Battlefield archaeologist, Human Rights expert, Psychology (Honours) graduate and Haiku doodler Vishali Garg is also Tiger Mum to a precocious five year old. Wow! Exuding ‘serious fun’, this budding and young author who’s also a committed Tiger safari and cricket aficionado shares her wondrous experiences of being chief guest at a unique future-positive Model United Nations multi-school program held recently over two eventful, learning days in the national capital.
Chilling that evening on my balcony over balmy green Delhi in my cyan (Paris Olympics inspired) tee and black shorts, I watched my pesky IB school toddler Vinayak, his brows knit, assembling his NASA Moon rocket components with indulgence. All thoughts of the ongoing Olympics disappeared when I heard the stunning news on my cell! My trendy niece Labhanshi was bursting with excitement. She’d shared my CV in passing with Ms. Nalini Andrew, iconic long-serving Principal of Queen’s Convent who’d put her benchmarked Miranda House alumni decisiveness to work and asked her Model United Nations (MUN) program assistant to instantly check my availability to be Chief Guest for the program! “Let’s get a young achiever to be an influencer for our 150 odd young kid participants from 17 elite northwest Delhi schools, she’d ruled.
So where was I? Dancing a jig in the gentle breeze with infectious enthusiasm, my amused banker hubby and astonished son watching. My joyful tryst with destiny! Though I digress, do allow me dear reader to share an aside: Becoming recently aware of the early 17th century Haiku short form unrhymed and nature driven poem format I have become addicted to Haiku poem writing both within its strict rules as well as by breaking their prescribed three line cadence. Here is an instant example of my joy on receiving a chance to be reborn from housewife to a cheerful open-to-learning MUN program Chief Guest!
Forest wanderer, Nature admirer, Tiger lover…
The layered meaning becomes clearer when one realises that the Tiger is uncrowned King/Queen of all they survey in dense forests. The feline is always well prepared for what she undertakes; seeks no shortcuts and delivers more than what she commits to. She does so without losing composure or agility and is ready
for all contingencies. This describes my state of inner delight on being nominated for the uber assignment so aptly... It helped that we’re a Tiger loving family!
I realised I’d be expected to be well informed, perceptive as well as empathy led to listen to, evaluate and motivate participating children to think big; think global...realise renowned political soothsayer Thomas Friedman’s fundamental truth when he termed in his seminal 2005 book, The World is Flat using IT- driven Bengaluru as a living example. He had realised that the world, flattened by IT advancements, was becoming a global village. The finely etched Queen’s Convent MUN (QCMUN) conference would certainly convey that reality to these bright kids, I mused with growing excitement and wonderment.
I felt privileged to take part and help to an extent in steering such positivity. The MUN initiative by Queen’s Convent (its second) was thus a timely, visionary step forward in allowing children to participate actively in this path breaking advancement which promotes world responses to daunting challenges in diplomacy, politics, climate change, human and minority rights, women’s equality, disaster management and in conflict resolution to be simulated so realistically in 200 odd countries and countless schools, colleges and universities worldwide. A quick Google scan informed me that in Delhi alone, this year 40 MUN programs have and will be executed this year alone; such a welcome jump in our globalisation efforts really.
That evening after I’d put my Tiger cub to sleep and had done basic research on
our primary and secondary school education system, I sat down with my ‘bestie’
- myself - to examine the broad outlook of the 150 odd children from both CBSE and ICSE backgrounds who’d prepared over perhaps two months for their assigned charters to simulate them with sense and sensibility, pride, competitiveness, impact and panache.
We’ve the world’s largest population with China just behind but we’ve three times more schools – and most of these follow Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum. Indian Council of Secondary Education (ICSE) by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination is a distinct second and then there are State Boards but that wasn’t germane for this MUN. Both systems are steeped in Indian mores and are post partition developments, ICSE starting in 1958 as a subset derived from British and American educational systems and CBSE in 1962 was essentially rote learning driven. I was quite surprised to learn that 25 countries including Japan, Singapore and Russia are CBSE affiliated. We know from our experience that both systems are very rigorous in academic temper; CBSE more so. Both have slowly graduated from single exam to year round student testing. Recent developments are that the western world now accepts both systems certification and marks awarded for purposes of higher education including elite universities such as Oxford, Harvard, Stanford and Cambridge.
CBSE covers a wider syllabus in span but not necessarily in depth with bias towards assimilation of sciences and maths and with rote learning as key. It issues prescribed text books/workbooks from which questions are asked. This system shows an awareness of students need to clear a variety of professional entrance and qualifying exams. In-depth examination and extra-curricular activity is thus given somewhat short shrift. ICSE focuses in-depth on all fields including humanities and languages and promotes experiential learning. It does not offer prescribed text books/workbooks leaving choices to schools from recommended textbooks. Teachers and students alike see such freedom of choice as challenges which good ICSE schools negotiate well.
