Over 200 students from more than 40 schools in Thailand came together at the Sarasas Suvarna-bhumi Institute of Technology in Bangkok to present creative solu-tions for fostering interreligious harmony.
The event, titled “Extra Pea-ce: Project Presentation Compe-tition” held on Nov. 30, showcas-ed the ideas of 10 finalists from more than 40 schools, tackling some of the country’s most pressing issues related to religious understanding and coexistence.
The competition was inspired by the success of “Extra Peace,” a student team from Sarasas Ektra School, which received 100,000 THB in funding during the MISSION POSSIBLE: Youth Social Hackathon held in July.
The team used the funding to implement a project aimed at promoting dialogue among di-fferent religious groups, serving as a blueprint for the competition.
Finalists proposed diverse strategies to address challenges such as religious discrimination and fostering interfaith under-standing among youth.
Ideas ranged from creating immersive educational games and producing films to using rap music and augmented reality maps to highlight paths to inter-religious harmony and causes of religious conflict.
Chulabhat Tantichaibori-boon, leader of the Extra Peace team, said Catholic schools “are guided by values of love, compa-ssion, and respect,” adding, “Yet, our community is beauti-fully diverse, with students from many religious backgrounds.