Awakening the youth through RWYC (Reconnecting With Your Culture) in making Cultural sustainability: a study of Smith School, Varanasi, India

The RWYC (Reconnecting With Your Culture), initiated on 20th July 2020 (by Olimpia
Niglio), is an international pedagogical programme that awakens the youth to engage with
cultural heritage towards cultural and sacred sustainability. The RWYC across the world
organises cultural sensitivity programmes for the younger generation through high schools,
which involve understanding, awakening, and preserving local cultural heritage. In India, an
MoU between RWYC and W.H. Smith Memorial School (Varanasi) was carried out on 2nd
October 2021, the UNO International Day of Non-Violence—celebrated on the birthday of
Mahatma Gandhi, a global symbol of peace and non-violence. This MoU aims to introduce
learning about “Local Culture” through the dialogue among different disciplines (the education
programme of the school). This interdisciplinary dialogue favours the “Unity of the Knowledge”
and the development of creativity through cultural awakening.
The above goals will be accomplished by undertaking the following activities with the
collaboration of the RWYC: (a) Specific intercultural seminars in collaboration with the local
institutions; (b) Special training for the educators and student’s involvement in activities; (c)
Special seminars with your students and other students in the world; (d) Periodical meetings to
know and evaluate progress and updates; and (e) Participate in international events and diffuse
achievements. This paper assesses and appraises the programmes carried out by the Smith
School from 2021 to 2025, making cross-cultural comparisons and perspective strategies for the
future. It is hoped that these activities will eventually promote the requisite pedagogical
foundation, frameworks, curricula, and principles in cultural and heritage education required to
realise a more sustainable, peaceful, harmonious, and secure world.