The birth of the Russian-Indian Centre of Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi celebrated in Moscow
The world's first Russian-Indian cultural and educational centre of Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi was launched in Delhi Public School, Dwarka, to provide moral education to the younger generation based on the spiritual and moral legacy left to the world by the two apologists of non-violence.
The Centre of Tolstoy and Gandhi Centre was established on the initiative of the Regional Public Organization "BRICS. World of Traditions" (hereinafter - Organization), as part of the cultural and research project "Great BRICS Teachers" of the Indian phase of the International Social and CulturalProgram "BRICS PeopleChoosing Life", headed by the President of the Organization Lyudmila Sekacheva, held in December 2022 in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune under the motto "from the ecology of soul and body to the ecology of the world" (hereinafter - Program).
According to Sergey Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and BRICS Sherpa, "Programs such as "BRICS People Choosing Life", like the Tolstoy and Gandhi Centre being set up, are in demand now more than ever". The Indian program brought together more than 2 000 Indian students and schoolchildren who unanimously declared that the Centre was "a breath of fresh air for today's world beset by evil and untruth".
The Centre was launched on December 13th, 2022, at Delhi School as part of the educational track of the Program and culminated in a colourful and joyful Friendship Parade. The Centre's first project at the Indian School was the "Voice of Truth", supported by the Organization on May 9th, 2023 on the theme of preserving the truth about the solidarity of the Soviet and Indian people in the Second World War.
The partners of the Centre were the School, Dwarka, School No. 1409, Moscow, and "BRICS. World of Traditions".
The Delhi School, headed by its wise principal Ms Sunita Tanwar, for many years, has taken a keen interest in the works of Leo Tolstoy and Russian culture and traditions, moreover, the school studies the Russian language.
School No. 1409 is interested in the theme of Tolstoy and Gandhi. For several months in 2016, the school hosted an exhibition entitled "Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi: a Unique Heritage", provided by "BRICS. World of Traditions". The Centre will successfully develop, preaching moral values, which are the elixir of peace and goodness to the minds and souls of our children. As Mahatma Gandhi, "father of the Indian nation" said, "If you want to change the world for the better, start with the children".
According to Mr Subrata Das, Minister of Education at the Indian Embassy in Russia, "While scholars continue to do research on the ideas of Gandhi and Tolstoy, it is important to bring these ideas to the young generation to provide the right stimulus and inspiration. In this context, the work done by "BRICS. World of Traditions" and the role of the two schools in India and Russia deserve high attention. It is heartening to see their commendable work to expose students to the philosophy of two of the greatest socio-political leaders of our time".
On May 18th, 2023, in accordance with the plans of the Centre, at the initiative of the organization, the opening ceremony of the exhibition "Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi: a Unique Heritage" took place in the State Budgetary Educational Institution of Moscow "School No.1409". Since 2010 it has been shown in 15 regions of Russia, as well as in India, Brazil and South Africa. The meeting was organized by School No.1409 and "BRICS. World of Traditions".
The guests of honour included Mr Subrata Das, Minister of Education at the Embassy of India in Russia, with his wife; Denis Gribov, Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation; Natalia Kiseleva, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Science of Moscow; Olga Zhilina, Deputy Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow; Daria Nefedova, Attaché of the Second Asia Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry; Sergey Orlov, Second Secretary of the Division of Russia’s participation in BRICS of the Foreign Policy Planning Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Among the special guests were members of the school’s delegation, Dwarka, led by Principal Ms Sunita Tanwar, who also took part online in the presentation of the results of the Indian program on April 13th at the premises of MGIMO University under the Russian foreign ministry.
The event was also attended by Pavel Seleznev, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of International Economic Relations of the Finance University under the government of the Russian Federation, Denis Cheremisin, Director of the Reserve Centre of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, Moscow, Petr Chuprikov, Director of International Education and Cooperation Centre of Minin University, Nizhny Novgorod, Zlata Antusheva, Advisor of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow, Lyudmila Sekacheva, President of "BRICS. World of Traditions", Manager of the Program, Akil Mohammad, Chairman of the International Youth-Edu Skills Foundation, Noida, India, as well as students of MGIMO, Patrice Lumumba People’s Friendship University, Finance University under the Russian Government, students of School No. 1409 and other schools of the NorthernDistrict of Moscow.
The meeting was opened by Irina Ilyicheva, Principal of Moscow School No. 1409. In his speech, Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Denis Gribov emphasized that "as Leo Tolstoy wrote, upbringing and education are inseparable. You cannot educate without passing on knowledge, and all knowledge is educational. New educational projects and initiatives that highlight the ideas and values, of the legacy of two humanists, enrich the younger generation spiritually and contribute to their moral upbringing. In this respect, establishing the Cultural and Educational Centre of Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi on the basis of Delhi school is especially timely".
The main event was the opening ceremony of the cultural and educational exhibition "Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi: a Unique Heritage" within the educational track of the program "BRICS People Choosing Life", which, according to its Head, "will initiate the creation of the Museum (Centre) "Great BRICS Teachers " on the basis of School No. 1409 in order to study, preserve and promote the moral ideas, life and work of five titans of their time".
