Blogs

Our learners at Sapphire International School had the prime opportunity of meeting our beloved politician and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi. This was an approach to yet another Human Library session where our learners can interact, and learn from an inspirational person just like they read a book.

Something About Maneka Gandhi

Meet Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, a remarkable Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist who has dedicated her life to promoting social entrepreneurship and advocating for environmental preservation. As a member of the Lok Sabha and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Gandhi has made significant contributions to the Indian parliament and has been a part of several governments, including Narendra Modi’s from May 2014 to May 2019.

Gandhi’s passion for environmental conservation and animal welfare has inspired countless individuals across India. Her initiatives have led to many notable accomplishments, including the popular TreeAndHumanKnot movement, which encourages couples to plant fruit trees throughout the country. This campaign has been incredibly successful, and it has inspired many young people to embrace social entrepreneurship and initiate similar projects in their communities.

Aside from her involvement in politics and social entrepreneurship, Gandhi has also authored several books that focus on etymology, law, and animal welfare. Her writing is insightful and inspires readers to become more environmentally conscious and work towards protecting our planet and its creatures.

What Did Our Learners Learn?

“Always be kind…whenever or whoever you’re speaking to, including animals” said, Maneka Gandhi while addressing our Sapphirians. Our learners had a sneak peek about the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle and how it promotes animal safety and cruelty-free society as per Gandhi’s verbatim.

Small little things like mindful walking so that we don’t hurt insects and other living beings taught our learners to be humble and caring. Sapphirians were brought to notice the harmful effects of leather and the cruelty it brings to animals and workers working in tanneries. Let’s see what they learnt in detail-

Gandhi mentioned how schools must promote a leather-free atmosphere by introducing canvas shoes for all. By doing so, we can save multiple cows who get killed not only for the meat but primarily for leather. She also added, how leather is a very colonized commodity that was given to us by British considering they came from cold weathers. But, India, in general requires no leather as it is mostly hot and only makes our feet sweat.

In addition, our learners also learnt the harmful effects of shoe polish as to how they can cause cancer because of its carcinogenic nature. Positively, our learners noted, eradicating leather can save multiple lives from the sea to the humans as there won’t be killings, and pollution.

In Conclusion

Sapphire International School’s human library initiative saw yet another successful interaction with an entity so magnificent yet sublime. Our learners could not have had a better human library experience to learn kindness, humility, humanity and love for the environment.

We thank Maneka Gandhi ma’am for teaching and cultivating the sense of care, kindness, love and humanity amongst all the learners of Sapphire who joined us on this interactive session. She mentioned how ants work so hard for their community to survive even when they are minute. We humans must take every little inspiration from ants and work hard in life with utmost love and plant more trees for the betterment of the environment.