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| Wednesday, 17 November 2004 |
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Dr. Michael Hirth, Head of Program GTZ, Basic Education Sector Program (BESP) said fulfilling children's basic psychological needs is the most important aspect of peace education. He was speaking at the inauguration of the international event 'Promoting a Culture of Peace' at the National College of Education, Pasdun rata. He said: Let me thank you for the invitation to this international conference which gives me the opportunity to share, ideas about "Promoting a Culture of Peace" and to talk very briefly about "psycho-social health as a precondition for social cohesion". Peace Education in Sri Lanka has many divergent meanings for different individuals in different places. For some peace education is mainly a matter of changing mind sets, the general purpose is to promote understanding, respect and tolerance for yesterday's enemies. For others the general purpose is to acquire non-violent disposition and conflict resolution skills. Prime examples for such would be violence prevention programs, peer mediation and conflict resolution programs. For others peace education is mainly a matter of promoting human rights, while for the representatives of the more affluent countries it is often a matter of environmentalism and disarmament. Could experience with peer mediation in a western country school district enlighten peace educators in Sri Lanka? What is the core of peace education and its typical attitudes? How does it relate to its relatives - conflict resolution, mediation, democratic education, human rights education, civil education, value education and the like or are all of these to be treated as variants from each other? In the following I refer to children as that is where non-violence and education for peace needs to start, focussing on three main fields of activities: Children need to be educated about the human tendency to differentiate between "us" and "them". This is often the most basic source, a corner stone of violence, especially for group violence. These roots include the tendency of the human mind to categorise, into tall and short, nice and ugly, as well as "us" and "them". Fulfilling children's basic psychological needs this is the most general and important aspect of peace education as all children have fundamental psychological needs. These include needs for security, for a positive identity, for a positive connection to others, for autonomy, for feelings of effectiveness and control, and for a meaningful comprehension of the world. To fulfil these needs, children require affection and nurture. They also require guidance, offered in a positive manner. They need rules based on and explained in terms of comprehensible values. Children also need discipline, but this ought to be positive rather than punitive, discipline that does not diminish the child and does not break connection to other people. When children are frustrated to a significant extent, the building blocks for hostility and aggression will develop insecurity, disconnection and mis-trust. But when basic psychological needs are fulfilled, the building blocks for caring about others welfare will be present. Therefore the core of peace education reflects the development of caring and non-aggressive children who are as adults able to relate to people in peaceful ways. Thus, actually peace education can be seen as a socialization process because the above-mentioned objectives are concerned with the internalisation of specific world views, but - and this is the precondition for the development of a successful peace approach - as defined by the Sri Lankan Society. Means that a universal goal is embedded into the unique situation of each society and even locality. How is this socialization process designed? Education for - let me call it - "Social Cohesion" can be regarded neither as a separate subject matter nor as a project. It must be seen as an educational orientation, which provides the objectives and the instructional framework for learning in schools. Causes of war, types of peace, meaning of justice, importance of equality, causes for discrimination must be incorporated into educational objectives and be interwoven into their instruction. Through this process students learn to view and review current issues in society. Let me finalise with the words that as a consequence programs will be tailored to address the real and most urgent needs of our children because that is where "Social Cohesion" needs to start. |
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