World’s First Compassion-Centric Education Programme Concludes in New Delhi
New Delhi, July 5, 2025: Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi emphasized that “courage to confront injustice” is the most essential ingredient for making compassion a global force. Speaking at the concluding ceremony of the first-ever Satyarthi Summer School (SSS) — the world’s inaugural compassion-centric educational initiative — held at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, Satyarthi called for transforming compassion into action.
“Compassion is the power that emerges when we feel someone else’s suffering as our own,” he remarked, addressing an audience of global youth leaders, academicians, and civil society representatives.
The 30-day intensive programme, which ran from June 8 to July 5, brought together 25 young changemakers from 11 countries including the USA, Liberia, Mexico, Palestine, Tajikistan, and others. These participants engaged with world-renowned faculty and explored ways to solve some of the most pressing global challenges through the lens of compassion and empathy.
Organized under the aegis of the Satyarthi Global Policy Institute for Children (SGPIC) and supported by the Satyarthi Movement for Global Compassion (SMGC), the Summer School was designed to create a new generation of empathetic leaders and policy thinkers. The programme was anchored in the Satyarthi Compassion Quotient™ (SCQ) — a unique framework developed to understand and tackle real-world injustices through compassionate thinking and courageous action.
Field Immersions and Ground Realities
A key highlight of the Summer School was the field immersion component, where participants visited child-friendly communities across Delhi and Rajasthan, including Bal Mitra Mandals (Child-Friendly Communities) and Bal Mitra Grams (Child-Friendly Villages). These field visits allowed the participants to witness firsthand the impact of community-led child protection models and interact directly with child leaders and survivors of child labour and exploitation.
Participants joined awareness rallies, spent time at Bal Ashram—a rehabilitation centre for rescued child labourers—and held interactive sessions with children who have been saved from hazardous work environments. These experiences grounded the theoretical frameworks of the summer school in lived realities, allowing participants to develop practical insights into the intersection of compassion, rights, and social justice.
A Global Network of Young Compassion Leaders
As the programme concluded with an inspiring graduation ceremony, Asmita Satyarthi, CEO of SMGC, expressed optimism for the future. “It’s been deeply encouraging to see such a diverse group of youth from multiple countries, universities, and disciplines coming together to build a compassionate world. Their personal stories and collective spirit give me immense hope,” she said.
The Satyarthi Summer School aims to become an annual platform to empower youth leaders who are not only intellectually competent but morally driven. With its successful first edition now concluded, the initiative sets a precedent for integrating compassion into global policy discourse and grassroots activism.
In a world grappling with deep divides and systemic injustices, the message from the Satyarthi Summer School is clear — empathy, when paired with courage and action, can truly change the world.
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