdisciplinary Educational Project for Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools in India and abroad. We began this project in collaboration with Stockholm School Administration, Sweden in 2008 and organized various academic programs in collaboration with the gymnasiums in Stockholm and high schools in India. Now based on the success experiences, we would like to extend the project to Nordic countries. 

KARTORP GYMNASIUM & NEW ERA SCHOOL ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIP

Global Partnership with Swedish Schools began when the Swedish delegation of School Principals visited New Era School back in November 2008. This was an introductory visit and both countries explored the possibilities of working together on mutually workable projects. A symposium was organized on the topic “Education for global citizenship” and reconfirmed that with fast means of communication, inter country boundaries are melting and the schools must equip their students to take benefit and surge ahead to look for greener pastures to study and seek jobs. Swedish Educational Leaders were exposed to the local cultural folk program arranged by the school. They enjoyed the folk tunes and dance and participated whole heartedly.

After the first visit , Mrs. Liz Berg went back to her school and narrated her experience and impressions about New Era School and discussed with her teachers and students the possibilities of growing together as

partners in education. The vibes of both institutions matched and Mrs. Liz Berg along with her social Science and Environment teacher came visiting New Era School with all New Ideas and energy packed to start a partnership. They were at New Era School for a week and New Era teachers and KARTORP GYMNESIUM teachers had very fruitful discussions on the projects they would like to do together. They decided to work on social science and environmental science together. They would like to exchange ideas to maintain the environment and to ensure to halt its degradation. New Era would like to know how Stockholm has become the Green city. New Era has been into energy auditing and has shared the findings with KARTORP teachers. Ever since, the teachers have been in contact with each other through E-mails. We know this partnership is here to stay and grow. 

Future Projections:

Gaining experiences from the project, now we have gone ahead in organizing short-term in-house workshops on the following for two to three weeks for the young  school students and teachers to actually understand and learn the local wisdom of India. This includes expert demonstrations, discourses and field visits to the places of high importance. 

For Further Details contact:

Dr.K.Pushpanadham Ph.D.,

Associate Professor

Department of Educational Administration

Faculty of Education and Psychology,

The Maharaja Sayahirao University of Baroda,

Vadodara-390002, Gujarat, India.

E.mail: pushpanadham@gmail.com

Phone: 0091-265-2792631 (O)

09979301696 ax: 0091-265-2795516 (O)