May 3, 2012
Shabnam Baloch

The most critical mistake of recent times is to take peace for granted. No formal action is taken to institutionalise peace in order to prevent wars, conflicts, violence and extremism. Education perhaps can be the most powerful tool to inculcate deeper values of peace, harmony and tolerance for diversity and differences in social fabric. Moreover, it can also help to revisit and understand the multiple dynamics of conflicts and the triggering factors, stimulating violent feelings and emotions among individuals and different ethnic and religious groups. This unbiased and neutral understanding is the only way that can lead to more meaningful resolution of the existing problems and prevent their existence in future.

The direct and formal role of education in promoting peace and the reconstitution of a tolerant society is clearly neglected in our policies and practices. Both our future and present generations have the fundamental human right to live in peace. All of us have an ethical responsibility to hand down to future generations a culture of peace and tolerance. We need not to overlook the key role of education in today’s globalised world, which should be more focused on promoting understanding of multiculturalism and civilised and non-violent coexistence.

Tolerance is the most critical prerequisite for peace. It is a formula for the civilised coexistence of all citizens of the world with their diverse range of perceptions, cultures and religio-ethnic practices and beliefs. This is the key ingredient for nurturing a harmonious, stable, livable and lasting existence of social life in its natural diversity.

It is estimated that there are around 7,000 various ethnic and national groups present in the world today. Most of these groups aim at some form of autonomy or recognition as an independent or sovereign state. All of them want to be mainstreamed in the global scenario. Such aspirations can lead to intensification of conflicts, mass migrations, and wars. Tensions between individuals, communities and states mostly stem from bias, intolerance and manipulation of the rights of others, which can be a major threat to stability and peace. As per the old words of wisdom, ‘Prevention is better than cure.’ Education is the only means to prevent violence on a mass scale.

As per UNESCO’s Declaration on the Responsibilities of present generations towards future generations, “The present generation should ensure that both the present and future generations learn to live together in peace, security, respect for international law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Moreover, the same declaration further claims, “The present generation should spare future generations the scourge of war. To that end, they should avoid exposing future generations to the harmful consequences of armed conflicts as well as all other forms of aggressions and use of weapons, contrary to humanitarian principles.” All this can be materialised and sustained through predesigned and focused interventions of wide range educational policies and programmes.

In most situations of conflict, where religion and history is often manipulated or exploited, identity is enhanced to sustain the unity of the group. Education helps to explore multiple identities of individuals and groups and enables them to identify a million ways to relate to each other. It is especially meaningful in today’s modern world where ethnic, religious, social and cultural diversity is everywhere and only 10 percent of states out of more than 200 states are mono-ethnic.

Education though schools can be the most effective way to sensitise citizens for social and religious harmony, multiculturalism and pluralism. The curriculum should be conceived and designed in ways that help pupils internalise the values of respect for diversity, peace and tolerance. Approaches regarding teaching of history and religion need to be especially revisited to identify what message they are delivering to the young minds of learners and what can be the consequences of such messages in the long run. What may appear as balanced, justified and fair to one group may be perceived by another as a provocation and manipulation of facts and realities.

All cultures around the globe are the result of our learning. A global culture of peace, tolerance and respect for diversity can also be learned through planned educational interventions. The current education system should be able to promote understanding of multiculturalism and the philosophy of unity in diversity as a fundamental principle of civilisation. Unfortunately, since the last couple of decades, our education system is focusing only on creating an economically and technologically competitive citizenry. The world realised after the aftermath of 9/11 that global citizens should be educated for peaceful coexistence rather than economic competitiveness.

Policy reforms, curriculum enhancement with the integration of peace and tolerance as key components and teaching methodologies are the areas to be focused upon in order to unlock the potential of education to reconstruct a more peaceful, tolerant and inclusive society. It is therefore crucial to devise and implement preventive policies and educational programmes to obtain the maximum benefits of this approach.

Such a landmark move of introducing peace education and mainstreaming it in our educational policy and packages will be specifically beneficial in the context of Pakistan, where more than 50 percent of the population consists of youth who can play a significant role in redefining the social fabric by demonstrating values of tolerance and respect for diversity. It will help in discouraging extremism, discrimination and violence in any form and shape. This will also lead to the realisation of the dreams of those who aspire for human rights and social justice for all human beings irrespective of their caste or creed. Peace education should no longer be taken for granted and it should be institutionalised.

The writer is the Provincial Manager of Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO). She can be reached at shabnam@spopk.org
-Daily Times