Category Archives: EDUCATION FOR PEACE

USA: Culture of Peace: The wisdom of the 8th-grade Peace Flame Keepers

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE .. .

An article by David Wick from the Ashland Daily Tidings reprinted by the Global Campaign for Peace Education

As the World Peace Flame was lit at the Thalden Pavilion on the Southern Oregon University campus on Sept. 21, Ashland was recognized internationally. A unique part of this ceremony was the role of the newly formed Flame Keepers, made up of students from Kristina Healy’s class at nearby Ashland Middle School. They volunteered to keep the World Peace Flame lit by refueling the oil lamp every Friday during the school year with 100 percent sustainable biomass lamp oil, and keeping the lamp and enclosure clean.


A member of the Ashland Middle School Flame Keepers group tends to the flame. (Photo: Ashland Culture of Peace Commission)
(click on photo to enlarge)

After 11 weeks of Flame Keeper experience, they were asked two questions:

Why is it important to have a World Peace Flame?

What do you like about being a Flame Keeper?

Here are their responses:

Lauren Drabik: The Peace Flame gives hope for peace and it can help change the world and make it a better place for new generations. It is a big honor and there aren’t very many in the world, and you get to be part of something so big! It’s just special to do.

Kendra Caruso: The World Peace Flame brings people together and it helps everyone know there is peace in the world. The Peace Flame represents how everyone is one in the world. I really like it because I was chosen to be handed the flame (during the Sept. 21 lighting ceremony) and I handed it off to someone else who lit the flame. That was a huge honor! I felt like I was a part of the whole celebration of the flame. I think it is really cool to have Flame Keepers because it is a huge honor and because you are doing good for the world and I believe giving back is really nice.

Samara Penn-Kout: Having a World Peace Flame, especially in our small community, is really nice because its being part of something bigger. There are only two in this country and we are helping and being the representatives in the United States and the Northern Hemisphere. We are part of something greater to share with anybody. I love being a Flame Keeper because I feel so good about my actions, it is a big responsibility, and it is really nice because it feels like we are helping peace around the world.

Tara Vivrett: It is such a reminder for people to stay peaceful where they are and it is a constant thing going that you can always look to. It feels like being included because we’re being part of it and we are keeping it going. It is also something you can tell to people around you and that feels good.

Levi Predpelski: It is a reminder every day. Every time I see it I am reminded, “oh ya, be peaceful every day and don’t forget about it.” It is being part of something bigger than myself, it is about community and it is not just about me, it’s about everyone.

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Question related to this article:

What is the best way to teach peace to children?

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Finley Taylor: It is important because it shows us that peace isn’t just one day of the year. It is every day. And it is always there in the background and we should focus on making the world a more peaceful place. It feels like I am doing something important that changes the world. It’s just a good feeling.

Kade Price: It is important because then we know we will have peace all around the world. I like how I can be a part of peace.

CJ McDonnald: It brings people together and it makes you feel peaceful when you are around it, then every place you go you have this going on. It is a huge responsibility and I like refueling the flame with my friends.

Cash Cota: It shows you how much you should enjoy peace and that everybody should enjoy peace and not just certain people. It also shows that our culture is very peaceful as a community and that we deserved it because we can resemble peace a lot and we can also show other people how to be peaceful around the world. I like it because it is really cool to be part of something that no one else has done at this age, and it is also fun just being with friends and enjoying peace together.

Tara Lusk: It is important to represent how peace is all around us, especially in Ashland, a small community town that has a lot of organics and very community (focused). It is nice to have the World Peace Flame represent how peaceful we are here and how we get along together. It’s really fun; I like the responsibility of it. It is a little bit stressful at times, but overall it is a really nice experience.

Madeline Bolin: It reminds us that we should be constantly trying for peace, like always not just one event. The responsibility and knowing that we are helping to achieve peace.

River Collins: Having the World Peace Flame shows triumph over hate and is a check point in our history to accomplish peace. It is fun and because people see me as a peaceful person, not angry and more peaceful. This supports the change in the world.

