Tanveer Hossain Khan :
Education is a process through which human beings stay close together. It is important to recognise the essential role of education in building a culture of peace in order to help promote democracy. Education for peace imply an active concept of peace through installing values, life skills and knowledge in a spirit of equality, respect, sympathy, understanding and mutual enjoyment among individuals, groups and nations. It is an integrated comprehensive education system focusing on covering human rights, democracy, international understanding, tolerance, non-violence, multiculturalism, and all other values conveyed through the school curriculum.
A culture of peace must take root in the classroom from an early age. It must continue to be reflected in the curricula at secondary and tertiary levels. However, the skills for peace and non-violence can only be learned and perfected through practice. Active listening, dialogue, meditation and cooperative learning are delicate skills to develop. It is education in the widest sense – a dynamic, longer term process. It means providing both children and adults with an understanding of and respect for universal values and rights.
It requires participation at all levels – family, schools, workplaces, newsrooms, playgrounds, and the community as well as the nation. There are not just lessons for the classroom but lessons for life of immediate relevance, empowering individuals to achieve a just society in which all human rights of all are valued and respected.
Peace education is an all-round education of each individual. It should be extended to everyone, including refugees, migrant children, children from minority groups and the disabled with the objective of promoting equal opportunities through education. The training of teachers, education workers and all education stakeholders, including staff from ministries of education is crucial.
Education promotes the development of everyone, so as to enable everyone to contribute to society in a caring and responsible manner.
In order to recruit and retain the best teachers, governments should give priority to adequate salary, which must provide teachers with a reasonable standard of living for themselves and for their families, as well as the means of enhancing their professional qualifications by developing their knowledge and improving their cultural resources.
Governments must also focus on providing attractive working conditions including small class sizes, career paths and more opportunities for professional growth and development, financial and other incentives, and support systems for new teachers, such as monitoring programmes. Education is a participatory and interactive process of instruction and learning, and the curriculum and pedagogy should give prominence to understanding wealth and distinctive cultural and linguistic characteristics in response to globalisation.
The educational context should provide programmes addressing psychological and physical violence. So, in conclusion, it can be stated that peace education works as a leading form of education in creating a prosperous future for students.
