PETA India and Project CLAW Team Up to Teach Compassion
Exciting news, friends!
PETA India has joined forces with Project CLAW (Compassion Links All Worlds) in engaging a volunteer network of students over 18 years old to teach PETA India’s humane education programme, Compassionate Citizen, to young students (usually aged 8 to 12). Because of the pandemic, PETA India has adapted Compassionate Citizen into an easy-to-use digital format so that volunteers can conduct virtual sessions via Zoom or Google Meet.
Why teach kids using Compassionate Citizen? Most children naturally feel concern and affection for animals but learn cruelty from society and often lose sight of their compassion. A lack of respect for other species can translate into insensitivity and cruelty towards humans, too. It’s well documented by psychologists, sociologists, and law-enforcement officials that acts of violence against animals by children are often an early warning sign of future acts of violence towards humans. The Compassionate Citizen programme encourages students aged 8 through 12 to develop respect and empathy for animals. Through humane education, we can help ensure a future in which animals, humans, and the environment we all live in are treated kindly and respectfully.
Endorsed by the Animal Welfare Board of India and the Central Board of Secondary Education, Compassionate Citizen features a step-by-step guide for teachers, a video with amazing animal footage, student worksheets, inspiring animal stories, and simple analogies to help children realise that animals have feelings, deserve protection, and are like us in all the ways that matter most.
Project CLAW was founded by two young law college students in Mumbai, Anushka Shah and Freya Irani.
You can learn more about the Compassionate Citizen programme here.