Kristina Healey (teacher): I think it is always wonderful to have a reminder about peace. Peace in your own mind and heart and community and all the way beyond. And to know that they are originating from the same place of peace here on our planet. I like that I was able to do it, to be the vehicle to keep it (a focus on peace) going here in Ashland. I really loved to see the kids and how they we saying, “Oh this is so much responsibility, I don’t know if I can do it,” and just to empower them that we can do it if we all work together. We check that calendar, we go over (to the World Peace Flame Monument across the street) and we go through the directions. (The students) have felt very privileged and responsible about keeping the flame going for people who come and visit the Peace Flame in Ashland. We talk about it in class and some of the kid’s families have gone over, outside of class to see what it is all about. Anything to remind kids, our school district, our city that we are not finite, we are connected, we are bigger than that. So having the Peace Flame here reminds us of the importance of the commitment to peace.

When we wonder what peace really means, go ask an eighth grader at Ashland Middle School.

Email comments and questions to ashlandcpc@gmail.com. The ACPC website is www.ashlandcpc.org; like the commission on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AshlandCultureofPeaceCommission;

follow twitter.com/AshlandPeace on Twitter. All are welcome to join the ACPC’s Talking Circle at 11 a.m. each Tuesday and Community Meeting at 4 p.m. each Wednesday, both at the ACPC office, 33 First St., Suite 1, diagonally across Lithia Way from the Ashland Post Office.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, North America

USA: Season for Nonviolence begins 5th Season

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by John and Bev Titus in the Urban Citizen

The Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Fund is proud to announce the fifth annual Season for Nonviolence initiative. Joined by Urbana University, a branch campus of Franklin University, and the City of Urbana, the 140th International City of Peace, this year’s Season for Nonviolence is taking place Jan. 30-April 4. The 64-day national educational, media and grassroots campaign is dedicated to demonstrating that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform and empower our lives and our communities.

The Season for Nonviolence was organized in 1997 to commemorate the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With a growing foundation of support, the Season for Nonviolence has become an important educational and media opportunity to bring communities together, empowering them to envision and help create a nonviolent world, one heart and one program at a time.

This year’s Season for Nonviolence kicked off this week with the Great Kindness Challenge. The Challenge is a bullying prevention program for Pre-K through 12th-grade students that creates a culture of kindness.

Students are encouraged to perform as many acts of kindness as they can throughout the week. Last year, more than 4,500 students from the Urbana City schools, Graham Local, West Liberty Salem, and the Mechanicsburg School districts took part in this global event. Some schools chose to extend their week of kindness to one month, and many committed to practicing and promoting kindness throughout their entire school year. Our students joined with more than 10.5 million students in nearly 20,000 schools representing over 100 countries to carry out more than 500 million “Acts of Kindness” in just one week!

Everyone in our Urbana City of Peace community is invited to join in the challenge and support our youth in their efforts to be kind. A family-friendly version” of the “Great Kindness Challenge” was created and used by more than 1,600 community members last year to provide ideas for random acts of kindness that can be practiced at home, at work and throughout our extended community. Visit the “Kids for Peace” (Great Kindness Challenge) website to download the Family Edition checklist at https://thegreatkindnesschallenge.com/familychecklist/.

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Question for this article:

Can peace be guaranteed through nonviolent means?

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Cities of Peace exhibit at UU

The 2019 Season for Nonviolence will include the International Cities of Peace exhibit displayed at Urbana University’s Sara Landess Room, Feb. 11-May 6. The Cities of Peace exhibit opens Feb. 11 at 5 p.m. with a panel discussion. The panel members include Fred Arment, Executive Director of the International Cities of Peace; City of Urbana Mayor Bill Bean; Bev Titus, co-founder of the Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Fund; and students from Urbana and Champaign County schools, to discuss local efforts to create a culture of peace within our community and support “Cities of Peace” around the world.

The International Cities of Peace exhibit consists of 12 panels that represent “Cities of Peace” around the world as well as the newly designed Urbana City of Peace panel. The “Cities of Peace” exhibit panels address the issues of: what are Cities of Peace, are Cities of Peace important, what is a culture of peace, fostering our peace economy, and “International Cities of Peace” locations. The Cities of Peace exhibit will open Feb. 11 at 5 p.m. with a panel discussion.

To conclude this year’s effort, the Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Fund will offer another free 6-week “Nonviolent Communication” workshop for community members, high school students and Urbana University students. Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is an approach to living that has roots in Gandhi’s teachings on nonviolence. The concept refers not only to physical violence, but also to any other way we “attack” others or ourselves, such as through judgment, criticism, and blaming.

Many of us long to hold others and ourselves with consideration and respect, but we sometimes find it hard to live these values in daily life. NVC gives us practical tools for embodying these values in any situation.

