Each subtopic is a different week's lesson. They each include content about the subtopic, an activity, a video, group discussion questions, and a social media prompt (so that youth can begin impacting their communities right away). ----------------------------------------------->

Since independence from colonial rule in 1948, Sri Lanka has found itself in violent conflict at regular intervals. 1958, 1976 , 1983 , 1988, 1994, 2005 , 2012 , 2018 have been years marred by bloodshed. Each time the nation seems to show signs of overcoming its bloody past , hate and prejudice raises its ugly head and lures the nation into a renewed cycle of violence. The reason behind the conflict in each instance has varied from ethnic and religious , to political ideology and social class , yet the commonality remains that young people in each era were brainwashed to choosing violence over their countrymen. Hence a culture of violence is created manifesting in the form of domestic violence, harassment of women, road rage and altercations on the streets, and in communal unrest and grievances leading to destroying of property , places of worship and the destruction of lives.

The youth of Sri Lanka need to be equipped with the ability to overcome these tendencies of violent response. They need to be trained to evolve beyond their parents generations and have a stronger resistance to violence and model non-violent responses to overcome their challenges. Youth need to understand that violence has never delivered a positive outcome and nonviolent , intelligent , civilized ways of engagement needs to be their generation’s legacy. If educated on this, they may indeed break the cycles of violence they have inherited from generations before them.

Subtopics