The importance of ‘peace education’ in schools
What peace values do we need to teach school-goers who will shape and influence the future of the only country in the world where four world religions originated? How shall we go about explaining that humans can be both noble and terrible? We have already learned how to raise healthier children than before. What shall we do about making them better people than their ancestors were ?
We need to ask this question more urgently than ever before, because we are now confronted with new challenges … islands of growth amidst swamps of stagnation, highrises of prosperity amidst slums of poverty, growls of caste and class discontent, the growing militancy of the marginalised. In parallel we notice the soaring aspirations of the younger generation anxious to be ‘globalised’. These imbalances in society are mirrored by the imbalances in personal and family life, the inability of this want-it-all generation to manage work, family and leisure without succumbing to stress. The answer lies in education. Not merely literacy, but a holistic approach to schooling that touches hearts while training minds. Our school system must make space and allot time for peace and value education.
Deserves serious attention
What is ‘education for peace’ and how might it be taught? That the idea
of peace can and should be taught originated in countries torn by
chronic war and crippled by ethnic conflicts over several generations.
Though educational think-tanks in India have with every curriculum
revision planned different approaches to ethics education in schools,
most recently it was the NCERT’s National Curriculum Framework (2005)
that designed peace education for Indian school-goers. It is an approach
that seeks to nurture the ethical development of young people, along
with values, attitudes and skills required for living in harmony with
oneself, with others and with Nature. It embodies the joy of living and
encompasses respect for human rights, justice, cultural and religious
diversity, cooperation and social responsibility. It includes a
commitment to democratic values and non-violent resolution of conflicts.
It is part of every academic subject in the curriculum, but goes well
beyond each of them. Its purpose is to understand different kinds of
hostility, identify them, discuss the reasons and causes and seek
solutions to potentially disruptive events and undercurrents of
disaffection. Therefore, it should receive serious attention from all
educators.
Yet many teachers still say, “We have no time for this; we have hardly time as it is to complete the portions in all the subjects.” This attitude presupposes that the purpose of education is to achieve good grades in examinations, be successful in a job interview or land a scholarship to study abroad. This is rather like the busy business executive who had ‘no time’ for exercise till he had a heart attack. Peace education in schools is not a luxury option. It must be seen as a basic need for the future health of the nation.
Maria Montessori said, “All education is for peace.” It takes just a cursory glance at some of the deeds of some of our “educated” citizens to tell us how much more we need to put into our educational system. If children continue to be exposed to aggression, tension and the pressure to perform, without any counter-balancing inputs to restore emotional balance and an optimistic attitude to life, they will certainly grow up to exhibit dysfunctional behaviour marked by nervousness and anxiety, with an inability to love anyone least of all themselves.
It is in the family and the classroom that children can be taught peace-making skills … about the nature of conflicts and how they can be resolved. The time spent teaching children to develop good communication and cooperative skills, teaching them how to relax and deal logically with conflict situations, helping them to forgive others, forgive themselves, and value themselves and others is an important investment in our future.
Two years ago, protesting against the proposed
reservation policy in medical colleges, medical students of Delhi swept
streets and polished shoes under the full glare of the media, while the
patients went home still sick. What was the message they sent out to
those who sweep streets and polish shoes for a living? Does mockery of
the less privileged constitute a valid form of protest? Being
‘sensitive’ does not mean merely being touchy and taking offence. It
also means feeling touched and feeling compassion. Peace education can
introduce children to this second meaning of the word.
Violence takes many forms. Hunger, grinding poverty and lack of basic
needs are forms of economic violence, not often recognised and
acknowledged. So also is the misuse of power, both political and
economic, to deny rights to others. Surely the future citizens of this
country need to be taught the essentials of social equity and gender
justice, their own rights and their responsibilities towards their
fellow citizens. This goes beyond ‘civics’ and enters the moral
dimension. Peace education places great emphasis on social and gender
justice as the only viable means of ensuring prosperity with peace.
Inter-faith harmony
Tolerance is also a crucial component of peace education. A
multi-religious society like ours, with religious practices and beliefs
linked intimately to lifestyles and forming part of the public
discourse, is particularly vulnerable to the poison of intolerance. It
is essential to make an early beginning in every classroom to promote
tolerance and mutual respect for all religions so as to ensure
inter-faith harmony. This is not only for ensuring absence of conflict,
but for enriching every child’s life with our uniquely rich heritage,
which is a treasure we all share.
Peace education lends itself to endless possibilities for innovation. For example, an alert teaching community would do well to seize the opportunity presented by a renewed interest in Gandhi sparked by a recent Hindi film. Teachers could structure peace classes and discussions around various aspects of the Gandhian approach to non-violence. They could have their students discuss the film, re-enact the dialogue, write essays, etc.
Another central node in the peace education package is the concept of ‘ethics’. It transcends the obvious ‘moral science’ ideas of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ or ‘good’ and ‘bad’. The purpose is to understand that not all situations lend themselves to black-and-white categorisations. The child must be helped to develop the skills to analyse the ‘grey areas’, be open to new information and ideas, and consciously seek out harmonious solutions to potentially divisive situations. This involves intellectual application, emotional sensitivity, integrity and honourable behaviour – all essential to the truly holistic development of a human being, and all part of what peace education can help to deliver.
In a world of increasing competitiveness and winner-takes-all attitude, we have been giving our children the mantra – “aim for success”. A more fitting mantra for today’s youth would be: “aim to make a difference and change something for the better”. We need citizens to lead, to speak, to act... and also to care, to listen and to feel.
The purpose of peace education is to put the ‘human’ back into the human being. What are we waiting for?
Mini Krishnan and Malini Seshadri
26 May 2009
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=3&theme=&usrsess=1&id=255721