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Peace Education Education
for peace is an essential component of quality basic education. Education for peace is defined
as the process of promoting the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values
needed to bring about behavior changes that will enable children, youth and
adults to prevent conflict and violence, to resolve conflict peacefully and
to create the conditions conducive to peace. |
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Intercultural
communication |
Education for peace, is not a distinct 'subject' in the curriculum, but a process to be mainstreamed into all quality educational experiences Education for peace should be seen as a cross cutting issue to be addressed in all fields of education from pre-school to primary, secondary and tertiary education (UNICEF). Literary
Competition on Peace Education and Conflict Transformation This
competition is just one example for Conflict Transformation and Peace
Education organized by the Basic Education Sector Programme Sri Lanka.
The competition was organized jointly by the Ministry of Education,
the National Institute of Education and the Basic Education Sector Programme
(BESP). Student-teachers were encouraged to write short stories, poems,
essays and songs in three languages, i.e. Sinhala, Tamil and English at
their respective Colleges. In March 2002 the National Colleges of Education
had sent the best contributions to the National Institute of Education and
the Material Development and Training Unit of the BESP. A ‘Peace Day”
was organized on April 30, 2002 marking the final stage of the competition.
This initiative has brought pupils, teachers, student-teachers, teacher
educators and other educational personnel from different communities all
over the island closer to each other and has established greater mutual
understanding with each other. Educational processes inspired by this
competition have contributed to the understanding of the importance of every
ethnic group for the development of the country. More than 50 stories,
poems, essays and songs in Sinhala, Tamil and English were selected by a
panel of judges for publication. The Peace book has meanwhile been
published. Thousands of copies have been distributed to all National
Colleges of Education and primary schools to be used as teaching-learning
materials. The focus of this competition was to raise awareness and
understanding in young readers of the issues related to peace education and
conflict transformation. Addressing these issues is an important aspect of
the education reforms in Sri Lanka. Young children can be positively
oriented towards these issues through the inculcation of fair, just and
respectful attitudes in the classroom and the playground. In exploring these
issues the power of the imagination allows children to begin to understand
and to ‘feel with’ other children in different situations. This is the start of tolerant and understanding attitudes
and the foundation for social values. It is through literature that we most
frequently explore the feeling, experiences and activities that are outside
our immediate experience. For young readers this vicarious experience
through stories, plays or poetry, can help understand or come to terms with
different life experiences. The transforming power of literature can help
both adults and children come to terms with conflict situations and learn to
live together. Ruhuna
- Jaffna The GTZ assisted Basic Education Sector Programme (BESP)
has also organized a student-teachers' Peace Link between the South and
North of Sri Lanka. The student-teachers were selected based on their
general aptitude, academic performance, special talents related to culture,
sports etc. Visiting primary schools was an important part of the Peace
Link. Student-teachers of both Colleges got actively involved in the
teaching-learning process. Ruhuna student-teachers took the initiative and
taught a Sinhala song to Grade 2 pupils of the Chavakachcheri Driburg
College. Student-teachers of Jaffna NCoE reciprocated by teaching a Tamil
song to pupils of Meepawala M V near Galle. No wonder that one
student-teacher from the North said after having stayed for a few days with
his peers from the South "I do not have any fear, because they all got
very friendly with us. Earlier we had our fears but now we do not have that
feeling that much." Highlights of the cultural performances at Jaffna, Kandy
and Ruhuna were the dances jointly done by Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim
students and student-teachers depicting the motto of the Peace Link
"Let us learn to live together". Beside the professional links there was time allotted for
experiencing places related to Srilankan heritage. Visits were made to the
Jaffna Library, the Jaffna Fort and the island of Nagatheepam with a Hindu
and Buddhist temple in the North and in the South the Galle Museum, the
Anglican Church and the Martin Wickremasinghe Folk Museum. Since a bridge will definitely be more durable and steady
if there is an additional pillar in the center it was decided to have a
short pause between Jaffna and Ruhuna at the Girls' High School in Kandy.
Students of this school had already amazed the participants of the Peace Day
at the NIE with their dance accompanied by a peace song that had even
attracted the attention of the Director General UNESCO Paris and the
Managing Director of GTZ during their recent visits to Sri Lanka. It can be taken for granted that activities like this build
confidence and create opportunities to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes
and values required to live and work in dignity and to participate in
development. The competitions at college and national levels and the Peace
Link have contributed to develop a climate, within the college, between the
colleges or in other learning environments, that models peaceful and
rights-respectful behavior in the relationships between all members of
college and school communities, i.e. teacher educators, administrators,
other staff, parents, students-teachers, teachers, students and communities
at large. These intercultural learning opportunities allowed opportunities
for student-teachers and students to put peace-making into practice, both in
the educational setting and in the wider community. These activities were covered by a Young Asia TV team and
eight telecasts on TNL channel in Sinhala and Tamil have been on the air. The German Government through GTZ had made some additional funds available for the literary competition and the Peace Link under the motto "Let us learn to live together". |
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Student-teachers
of Ruhuna National College of Education in the South teaching a Sinhala song
to Tamil students |
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Interpreting
the theme “Learn to Live Together” by Kandy High School girls
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This song and dance could be seen as
a symbol for living together in peace and harmony which is the overall goal
of BESP: "The sun-moon symbol of
togetherness.
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Programme Statistics / All GTZ Assisted Projects in Sri Lanka |
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2004 Design-host: Webvision Sri Lanka |
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