The exhibition featured banners illustrating 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, provided in 2010 by the Mahatma Gandhi National (Memorial) Museum in New Delhi and the Leo Tolstoy House Museum "Yasnaya Polyana". The collection was shown in 15 regions of Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa.
The guests also got acquainted with an exhibition of books by Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi in Russian and English and literary works written about the two philosophers. Mr Subrata Das, a high guest from the Indian Embassy in Russia, showed great interest in the part of the exhibition dedicated to the correspondence between the two titans of their epochs.
A mini-concert was held on that day with poems about the two Teachers and quotations by Tolstoy and Gandhi cited by schoolchildren, as well as with Russian and Indian dances performed. The artist of the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Center of the Embassy of India in Russia presented the art of Indian dancing to the guests.
The present schoolchildren and Guests of Honor took an interest in getting acquainted with the video reports of the Program "BRICS People Choosing Life": about the event at Delhi school, Dwarka, on December 13th, 2022, about the beginning of showing the exposition "Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi: a Unique Heritage" in Russia in 2010, about the baton of the project Great BRICS Teachers" in the countries of «five» from 2016 to 2019, about the presentation of the Program in India at MGIMO University under the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 13th and the results of the Indian program in 2022.
The Moscow School signed the Agreement of Cooperation between the capital schools, and well as the Agreement of Partnership was signed between the School, Dwarka, and the RPO "BRICS. World of Traditions" in the five-sided Life Program. The Indian school has already received an invitation to the Brazilian program.
Ms Tanwar, Principal of the IndianSchool, underlined: "We strongly believe it is crucial for us to teach our children the message of love and peace preached by the two great apologists Gandhi and Tolstoy. Their philosophy is based on the concepts of peace, honesty, self-discipline and respect for others. These values are still relevant today, more than 100 years after their deaths".
The moral project "Great BRICS Teachers", as well as the Centre of Tolstoy and Gandhi will be represented in other countries of the "five". Later this year, the chairmanship of the program will shift from the Republic of India to the Federative Republic of Brazil, and its embassy in Russia has previously expressed support for the Brazilian program.
As part of the Brazilian phase of the Program in 2025, the cooperation between Delhi Public School, Dwarka, a Moscow school and a Russian language school in Rio de Janeiro is planned. While preparing for the Brazilian program in 2024, it is expected to present the outcomes of its Indiantrack at the Embassy of the Republic of India in the Russian Federation.
Next year Russia will hold the BRICS chairmanship. As part of the Program, the project "Great BRICS Teachers" is planned to be batoned in universities and schools in several Russian regions, such as the Altai Krai, Moscow, Samara and Tver regions in 2024.
According to Sergey Orlov, representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "We see in the socio-cultural program "BRICS People Choosing Life" a manifestation of the growing appeal of the "five". The Indian phase of the program taking place last December demonstrated the demand for informal interaction aimed at direct communication between people without any prerequisites or positional standards, in the spirit of Leo Tolstoy's unchanging principles: "avoid everything that divides people and do everything that connects them".
Concluding the solemn part of the meeting, Lyudmila Sekacheva addressed the guests and participants with the words: "In this hall today we have with us all those who care about the moral health of our children, whose minds are overloaded today as never before with different kinds of fictions and falsifications that are destructive to their immature minds. Supporting the moral and spiritual state of the younger generation is the common mission of education, enlightenment, culture and public diplomacy". During the festival of friendship, active participants of the program "BRICSPeople Choosing Life" were awarded. The Principal of the Indian School presented Certificates of Honor and mementoes to the active members of the Program team for their assistance and active participation in the event at School, Dwarka, on December 13th, as part of the Delhi phase of the Indian Program.
The awards were bestowed to: Lyudmila Sekacheva, President of the RPO "BRICS. World of Traditions", Akil Mohammad, President of the International Youth-Edu Skills Foundation, Noida, India, Dmitry Kurbatov, Coordinator for External Relations of RPO "BRICS. World of Traditions", MGIMO Master's student, Anastasia Shkitina, journalist and documentarist, Dmitry Chiglintsev, cameraman, Rahul Sharma, of the International Youth-Edu Skills Foundation, Noida, India. The head of the Program, in turn, warmly thanked the schoolchildren and their teachers for preparing the exhibition of wonderful drawings that were donated to the Mumbai Charity Foundation for Protecting Children from Slums and Delhi Orphanages. The children received certificates of merit and presentation books on the BRICS countries provided for the Program by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The books were handed over by Sergey Orlov, a representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The high day ended with planting the tree (appletree) in honour of Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi, a natural symbol of the Centre of the two philosophers, which will mark the beginning of the future "Great BRICS Teachers Garden".
"The tree will grow, develop and strengthen with the Centre and give us the fruits of goodness and wisdom. And may its roots be as deep and strong as the friendship between our brotherly nations!". And to confirm these words, the participants tied ribbons in the colours of the Russian and Indian tricolour on the tree and joyfully launched white doves into the sky.