Peace collages on display at the City Centre in Siliguri on Friday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, Nov. 25: Numerous peace messages filled a wall on the first day of a youth fest organised by American Center in Siliguri.

Scribbles like “war kills, peace heals” and ‘peace exists in faith” drove home the theme of the programme — Peace Beyond Borders — being held in association with the City Centre in Uttarayan Township. The media partner is The Telegraph In Schools (TTIS).

“The relevance of peace studies for the younger generation is important when there are conflicts going on across the world…It is significant because this place has emerged as an educational hub,” Scott Hartmann, the deputy director of the American Center, told a news conference at the venue today.

The fest is part of a project of core group of teachers who have visited the US in the past 10 years.

“We have schools in the US which have peace studies in the syllabus. This festival is part of a project of a core group of 10 teachers from eastern India who visited the US in the past 10 years,” he said. During their stay in the US, the teachers learnt the methods of teaching and incorporating peace in the children’s curriculum.

“They plan to share the techniques with students and teachers of eastern states through fests and workshops like this one,” he added.

The aim of the event, Hartmann said, was to inculcate ideas of peace and tolerance through fun activities like slogan-writing and collage-making in children.

“We had asked around 40 schools in and around Siliguri a week ago to prepare slogans and collages to showcase their perceptions on peace. We have put on display their creations here today,” he said.

Today’s programme started with an extempore competition where 11 students from five schools spoke on topics related to peace.

Activities scheduled for tomorrow include Dil Mange Peace, where skits will be presented. It will be followed by preliminary rounds of music contest, Lend Your Voice to Peace.

On Sunday a peace rally will be flagged off by Siliguri mayor from Darjeeling More, which will culminate at City Centre.