Diane Diller, an NVC trainer certified by the Global Center for Nonviolent Communication, will share how this practice helps us to communicate in a more loving and respectful way.

The community is invited to attend these workshops Mondays, March 18 through April 22, from 6:30–8:30 p.m. in the Moore Conference Room, located in the Urbana University Student Center.

To register for the Nonviolent Communication Workshop and find out more about the Cities of Peace Exhibit please call Stephani Islam at 937-772-9246. Space is limited and the class is free, so please RSVP.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, North America

Mexico: Government of AMLO will include new subjects in schools

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from Nacion 321

Esteban Moctezuma, Secretary of Public Education [SEP] , said that the subject of civics will be taught in Mexican schools and other changes will be implemented in the curriculum to “include the promotion of values, civility, the culture of peace, international solidarity, respect for human rights, history, culture, art, especially, the music, sports and respect for the environment ”


Video: Presentation of education reform initiative

During the working meeting that took place on January 28 with the United commissions for Education and Constitutional Issues, the head of the SEP said that the union of these matters is what they call “an integral education”.

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(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

Questions for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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In addition, he pointed out that if you want a country without violence and a culture of peace, the initiative to reform education presented by the federal government “will create that new Mexican school.” The work is yet to be done, but the law is the framework that will allow us to do it”.

He insisted that the Education Reform approved in the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto did not signify any significant progress, for which he asked the legislators to repeal the reform and “give a new channel to the educational project.”

He indicated that universality, integrality, equity and excellence as basic postulates of public education are added to the traditional principles of education.

ENGLISH STILL WITHOUT PROFESSORS WHO SPEAK IT

In an interview with Javier Solórzano, Moctezuma said that they will teach English even before the normal teachers learn that language.

“Obviously you have to teach English in the normal, but we thought and we have been studying a method, in which through a very powerful platform can enable a teacher who does not know English, to coordinate a group that is working with the platform, “the secretary told Solórzano.

He explained that in this way, they could have the ability to teach the language almost immediately, while if “you wait for the normal teachers to learn English” it would take longer to be able to “provide that tool to Mexican children”.
 

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

USA: Appalachian Peace Education Center

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

Excerpts from the website of the Appalachian Peace Education Center

In 1982, APEC opened an office in Abingdon, Virginia, representing small peace groups in coalfield  and agricultural communities such as Big Stone Gap, St. Charles, and Dungannan and Bristol. First focusing on education around nuclear disarmament, military spending, and cold war politics, the organization grew to oppose U.S. government’s intervention in Central America, and became involved in labor rights, conflict resolution, race relations, and opposition to U.S.-sponsored wars and military presence around the globe. APEC members demonstrated publicly for years against the U.S. initiating and conducting war in Iraq. APEC continues its work for peace and justice today, welcoming new peacemakers in the era of President Trump.


Current Activities

32nd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr., March and Celebration
Abingdon, Virginia, Saturday, January 19, 2019

12:30 pm: “People Like Us: Building Allies for Justice” led by Jerry Hill. Charles Wesley UMC, 322 East Main St.

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Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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1:30pm: March begins at Charles Wesley UMC, 322 East Main St. We invite organizations to bring a banner or sign that identifies their group as part of this community event. (We’ll march 3 blocks to…)

2:00 pm: Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration – Abingdon UMC, 101 East Main Street.

On Wednesday, 6th March 2019, Cameroon Peace Foundation Association, in collaboration with the Global Campaign for Peace Education, launched a National Campaign for Peace Education in Buea. The Campaign brought together religious leaders, lecturers, teachers and police officers.

The purpose of the campaign is to create awareness about the need to introduce peace in Cameroon schools. With Cameroon facing a very critical moment in its history, when everything has failed to bring back the peace that is desired and cherished, Cameroon needs to review its educational system. Peace education is a timely intervention and the best weapon to fight against terrorism and violence.

“Peace education is education for human dignity, and is capable of dismantling a culture of war that is pervading Cameroonian society,” said Mforndip Ben Oru, the coordinator of the Cameroon Peace Foundation.
At the close of the launching, it was agreed that peace education is the pathway to a culture of peace. The next stop for the Campaign will be in Bamenda in the North West Region of Cameroon. The Campaign intends to visit all 10 regions of Cameroon.

