Eastleigh College recently hosted a successful faith event for students, during Inter Faith week (12^th November – 18^th November), with a panel that included a good depiction of our local community representing Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism.

A range of questions were asked by the audience, which prompted an interesting and intelligent discussion covering what faith can mean to an individual (regardless of what they believe), what faith can mean to a community, how faith can support an individual in difficult times and how misrepresentations and misunderstandings of certain faiths can be addressed in the modern society we live in.

Ajay Ladher, Eastleigh College’s Faith Champion and the Coordinator of this faith event, created the session after spotting an opportunity when talking to students. He explained:

“As I spoke to students around the College more and more I was finding that students had many insightful questions about different faiths. Therefore, due to this, and inspired by similar events in my county, I decided to create an event which provided a safe space for students to ask these questions and understand more about the faiths that make up our local community.”

When asked his thoughts on the event, Sanjay Rajo, Pastoral Assistant at Southampton Lighthouse International Church and the Christianity representative on the panel, commented:

“I think it was a great event. It is really important for people to have a safe space to be able to have discussions about faith, even if opinions might differ. This event offered that, which was fantastic to see as in modern day life, especially when young people are concerned, events like these are now quite rare.”

Ranji Bali, Community Worker at Eastleigh Borough Council, who was amongst the guests who attended the event, also remarked:

“The event was a great success! Events like these allow guests to understand more about different faiths. In a world where you sometimes get a different opinion from the media to what people are like in reality, this further awareness is so important.”

To find out more about the College’s faith policy, that welcomes students from all faiths and those of none, and the dedicated facilities we have to practice faith in the College, please click here.