Page 40 - EW 1-156 May 2024

Special Essay

Requiem for a global

citizenship visionary

GEETA GANDHI KINGDON

R. JAGDISH GANDHI, founder- International Youth Mathematics Convention, etc),
manager of the City Montessori School a prime objective was to promote cross-cultural un-
(CMS), Lucknow, who passed away in derstanding and harmony among children from In-
DJanuary 2024 at age 89 is mourned by dia’s 29 states and countries abroad. Dr. Gandhi’s
thousands of school leaders, teachers and stu- legendary warmth and hospitality and the growing
dents countrywide whose lives he touched. The reputation of these events attracted children from
major legacy he has left behind is 65 years of re- across India and between five-30 foreign countries
lentless effort to promote global citizenship edu- at 20 annual festivals convened in CMS.
cation. From 1999, Dr. Gandhi also introduced an an-
Born in 1934 as Jagdish Agarwal in Aligarh, nual International Conference of Chief Justices of
Uttar Pradesh, in class X he read an essay by Mahatma Gan- the World to bring the world’s judiciary together to discuss
dhi on how students should spend their summer vacations. how a more congenial global governance architecture can
This prompted him to begin social service activities such as be created and ways and means to develop/implement in-
sensitising people about the ill-effects of alcohol and gam- ternational laws to ensure global peace, justice and pros-
bling in neighbouring villages which gradually led to people perity. By 2023, this annual conference had attracted 1,450
naming him ‘Jagdish Gandhi’, a nomenclature he proudly Supreme and high court judges from 131 countries.
adopted and persisted with lifelong. oday Planet Earth is confronted with existential climate
Another formative influence was a speech ‘Necessity of Tthreats of change, global pandemics and other issues
World Government’ by Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh which that require supra-national solutions. Dr. Gandhi discerned
left a lasting impression on young Jagdish, who became the need for global cooperation and governance in 1959
convinced that the world needed global governance to be- when he chose ‘Jai jagat’ as the CMS motto and introduced
come peaceful and prosperous. Burning with zeal to change several trans-national exchange initiatives including Chil-
the world, against the wishes of his family he enrolled in dren’s International Summer Villages (CISV) program; In-
Lucknow University where his simple living and high think- ternational School to School Experience (ISSE) program;
ing won him the post of president of Lucknow University’s the Aao dosti karein pen-friends program between India
Students Union in 1958. and Pakistan children; and a Generation Global interna-
In July 1959, he co-promoted CMS, Lucknow with wife tional video-conferencing program for students. Moreover,
Bharti. The founding motto of the school inspired by Ma- the CMS tableau in the annual Republic Day parade in Luc-
hatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave’s teachings was ‘Jai Jagat’ know invariably evangelises world unity and elimination of
(‘victory to the world’). Since then, CMS has steadily evolved race, colour and creed discrimination.
into the world’s largest one-city primary-secondary school For his efforts in the causes of education and global peace
(certified by Guinness World Records) with an enrolment and harmony, Dr. Gandhi received numerous prestigious
of 65,000 students in 21 campuses across Lucknow. awards including honorary doctorates from universities
In 1969, he ventured into politics to give wing to his pas- in Peru, Argentina, Mongolia and Ireland during his life-
sion for a world government to establish global peace and time. Among the awards conferred upon him were Unesco
harmony, and was elected to the Uttar Pradesh legislative Prize for Peace Education 2002; the Dalai Lama’s Hope of
assembly. In December of 1974 at a World Peace Through Humanity Award; and the Gusi Peace Prize. Other awards
Education conference in London which the duo organised were the Nuclear-free Future Award (2004), the Derozio
and which attracted participants from 47 countries, Jagdish Award of CISCE (1999), the World’s Children’s Prize for
and Bharti learned about the scripture of the Baha’i Faith the Rights of the Child, Sweden (2004) and recognition
which also envisions global governance, peace, spiritual- by Peaceful Schools International, Canada (2004) to CMS
ity and virtuous living. However, the tenets of the Baha’i for its “contribution towards building a global network of
creed discourage followers from engaging in party-politics, peaceful schools”.
prompting Dr. Gandhi to abjure politics forever. Dr. Gandhi’s passing has orphaned 65,000 children,
Freed from the preoccupations of politics, Dr. Gandhi 4,800 teachers and staff of CMS, Lucknow as also his de-
set about expanding CMS and investing its students with voted wife and CMS co-promoter Dr. Bharti Gandhi, daugh-
human and spiritual education, with strong emphasis on ters Prof. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, Dr. Sunita Gandhi and
global citizenship. In the mid-1990s, he constructed a Prof. Nita Gandhi Forouhi and son Vinay Gandhi. Inspired
World Unity Convention Centre on all CMS campuses to by his ideals and deeds in the causes of high quality K-12
host annual international events for school contingents education, global governance, peace and social harmony,
from all states of the Indian Union and foreign countries. we intend to carry his mission forward.
While these assemblies were subject-focused (e.g, GEO-
FEST for geography; MACFAIR for computers; IYMC or (Geeta Gandhi Kingdon is Manager, City Montessori School, Lucknow)

40 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2024