Dr Ranvir Singh

Head of RE and Citizenship Coordinator, Cranford Community College, Hounslow, Many years ago I dabbled in ‘interfaith'. I gave talks at the International Interfaith Centre, Oxford; was part of the Next Generation at the Parliament of World Religions in Cape Town and had the honour of meeting the Dalai Lama; joined the executive of the World Congress of Faiths; helped organise the ‘Faith in Action' programme at the Sacred Space at the Rio+10 UN Summit on Sustainable Development at Johannesburg, and even attended the Millennium Summit of Religious Leaders at the United Nations. I also dabbled in human rights. I attended the Hague Appeal for Peace, made presentations to the Working Groups on Minorities and handed in a 200+ page report to the Working Group on Transnational Corporations at the United Nations in Geneva, briefly headed the NGO Media Forum at the 2nd Prepcom and addressed the whole assembly in that role, and led the delegation that lobbied and drafted paragraph 67 of the Declaration Against Racism in 2001. Something was becoming clearer to me. In the interfaith world, people were crying out for youth involvement; in the human rights world, for human rights education. Education seemed the key to unlocking the potential of the future. However, what kind of education? I applied for a History PGCE since this was my favourite subject at school - 'O' level RE had not even been an option. However, I quickly realised that the nature of the History curriculum post-National Curriculum had turned History into a different subject than the one that I had loved. I, therefore, moved into my 'passion zone' of Religious Education and Citizenship. I think that students increasingly are turning to these subjects as they inform them about the real world. What matters is globalisation, global cultures and doubt. In uncertain times, young people need to develop particular skills in order to thrive. They develop core skills - intellectual rigour, empathy and action skills. Learning to sift and evaluate information and argument is a crucial skill in our information rich world. Whereas empathy in History is linked to understanding the rational perspectives of others, in RS I believe that it is also highly personal. It is about recognising and valuing our own feelings and perspectives. By becoming aware of them, we are freer to change them and adapt our behaviour to an uncertain environment. Religions are successful organisations and the reasons for their success can provide insight into how young people can also influence the world around them.