The Cameroon Peace Foundation is seeking $5000 to support the next steps of the Campaign. If you are able to donate, please contact Mforndip Ben Oru: ben.mforndip@gmail.com

Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North
Film Screening and Discussion led by Filmmaker Katrina Browne

St Thomas Episcopal Church, 124 East Main Street, Abingdon, Virginia

Thursday, January 17th
Reception at 5:30 pm, Program at 6:00 pm

This documentary, first shown on PBS’s POV, describes a New England family’s discovery of their ancestors’ slave-trading past and how their present white privilege was gained generations ago.​ Event sponsored by St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

Bristol’s 2nd Annual MLK, Jr., March and Celebration
Monday, January 21st

1:30 pm – March – Gather on MLK Blvd. 
in Tennessee gather at YMCA; In Virginia gather at First Christian Church
2:45 pm – MLK Celebration at Bristol Train Station

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, North America

West Africa: Stakeholders call for support of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from ECOWAS, Economic Community of West African States

The Plans of Action (PoA) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)’ Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF) were launched on the 28th of January 2019 at the ECOWAS Commission headquarters, in Abuja, Nigeria.


officials cutting the ribbon for the launch

The Framework’s 15 Components with peace-building mechanisms, provide, among others, tools for strengthening regional and national capacities for preventing violent conflicts or their recurrence in the region.
 
In his opening statement at the event, the ECOWAS Commission’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security General Francis Béhanzin noted that the ECPF was established for the realization of the dream of a stable and secured West African region with strong democratic institutions, resilient border security and an environment conducive to economic growth and productivity.
 
Calling for the support and collective ownership of the Framework, Commissioner Béhanzin maintained that the ideal of a peaceful, progressive and prosperous region had been the main motivation of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council when it adopted the ECPF in 2008.
 
According to him, beyond the ECOWAS Commission and Member States, conflict prevention is the responsibility of the citizens of the community, civil society activists, academics, civil servants and the international community including Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Diplomatic Missions.

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Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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As adopted, the ECPF is to operationalize the 1999 Protocol on the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and security. General Béhanzin stressed in this regard that the Framework is to “serve as a guiding reference for the ECOWAS Member states to strengthen human security in the region”

Introducing the broad objectives of the Framework, the Director of Political Affairs of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Remi Ajibewa remarked that what has been birthed is a solid platform for channeling partners’ cooperation to ensure stable, peaceful and more prosperous West Africa while enabling ECOWAS to consolidate on the peace building gains made so far.
 
The Charge d’Affairs of the embassy of Switzerland in Nigeria Mrs Anne-Beatrice Bullinger held that the new and comprehensive ECPF Action Plans represent a very important step forward towards “a coherent, coordinated, complementary and effective implementation of the Framework by ECOWAS, its Member States and the civil society”
 
The Danish ambassador to Nigeria Mr. Jesper Kamp stressed that the government Denmark is supporting the ECPF processes in keeping faith with the strides of the regional community as an “indispensable organization for peace, security and governance across West Africa.
 
Ambassador Kamp said further that the planned activities “provide a platform for youth as well as women. Only through the inclusion of these groups can we ensure that solutions are sustainable”.
 
The keynote address of the Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria Ambassador Ketil karlsen resonated by painting the image of the ECPF as that of a noteworthy conflict prevention instrument.
 
A presentation of the PoA made by the Commission’s Principal Officer, for Conflict Prevention Mr. Constant Gnacadja revealed the Framework as a comprehensive, operational, conflict prevention and peace-building strategy that is a harbinger of hope through a timely resolution of conflicts in the region.
 
The PoA are to drive the activities of the 15 components of the ECPF which are: Early warning, preventive diplomacy, democracy and political governance, human rights and rule of law, media, natural resource governance, cross-border initiatives and security governance, Women, peace and security, youth empowerment, ECOWAS Stand-By Force, Humanitarian assistance, peace education (Culture of peace) as well as its Enabling Mechanism.
 
The ECPF processes are being supported by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the European Union (EU) among others.

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

“Peace and Love rooms in schools”

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

Sent to CPNN by Shahin Gavanji, World Peace Ambassador

Here on the earth, we have thousands of religions and ideologies in which their creators were completely sure about their authenticity. But every day we are faced with wars and bloodsheds. We should ask ourselves why?

