Verita Insights Magazine VIS magazine final | Page 25

EVENTS
COMPASSION IN EDUCATION
with Nipun Mehta
We Believe that Students Learn Best in an
Empathetic and Caring Environment
Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace.org - an incubator of projects that support a gift culture.
In his mid-twenties, Nipun quit his job to become a "full time volunteer" and over the last 15 years, his
work has reached millions, attracted more than 500 thousand volunteers, and mushroomed into
numerous projects like DailyGood, Awakin Circles, and Karma Kitchen. Among his many prestigious
accolades, President Obama appointed him on a council for social change, Dalai Lama recognized
him as an “Unsung Hero of Compassion”, and Germany’s OOOM magazine named him Top 100 Most
Inspiring People of 2018.
Why compassion in education?
Educational systems around the world are
increasingly becoming outdated. The
traditional “download” of education not only leaves
many children bored and uninterested, its
overemphasis on tests and grades rewards passive
memorization over innovation and creativity, and
leaves fresh graduates completely unprepared for
the modern workplace. Moreover, children are more
plugged into devices and more disconnected than
ever before, as bullying rates continue to sky rocket.
Many innovators are now suggesting a shift from
content to relationship. In the world of Google, content
is cheap, automated and freely available. Everything
humans can do with content; machines can do better.
Amid such a backdrop, a growing body of research
suggests that the most valuable commodities for the
future are teamwork, collaboration and empathy.With
these new strands of possibility, we wanted to take it
even one step further and ask: How do we cultivate
Compassion Quotient ( CQ )? At an impersonal and
social level, how can we build empathy and greater
tolerance? .
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