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Government Gazette

Education for peace: redefining the future of the nation

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena recently stated that the country has put a full stop to an era when students belonging to different races looked at each other with suspicion. He further said that in this new era, Sri Lanka is faced with the challenge to use education for peace and sustainable development and the launch of the recent National Action Plan is an initial measure taken by the government to face that challenge.

It is really encouraging to note that as a country poised to achieve the cherished EFA goals by 2015, Sri Lanka has understood the importance of the Education for Peace and sustainable development as a national need of the hour.

Education for peace and sustainable development is a novel concept concentrating on the promotion of the right to education, in line with UNDAF (United Nations Development Assistance Framework) priority area focusing on good governance, peace and stability, and particularly on the promotion of culture of peace.

This article studies one part of the concept: Education for Peace.

Education for Peace may be defined as the process of acquiring the values, the knowledge and developing the attitudes, skills, and behaviours to live in harmony with oneself, with others, and with the natural environment. It will teach the students how to create a violence-free environment, in homes and schools and in the country as a whole. It will encourage the student to love his country and care for others.

Framework

I believe that Education for Peace should initially be developed as a conceptual framework from which schools may devise a programme comprising the teaching of values and enduring attitudes, and the development of skills which will enable our students to become active citizens.

The implementation of this framework should recognize the practice of peaceful relations at all levels: personal, familial, communal, inter-cultural and national. It should be a process which filters all aspects of school life, with implications for students, teachers and administrators and it extends beyond the school to society as a whole.

In the democratic world, eight guiding principles are identified which give direction to teaching and learning for peace. These would indicate the place of ‘values’ in our schools and identify broad themes which can be used throughout the curriculum at appropriate ages. These are (1) dignity, (2) equality, (3) liberty, (4) justice, (5) responsibility, (6) security, (7) solidarity and (8) democracy.

Schools can explore and analyze these principles within their communities so that they are accepted as the foundation for building a culture of peace.

Values

What really are ‘values’? When we think of our values, we think of what is important to us in our lives (e.g., security, independence, wisdom, success, kindness, pleasure). Each individual will hold numerous values with varying degrees of importance.

A particular value may be very important to one person, but not that important to another. Consensus regarding the most useful way to conceptualize basic values has emerged gradually since the 1950s.

We can summarize the main features of the conception of the universal basic values implicit in the writings of many theorists and researchers as follows:

*Values are beliefs. But they are beliefs tied inextricably to emotion, not objective, cold ideas.
*Values are a motivational construct. They refer to the desirable goals people strive to attain.
*Values are abstract goals. This abstract nature distinguishes them from concepts like norms and attitudes.
*Values guide the selection of actions and policies and serve as standards or criteria.
*Values form an ordered system of value priorities that characterize people as individuals.

These five features above are common to all values. We find these values embodied in such Charters as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Rights of the Child, on Women’s Rights, etc. However, in keeping with the general philosophy of Education for Peace, students should be encouraged to examine the context and implications of their own values and those of others to arrive at a set of values which best create a climate of peace.

Root causes

The inclusion of our students in the peace building initiatives will bring vibrancy and creativity to the government’s efforts of nation building. We must have faith that our youths can offer creative energy and active potential for the creation of peace in the country and the world. Therefore, we should let students explore the root causes of conflict, know international humanitarian and human rights laws, envision alternative structures of security, and learn skills for managing micro/macro conflict without violence.

Curricula in peace education can cover a range of topics, including the dialectic between ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ peace, gender and militarism, conflict resolution and the formation of peaceful values. At the end of the studies, let the students understand that ultimate peace requires citizens to contain their aggression, exhibit cooperative behaviour, and resolve conflicts without violence.

Dialogue

Often, Education about Peace is mistaken as Education for Peace. We must let the students understand the difference. Education about peace includes modules on war and peace and leaders of peace movements, such as Gandhi and King. Education for peace, on the other hand, intends to nurture knowledge, values, behaviours and capacities to confront violence.

In real practice, Education for Peace is problem-posing education that attempts to build in every person the values and behaviours on which a culture of peace is proclaimed, including the development of non-violent conflict resolution skills and a commitment to working together to realize a shared and preferred future.

Education for peace raises dialogue on critical issues at the heart of the community in order to transform oppressive systems from a violent orientation toward a culture of Peace. Thus, through Education for Peace, educators and students can critically discuss manifestations of, and justifications for, violence, identify the actors involved and propose peaceful futures.

Beginning

So, where should we begin? Education for peace should begin with questions. What are our problems? What are the values and methods of education needed to tackle those problems? How do our educators develop these required education programmes? These are the core issues to answer.

On the other hand, each student should be guided to answer few questions. Who am I? How do I identify myself? What, if anything, represents me? To what communities do I belong? What is community? How do members define community? What are the assets of a community? What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to a particular community? How do I solve conflicts? How do I involve myself with others in my community? What are examples of conflict and peace building in my community, and how do I harness the potential encapsulated within conflict to transform it?

How do I define violence? Can I justify violence? When do I use violent means? How is violence taught? What are alternatives? How do I learn? What do I learn? Who teaches the content? How is it taught? Who supports the content? In what spaces is peace learned? In what spaces is violence learned? What is done with the learning? These questions are examples of the inquiry-based methodology and reflective practice that should form Education for Peace.

Inquiry-based method

Education for Peace should not necessarily education for activism, though its intent is to create an informed, active and engaged citizenry. The process of this education could be described as a process of revealing world views, biases and unmasking the intent behind education.

It should not pour knowledge into the minds of students or tell them what to do. Nor should it utilize a system of experts who will come into the classroom and tell students what to think. Education for Peace has to help learners begin to raise questions and give students the tools they need to direct their learning. It needs to be an education about how to learn, not what to learn.

 

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