I was born again…with each phase of life I renew my learning to unlearn something to enhance the reality that improving knowledge in life is an on-going process. I was fortunate enough to be permitted to address pre-teen and teen children who were not only competent and savvy but passionate as well. Passion drives excellence and that’s the marathon we all run at our own speed and time. Some children, who focus well like Tigers do, turn out to be winners.
A CBSE student myself, I was prepared to handle children from both systems and attempt a positive influence on their approach to their MUN charters with what I promote as ‘serious fun’...converting work into fun and pleasure; the adrenalin that quality work completion releases like a gust of fresh breeze! My preference has always been for Emotional Intelligence (EI) over Intelligence Quotient (IQ) based learning. Driven by empathy and feeling, EI works so well for me whereas IQ based learning is logic driven and strictly linear! My view!
There is need now to answer the overwhelming question: what, after all, is MUN all about? When and how did it evolve? Is it sanctified by the real UN? Has it adequate followers and learning values? All these and linked questions are necessary for readers to see what was the QCMUN conference all about.
MUN had a fortuitous beginning held as simulation of “international assemblies” of the League of Nations, the precursor of UN. Held at Oxford University on 12 Nov 1921 this was a popular initiative which gravitated to Harvard University in 1922, an initiative active till date. The first recorded instance of a Model United Nations conference was at Swarthmore College on 5 April 1947. Over 150 students from over 41 colleges attended. Today of course there are MUN programs held across the world including in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, Taiwan and many African countries. America leads
in MUN programs but it is The Netherlands that holds the largest MUN at The Hague with 3500 participants, 200 schools and 100 countries attending.
In India, MUN continues to fire up and inspire young minds with Rotary International MUN setting standards since 1999. It invites foreign attendees every year. Such a magnificent MUN is not only a hub for the masters of the trade but also a platform for budding enthusiasts to show their potential and knowledge on international relations. The Harvard MUN India hosted over 1700 attendees in 2019. The Doon School MUN has since 2007 been one of Asia's largest MUNs with foreign delegates attending in numbers. It regularly draws 350 delegates from around 40 schools yearly. Doon MUN allow special non-conventional committees such as Lincoln's War Cabinet (1861), Union Cabinet of Ministers (1984), Viceroy's Executive Council (1946) cabinet meetings of Russia, India and China, and a convention on religion and terror. Elite schools like Welham’s Boys and RIMC also hold effective MUNs. Not the least, the United Service Institution (USI) of India has played a stellar role in the furtherance of India's UN Peacekeeping (UNPK) operations. The Centre for UNPK (CUNPK) was established and nurtured at the USI, with support from MEA and Armed Forces, to become a regional node for excellence in UNPK capacity building and practicing UN diplomacy.
Many of today’s leaders in Govt, Business, Arts, Sciences and Law were once MUN participants. Approved by UN Resolution 77/336 at the 99th Plenary Session of Sep 2002, the official UN Guide to Model UN explains in detail how to host or participate in a MUN and is available in key world languages such as English, French, Spanish, Kiswahili, Arabic, Mandarin and Russian. A large number of research guides assist researchers to access all open source UN documentation. Physical and digital diaries are also easily accessible. Video libraries offer video content of all UN functioning and proceedings.
Learners learn and create more eureka moments to discover their skills, be it speaking, managing, handling or organising. Step by step, the participants gain that confidence to talk clearly about what is happening in the world. From a window of fun, it becomes a serious fun of learning and discovering one’s inner self belief. Empathy is a major learning as students relate to the issues linked to society, nature, women empowerment which sums up well in our Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is not only educational for students but teachers and parents also get the awareness of the world and capabilities of their child. Therefore, it is a platform which is an eye opener for those who wish to touch the sky through the ladder of excellence. Leadership, followership, team work, portfolios and global issues awareness and importance make MUN different. The best-performing delegates in each committee as well as delegations are occasionally recognized with awards. MUN is all about that; creating future
leaders and global citizens to take the nations to new feats and spheres of success, prosperity and peace.
As the days passed by for MUN to open, my confidence and therefore adrenalin levels thus shot up to needed levels; enough for me to inspire infectious enthusiasm in most children I interacted with or exchanged notes over sumptuous lunch during the two day event that, for I, was a life changer and I hope, for some children of 6 to 12th standard who saw me as their role model. This is where it is worth sharing that the theme Queens Convent had evolved out of the 2024 MUN theme was Inspiration, Change and Unity with climate change, the Palestine UN membership issue, women being equal but different as UN MUN themes and Press freedom and Ending crime against Journalists as well as E Digital Data Protection Bill as the QCMUN conference Lok Sabha themes. I was thoroughly prepared and let children who came in contact with me grow mentally, metaphysically and intellectually to reach for the sky.
I end with what I consider as an apt Haiku; a layered piece of poetry that sums up my captivating experience in seeking excellence and celebrating it:
Yearn for wisdom,
Path of excellence - obstacle riven.
Seek eureka, don’t complain,
Be born, be born again…win.
(The content of this article reflects the views of writers and contributors, not necessarily those of the publisher and editor. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only)
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