Re-examining Education for Peace through Systemic Social and Emotional Learning in Marginalised and Fragile Contexts in India

• In Event: Reimagining SEL from the Margins: Measuring, Teaching, and Learning SEL for Holistic Outcomes

Proposal

The post-independence trajectory of the Indian education system has been significantly shaped by neoliberal imperatives privileging individual advancement and narrowly defined economic productivity over collective flourishing and social cohesion. As Batra (2020) observes, schooling in India has been “designed to fulfil individual aims and self-interest defined in narrow economic terms,” while Kumar (2021) underscores how children have been left “under-nourished spiritually or imaginatively” amidst persistent concerns such as low retention, poor learning outcomes, high dropout rates, and the erosion of imaginative and cultural spaces. In settings characterised by poverty, displacement, systemic discrimination, and political fragility, these structural deficits are compounded, restricting opportunities for young people to develop social, emotional, and ethical capabilities that are foundational to peacebuilding and civic participation in a divided world.

This paper examines systemic Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as a transformative approach to reimagining education in India as a site for healing, justice, and holistic human development. Unlike fragmented or programmatic interventions, systemic SEL embeds principles of well-being, empathy, and agency within curriculum, pedagogy, teacher professional development, and assessment frameworks at scale. Initiatives such as Delhi’s Happiness Curriculum have signalled a national shift towards integrating SEL into public education. Building on this momentum, Dream a Dream has collaborated with state governments to design and implement SEL curricula responsive to local cultural contexts, with particular emphasis on marginalised and fragile settings.

Two state-level interventions form the empirical core of this analysis. The Harsh Johar Curriculum in Jharkhand addresses the aspirations and challenges of children in tribal and resource-constrained communities, embedding life skills education while drawing on indigenous knowledge systems. In Nagaland, the Well-being Curriculum is situated within a post-conflict context, fostering emotional resilience, inter-community trust, and respect for cultural heritage as part of the broader peacebuilding process.

The analysis engages four interrelated dimensions: the translation of SEL into culturally resonant curriculum and pedagogy; teacher development enabling adaptive and contextually grounded practice; the intersection of SEL with equity and structural marginalisation; and participatory, context-sensitive approaches to assessing holistic learning outcomes without imposing additional burdens on educators.

Through a synthesis of policy analysis, qualitative insights from practitioners, and empirical evidence from the field, the paper argues for conceptualising SEL as both a process and an outcome, integral to fostering personal growth, collective responsibility, and social cohesion. The findings underscore that in contexts marked by inequity and crisis, systemic SEL should not be approached as a universal model for replication. Rather, it must be rooted in local epistemologies, responsive to lived realities, and oriented towards education for peace, equity, and human dignity.

Authors

• Sreehari Ravindranath, Dream a Dream

• Apoorva Bhatnagar, Dream a Dream

• Amit Kumar Vishwanath, Dream a Dream

• Joseph Thomas Rijo, DREAM A DREAM