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The first step that he took at a very young age of 23 years was to establish a school (CMS) in 1959 to provide 'Jai-Jagat' based quality education to children, with only 5 students. Education provided was highly appreciated by parents and public as is evident from the fact that CMS figures in the Guinness Book of World Records as the 'world's largest school' with present enrolment of over 35,000 students. CMS was awarded 'UNESCO Prize for Peace Education' in 2002 in recognition of its efforts to promote the universal values of education for peace and tolerance. Having failed to move the politicians of the world, the second step he took was to approach the World Judiciary as he believes that World Judiciary is the only and the last hope for survival of humanity and therefore he is organizing every year for the past seven years, the World Judiciary Summits and the International Conferences of Chief Justices of the World of which the 9th Annual Conference, the World Judiciary Summit will be held in December 2008. The vision: Jagdish Gandhi, through his noble deeds and conduct, has always demonstrated the trust he has placed in people, displaying that human generosity that opens up the mind and heart and so often leads to the accomplishments of major achievements at the very frontiers of what is possible. He is convinced that constructing the defenses of peace in the minds of men starts from the premise that it is education that lays the foundations of mutual trust which underlie tolerance and fruitful cooperation in building a just and law-abiding world community, supportive of fundamental freedoms and human rights. The work of Jagdish Gandhi is a reflection of this approach and of the desire to promote the universal values of tolerance and education for peace through a more fruitful, non-sectarian vision, at a time when every form of intolerance and the hideous faces of injustice and war are to be seen all over the world. His efforts have always been directed to promoting peace in the minds of men in order that humanity may move on from a culture of violence to a culture of sharing, tolerance and justice. At a time when, in India, as in the rest of the world, religious, sectarian and nationalistic hatreds are threatening to tear apart whole communities and are destabilizing many regions, Jagdish Gandhi is to be looked up to for promoting the ideals of peace, religious harmony, tolerance and co-existence among children of the next generation of decision-makers and through them, among their parents, communities and nations. The following words, pronounced by Confucius over 2600 years ago, remain rich with meaning for our lives: If you are
thinking a year ahead — Plant seeds
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A
visionary and a far-sighted person, Jagdish Gandhi has
been building bridges of peace across the globe for nearly sixty
years. For his long-standing contributions to education in
peace, the United Nations awarded the prestigious UNESCO Prize
for Peace Education in the year 2002 to his unique creation -
the City Montessori School, popularly known as CMS, which Gandhi
founded in 1959 and has been serving as its Founder-Manager.
Among the previous recipients of this prize are Nobel Peace
Prize laureates – Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Rigoberto
Menchu Tum of Guatemala as well as groups such as the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