When I was a kid I wanted to grow up and tell the world “I love you, let’s love each other and be friends”, so that no kid should be without shelter and food. But as I was growing up a question troubled me: what does peace mean? Is it just the absence of war? Or does it mean something beyond that? I saw countries in which there is no war but nobody gives water to the tree of love. Indeed what happen to the world if the tree of love becomes thirsty?


Shahin Gavanji on left
(click on photo to enlarge)

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Question related to this article:

What is the best way to teach peace to children?

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Then an idea came to my mind. What we teach to our children in childhood and adolescence is the same as what they will build in the world. Our children spend most of their time in schools. They get familiar with physics and mathematics, but nobody make them familiar with the most important subjects which are Love and Friendship. Indeed there is no lesson related to these important subjects. In my opinion if in every school we make a room with the name” Peace and Love room”, students will get familiar with the basis of peace and love.

With attention to students we can increase the self confidence between them so that they understand that they can help humankind at the national and international levels. We should teach the student how to love other in this industrial world. Every student can communicate with students in other schools. They should learn “international love” by sending a letter or a picture. In this room the students should learn the equality of men and women.

In this way children can grow up with Love as an essential part of their lives, because they have become familiar with it for many years and it was one of the most important challenges they have faced.

By the use of this idea we can create a world without enmity and hatred, a world of social justice without poverty, racism and any racial discrimination. We can live in a world with social safety, equity, peace and love and the tree of love will no longer be thirsty anywhere in the world.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global

Book review: On the frontlines of peace

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from  Peace News

In places like South Sudan, Syria and Congo failed peace pacts have devastating consequences. Now, renowned author Séverine Autesserre is writing a new book [“On the frontlines of peace”] that focuses on a different approach to peace than traditional high-level negotiations: ‘peace from below’. And where it’s working.


video

“Peace from below is peace built by ordinary people, people like you and me,” Dr Autesserre, a professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University, said. 
 
“It’s peace that’s built by teachers who go and decide to meet with former students who have become militia leaders, it’s peace built by uncles, mothers, fathers, cousins, who go and meet with family members who are fighting. It’s peace built by local leaders as well, by traditional chiefs or local mayors or local elite who decide to do whatever they can to mediate conflict within their communities.”
 
Just one peace summit, arranged at a national or international level can cost millions, so why aren’t the big negotiations working?
 
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with peace by political leaders,” said Dr Autesserre. “Except that very often it doesn’t happen, it just doesn’t work.”

”What happens is political leaders sign agreements, sometimes they hold elections, and very often the media headlines praise peace, and then a week or two later – sometimes just days after – violence flares up again. Often it never actually ended, and in many cases it lasts for years after.”
 
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Question for this article:

What are the most important books about the culture of peace?

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“The problem is that currently we are always focusing our efforts on the top, on political leaders, on elite, and we very rarely support peace at the grassroots.”
 
But Dr Autesserre explained that lasting peace requires both these top-down and ground-up approaches. 
 
“Because very often the causes of violence themselves are both top-down and bottom-up. The causes are both political leaders who are fighting (presidents, rebel leaders who are fighting) but also ordinary people who are fighting or who are supporting combatants.”

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo the residents on the island of Idjwi have used a ‘peace from below’ approach to avoid violence, despite surrounding conflict claiming millions of lives.

“Idjwi has all of the conditions that have led to violence in surrounding provinces in other parts of Congo,” said Dr Autesserre. “So you have ethnic tension, you have land conflict, you have geo-strategic location, mineral resources, I could go on and on. But the inhabitants of Idjwi have managed to build peace, and maintain peace, by building on ordinary people and local leaders.”


”What they’ve done is promoted what they call a ‘culture of peace’ – they are very, very proud of their identity as a peaceful island.”


The island’s schools, churches and local organizations strengthen peace here, and respect for local customs also helps. For example, the community sometimes build on blood pacts, a kind of traditional promise between two families who to refrain from violence against each other.

A lack of research means grassroots peacebuilding needs more attention in the academic sphere, but there’s one common theme Dr Autesserre has observed in the various locations she’s studied.
 
“It’s, again, the involvement of ordinary people and local leaders,” she said. 
 
“It’s really the fact that every single member of the community feels that is it his or her responsibility to help build peace, rather than waiting on a Hail Mary, or rather than waiting on a savior, rather than waiting for political leaders, or for United Nations peacekeepers to come and build peace, it’s really taking peace in to their own hands and trying to build peace on an everyday level. That’s what really matters.”

