Building common ground: How one initiative is teaching India the language of peace

Common Ground's initiative provides educators with tools for pluralism, emphasising interreligious engagement and inclusive curricula.

In a nation of wide diversity, where classrooms and communities can sometimes become divided, a quiet movement is underway—led by 17-year-old Gauri Gupta. She is the founder of Common Ground, an initiative using multireligious learning and peacebuilding to help create a society where difference is seen as something to understand and respect.

Common Ground reveals alarming survey results on religious and caste-based slurs among students, prompting a call for action. (Source: Common Ground)

The reason for this work is clear. Common Ground's nationwide research, surveying over 4,000 students and 520 teachers, revealed a concerning picture: 83% of students reported hearing religious or caste-based slurs weekly, and nearly half (48%) had never meaningfully interacted with a child from another faith. Among educators, 74% acknowledged that divisive attitudes routinely affect student interactions.

"These findings should be a call to action," the initiative's work suggests. "Our aim is to advance pluralism and foster civic empathy, creating spaces where difference is celebrated through the transformative power of multireligious learning."

Re-engineering the classroom

Recognising that traditional curricula often overlook India's history of interreligious engagement, Common Ground launched its "Educators for Pluralism" vertical. Through its Peace Labs, the initiative has supported 3,000 teachers with research-based tools to encourage more inclusive classrooms.

"We move beyond colonial-era frameworks," the approach emphasises. The Labs co-develop peace curricula that treat religious history as a shared learning model, integrating storytelling and puppetry. An object-based curriculum uses religious artefacts and oral traditions from local artisans to make interfaith learning a practical, cultural experience.

Dialogue labs and de-escalation circles

For students, Common Ground has established 91 bi-monthly "Dialogue Rooms" across four states. Here, students practice active listening and a technique called "steelmanning": presenting the strongest version of an argument they disagree with. The results so far are encouraging: post-lab surveys indicate 70% of students show greater readiness for cross-cultural exchanges.

Through collaborations with partners like the United Religions Initiative and Seeds of Peace, Common Ground is demonstrating that the fabric of a pluralistic society can be strengthened gradually, through a classroom discussion, a cricket match, a dialogue between an officer and a citizen, and a law shaped with the goal of harmony.

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