Global citizenship is the idea that a person’s identity transcends beyond their political belief and geographical borders. Instead, a person has rights and responsibilities that are derived from a broader concept of humanity. But the idea itself raises questions on what it means to be a global citizen or how we coincide global and national citizenship.
What makes us all part of the global society?
Organizations worldwide, such as the United Nations, work on promoting the Sustainable development Goals that aim for us, as a global society, to reach and discuss whether these goals are achievable. But how can the younger generation in Pakistan act globally while thinking locally about their social problems?
An example of this is the initiative called ‘Peace Without Borders- Pakistan’, which promotes peace education and counter violent extremism by working with academia, youth, and think tanks. Thus, the education system in Pakistan must include global citizenship as part of helping create a positive outlook for the students.
Within the realm of global citizenship, students should be made aware of the notion of cultural relativism to deal with diversity and difference of opinions. Cultural relativism is the idea that all cultures and diversities exist and should be judged with respect to their societies. This could allow the younger generation not to measure their cultural practices against a universal set of criteria against a local set of norms and regulations.
The positive aspect of cultural relativism is that it will allow the younger generation to recognize why and where the differences and diversity emerge with respect to behaviours and traditions, making them more compassionate towards others. However, we need to make sure that an extreme angle of cultural relativism is not adhered to as it may cause problems. This is because cultural relativism can dehumanize the youth by allowing violent practices to take place.
Thus, a fine line exists between when they can raise their voice against the wrongs done in light of cultural traditions. Therefore, students should be routinely being taught to examine and analyse situations in an objective and unbiased way.
