Differences of cultures, nationalities, languages and gender in educative systems often play into factors like low self-esteem, learning difficulties, and social exclusion. In addition to this, discrimination and violence in schools lead to lower outcomes, higher drop-out rates, and obstacles in the integration process of minority students. The FRIENDS project seeks a solution for this! FRIENDS is a 24-month project co-funded by the Erasmus program of the European Union under the Key Action 3: Support for policy reform: social inclusion through education, training, and youth. It aims to contribute to national and European strategies in response to the “Paris Declaration”, fostering social inclusion and intercultural understanding in education systems through the implementation on a wider scale of an innovative whole-school approach known as the Quiet Time based on the Transcendental Meditation program (Quiet Time/TM program).
