… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …
An article from the Government of the Dominican Republic (translation by CPNN)
The Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic (MINERD) has developed a program aimed at fostering a culture of peace and peaceful conflict resolution in the educational community, especially students.
The National Strategy for a Culture of Peace, as the program is called by the Directorate of Guidance and Psychology of the Vice Ministry of Technical and Pedagogical Services, seeks to strengthen values to form a peace-loving citizenry with the capacity to face and resolve conflicts that may arise in the social environment.
Vice Minister Ancell Scheker pointed out that “the Culture of Peace proposal is implemented with and for all the actors in the educational community, understanding that the school is accompanied by families and in a community context in which we teach and from where we learn to live with the other”.
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What is the relation between peace and education?
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He specified the Culture of Peace program in educational centers develops life skills so that students learn to live with others with a sense of respect, guaranteeing harmonious coexistence and taking into account that conflict is natural to human beings.
In this regard, the Vice Minister of Technical and Pedagogical Services said that the Culture of Peace program teaches that while conflict is natural, what is not natural, nor should it be accepted, are the different forms of violence.
Likewise, the national curriculum, which follows a competency approach, includes transversal axes to strengthen the general themes that guarantee citizen training and the integral development of students.
Among the fundamental competencies that are developed throughout the curriculum, some directly affect the construction of a culture of peace, such as Ethical and Civic Competence, Communication, Problem Solving, Personal and Spiritual Development, and Environmental and Health Competence.
Ancell Scheker cited that the General Directorate of Curriculum recently published a booklet on the culture of peace in digital format to guide teachers on how to address the issue transversally in curricular development.