«Everyone is willing to change the mankind but no one wonders how to change himself»- Leo Tolstoy
«If you want to change the world, start with yourself…become part of this change»-Mahatma Gandhi
In December 2022 India hosted the International Social and Cultural Program «BRICS People Choosing Life» which brought together more than 2000 students from New Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. Within the framework of the educational track of the program, the theme of philosophical and creative moral heritage of the two apologists of nonviolence, «father of the Indian nation» Mahatma Gandhi and Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, whom Gandhi considered his Teacher, was loudly voiced.
Seven educational sites in India, including the Universities of Mumbai and Pune, hosted the baton of the project « Great BRICS Teachers» in order to support the spiritual and moral state of the young generation. An important initiative of the program was the creation of the Cultural and Educational Center of Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi at the premises of Delhi Public School, Dwarka, in partnership with the Moscow School No.1409 and the RPO «BRICS. World of Traditions». Children will become researchers, bearers and continuers of moral ideas of the two great humanists. Therefore, the Center will become the platform for self-education of schoolchildren on the basis of moral values.
The Center of Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy in New Delhi has started its work, with the plan of events and projects being elaborated and the delegation exchange between the schools beginning. Thus, from May 17th to 22nd, 2023, a delegation from School, Dwarka, headed by Ms. Sunita Tanwar, Principal, will visit the Moscow state educational institution «School No. 1409», headed by Irina Ilyicheva.
During the visit on May 18th, 2023, the Moscow school will host the signing of the Treaty of Cooperation between the capital schools, as well as the opening ceremony of the cultural and educational exhibition «Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi: a Unique Heritage» which will launch the creation of the Museum (Center) «Great BRICS Teachers» on the basis of the School No. 1409 so as to study, preserve and promote the ideas, life and activities of five giants of their time who left their moral teachings and precepts to the world.
The exhibition will feature banners showing fragments of the famous correspondence on non-violence between the two great sages in Russian and English, as well as arts and crafts on the theme of the exhibition presented by the Mahatma Gandhi National (Memorial) Museum in New Delhi and the Leo Tolstoy House Museum «Yasnaya Polyana».
Furthermore, an exhibition of books by Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi in Russian and English, as well as literary works about the two philosophers will be shown. There will also be a short concert with poems about the two Teachers and quotes by Tolstoy and Gandhi performed by students.
The lists of Guests of Honor of the meeting will include Mr. Subrata Das, Minister of Education at the Indian Embassy to Russia, Sergey Orlov, second secretary of the Russia’s participation in BRICS division of the Department of Foreign Policy Planning of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Darya Nefedova, attaché of the Second Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, top-ranking officials from the Ministry of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation and the Department of science and education of Moscow, Lyudmila Sekacheva, president of Regional Public Organization «BRICS. World of Traditions», head of the Program «BRICS People Choosing Life», Akil Mohammad, President of the International Youth-Edu Skills Foundation, India, Noida. Dmitry Polikanov, deputy head of Rossotrudnichestvo, is expected to be present at the meeting.
Russian and Indian students of MGIMO University under the Russian Foreign Ministry, Patrice Lumumba People’s Friendship University, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as public organizations, academics, and students of School No. 1409 will participate in the event.
The meeting will culminate with planting an apple tree «Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi’s Tree» that will be the natural sign (monument) of the created Centre of Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi and mark the beginning of the future «Great BRICS Teachers Garden».
The event will be covered by TASS, journal «International Affairs», media network TV BRICS, media journal «Revista Intertelas», Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, TV channel «Janhit Times», Noida, India.
Date and time: May 18th, 2023, beginning at 15.00. Guests are expected at 14.30
Venue: State budgetary institution of Moscow «School No. 1409».
Address: Aviakonstructora Mikoyana Street, 2