Learning via Model UN

United Nations is an international body which looks into a whole lot of issues happening around the world. Model United Nations is the replica of United Nations where global issues are discussed by the students who roleplay to be diplomats of member nations. Model United Nations otherwise called as Model UN or MUN is basically an academic simulation which helps a student to learn about the United Nations, its initiatives and global politics.

What can a student learn or gain from a Model UN?

There are a lot of things which a student can benefit from by attending a Model UN, be it at school or a college. Learning of global politics, negotiations, public speaking, document drafting are a few skills to name which one can learn in a Model UN. The idea has always been to propagate the knowledge on global politics and also to give a platform for youth to understand United Nations via Model UN.

A Model UN is often organized for three days and on the third day, a draft resolution will be presented and then based on the voting it will be passed or failed. If passed, that becomes a solution paper which later will be implemented in all the member countries.

How is Model UN shaping in Hyderabad?

In Hyderabad, there were times years ago when Model Un was a serious affair. Often student use to attend these conferences in order to learn the policies of UN and to polish their diplomacy and debate skills. In the recent times, there is a drastic down fall of Model UN in Hyderabad.

Not many schools or colleges organize Model UN conferences these days. The limited number of schools which organize Model UN in their school are often being partial with the evaluation and awards. There have been instances where the executive board or the secretariat were pressurized by the host school management to give away the awards to their students only.

Schools and colleges; hoped to be temples of learning are propagating things like these. I, as a student was often made understood that, ‘winning or losing is not the point, taking part, being there on the field, and enjoying your moment is what matters’. If we look at the current scenario, there is partiality and traits, which are killing the spirit in students by minimalizing the learning aspects.

Very well reputed and so called international schools also are falling in the game of pride and prestige, but they are forgetting the fact of being true to their own students, and the idea they are propagating is surely leading the minds of students in negative dimension.

There are a number of student run private bodies as well in the city which organize Model UN conference, but they are also not booming off late. Private Conferences did make a difference in the society long back, but off late, private conferences are becoming more like a hub for partying and not learning.

In a lot of conferences, faculty advisers also take part as observers, and while speaking with a few of them, I realised that even they could learn a lot from each session they attended. MUNs are epitome of learning, especially for those who are aspiring to pursue international relations, politics and global trade as their career.

How can the situation get better to keep the MUN culture alive and safe?

As there is not governing body or an authority to moderate, we ourselves should take initiatives in keeping the culture alive and active. There are countless people who got benefitted by being a part of Model UN conferences in the past.

In numerous cases, it is all due to the active participation in Model UN conferences that people are well settled and are in great positions in the society, and it becomes their and our prime responsibility to bring change in the current scenario.

Schools and Colleges should keep their doors open to everyone to be a part of the conference. Another dynamic which is sad is the fee paid to attend the conference, a common man would never be able to afford to pay that amount of fee. Till today, not many conferences catered to the underprivileged yet knowledgeable youth. Students who could attend Model UN were quite often the elite or upper middle-class.

The learning dynamics via Model UN are many and it caters to over-all development of the students and also helps them grow to become better social beings, as they are now equipped with knowledge on global issues and the UN.

If a student has to understand or learn civics, attending conferences likes these would be more appropriate and practical. Youth Parliament or Mock Parliament are two initiatives which are taken up by schools to impart the learning of civics to their students, and these are quite successful initiatives, but are not implemented on a large scale or in many schools. Having implemented these in all schools will surely bring a change in learning system to a little extent.

Extra-curricular or Co-curricular activities is a term used often, an education system which can change these words to ‘activity-based learning’ by giving them the same importance as to the other subjects would solve the problem faced by students to a very good extent.

By Kalyan Raygalla (The writer is a facilitator in Department of Mass Communication at St Mary’s College)