What Lessons Can We Learn From Mahatma Gandhi for Citizenship Education?

• In Event: Curriculum as Violence, Curriculum as Peace in K–16 Education

Abstract

This paper argues that youth led protests for justice and the dignity of all life, for example, the fight to remove racial inequality in the US, and the worldwide strikes for climate change can draw inspiration from historical examples of non-violent dissidents. This paper examines the contributions that the Indian political leader and educator, Mahatma Gandhi can make to the UNESCO led initiative of Global Citizenship Education, education for citizenship, and curriculum studies. As argued, Gandhi’s significant mark in human history has been to demonstrate the power of dialogue to facilitate non-violence over violence. This has broad implications for education, for example, as discussed, non-violence is central to reshaping curriculum studies, and structuring non-violent democratic dialogue across difference.

Author

• Namrata Sharma, State University of New York