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global

Lesotho: Is 2019 a year of peace in our schools as peaceful school model takes shape?

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Development for Peace Education

“Students’ enthusiasm in learning has been unleashed by peaceful school model”. This was said by teachers at Fusi and Hareeng teachers at the plenary session organised by Development for Peace Education in Maseru on the 11th December 2018. They shared how the students took a lead on different activities they were assigned responsibility on.


Molefi Pakiso teacher at Fusi Secondary, Senekane Community Council  in Berea shared his excitement “ through the effectiveness of  sports minister the school is now engaging on sports activities unlike the past years….”..

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Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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Madam Joalane Sekoati from Hareeng High School said she was amazed by one of the campaigners who used teachers’ dodging of classes as his promise message. “one of the students who campaigned for the position of education minister stated that he is going to ensure that a teacher who may miss his/her lessons will pay for those lessons missed…… that  made every teacher to attend lessons to avoid further embarrassment ….”. She said.

A total of 12 schools in the 8 DPE areas are ready to have students’ elections in the first quarter of 2019. This shall be preceded by leadership orientation on peaceful school model that shall take teachers and principals including those not directly involved.This shall make all DPE areas have functional peaceful school models. It is anticipated that schools will deal better with conflicts and employ peaceful strategies to address problems. Involving students positively will enhance school performance. The baseline study on how these schools deal with conflict and how students are allowed and enabled to participate in the creation of peaceful learning environment is underway. It shall be used against what would have been achieved in the next 18 months. This initiative is proudly supported by Bread for the World.       

Africa, EDUCATION FOR PEACE

Promotion of peace and peace education through schooling: Perspectives and experiences of girls and boys in Mauritius

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

Abstract from the thesis of Priya Darshini Baligadoo at Nottingham University

This thesis explores young boys’ and girls’ perceptions and experiences of their schooling in the small island developing state of Mauritius. It brings to the forefront problems related to cultural and structural violence that can hamper a peaceful schooling in three state secondary schools: a single-sex girls’ school, a single-sex boys’ school and a mixed school which also promote the educational theories of M.K. Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. The findings reveal that there can be a ‘fideistic’ attitude to Gandhi and Tagore in this context, which highlight the need for a critical peace education that question taken-for-granted assumptions. It also shows that in schools, problems can be hidden and not discussed.

video of Priya Darshini Baligadoo

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Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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The methodology was based on a participatory worldview that asserts the importance of a ‘holistic inquiry’ and learning from the ‘Other’ for peaceful coexistence. In this regard, there can be serious ethical challenges for a ‘native’ researcher to conduct participatory research with young people in a small-connected community like Mauritius.

The research also brings together various philosophies of education and peace for the promotion of peace education. It builds on commonalities from the East and West to highlight the importance of the ‘holistic’ in peace education. It promotes the concept of ‘wholeness’ as much emphasised in the East. The research was informed by M.K. Gandhi’s, Rabindranath Tagore’s and Maria Montessori’s educational theories for peace. It was also gender-sensitive and promoted a ‘peace-focused-feminism’, which is grounded in the Eastern philosophies of ‘Yin’ and ‘Yang’, ‘Shakti’ and ‘Shiva’ and ‘Prakriti’ and ‘Purusha’.

[Editor’s note: The full thesis is available from the University by requesting here.]

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, South Asia

Mexico: Teachers from more than 800 schools trained in culture of peace

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Notimx

With the objective of sensitizing Mexican teachers about the importance of the process of peaceful conflict transformation within the classroom and school, the Secretary of Education of the State of Mexico, through the Council for School Coexistence ( Convive), has launched the program “Learning to live together in a culture of peace”.


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Questions for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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As the central axis of this program, Convive has developed a series of manuals for teachers, students and parents at all educational, which provide theoretical and practical tools for the strengthening of harmonious coexistence .

In this regard, Elizabeth Ozuna Rivero, Director General of the Council, explained that the program follows the educational policy of Governor Alfredo Del Mazo Maza, who positions the education sector as one of the determining factors for the welfare of society. In the first stage of the program the principals of the primary schools of the regions of Toluca, Atlacomulco, Metepec and Valle de Bravo were trained, representing a coverage of 876 schools, both public and incorporated.

It is intended that by 2019, all schools in the state will have this material that will strengthen the teaching task to promote a culture for peace.

In addition, training sessions will be conducted for school leaders in each of the regions of the State of Mexico.

(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America