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.