The YUVA program of FIHCR targets India’s vibrant young demographic to foster a deep appreciation for the nation’s rich history, culture and heritage. It focuses on age groups of six to twelve and twelve to eighteen years to create awareness and sustained interest in India’s lesser-known facets and the unsung warriors and leaders who have significantly contributed to its legacy.
YUVA Objectives
Educational Engagement
To develop and disseminate educational materials that are both informative and engaging, ensuring that young learners are captivated by the stories of India’s past.
Awareness and Appreciation
To create awareness among the youth about the importance of learning one’s history and culture and foster a sense of pride and appreciation, ensuring a generation that is aware of their past and confident of their future.
Inspiration and Role Models
To highlight the lives and contributions of unsung warriors and leaders, providing young individuals with role models from India’s rich historical tapestry.
Initiatives by YUVA
YUVA Books Series:
A key initiative under YUVA is the YUVA Books Series—four carefully written titles that present India’s history in a clear, balanced, and accessible way. The series seeks to help children connect with the past thoughtfully and imaginatively.
Sri Aurobindo Annual History Essay Competition:
The Sri Aurobindo Annual History Essay Competition is designed to nurture curiosity, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of Indian history among school students. Drawing inspiration from Sri Aurobindo’s vision of India’s cultural renaissance, the competition aims to encourage young minds to engage with historical events, figures, and ideas in a meaningful way.
Itihasa Unplugged:
Itihasa Unplugged is a series of Instagram Live sessions where we engage with historians, authors, and scholars to explore lesser-known narratives from India’s past. The aim is to move beyond textbooks and create meaningful engagement with history, especially for younger audiences. Our previous sessions feature our founder-director, Dr. Vikram Sampath and authors such as Dr. Pradeep Chakravarthy, Mala Kumar, and Chandrachur Ghose, among others.
Exploring History in Classrooms
Through FIHCR’s Yuva programme, we are committed to making history more interesting and engaging for children. As part of this programme, to gain insights into the current state of history education, the Yuva team visited the Sri Sathya Sai Loka Seva Schools to hear firsthand from students and teachers about their experiences with the subject. We learned that, while many students are genuinely interested in history, the heavy syllabus and focus on memorizing dates and events often diminish the joy of learning. Both students and teachers expressed a strong need for a more dynamic approach to history education—one that goes beyond textbooks by incorporating more pictures, videos, and stories to make historical events come alive.
Teachers also emphasized the importance of including local history and diverse narratives that resonate more personally with students. Many suggested that history lessons could be enhanced through multimedia tools that make the subject more engaging and relevant. Our visit highlighted an opportunity to rethink how history is taught, focusing on a more engaging and well-rounded approach that captivates young minds and fosters a deeper understanding of the past.
