Peace Education

Gandhi - Ambassador of Peace

PEACE EDUCATION

Global peace has become a major concern these days. There is a general restlessness in the entire world which is leading to widespread violence. Empathy for others, democratic living, secular values have been relegated to the background. In their place fundamentalism and terrorism have taken control of the world. Educatinoal process seems to have lost track of the original purpose of bringing out the best in each individual. In stead, even schooling is seen as a part of the rat race for which we are preparing the posterity. Under these circumstances, there is a great need to reconsider our own objectives of education and ensure that the principles of right living and non-violence are incorporated into the process of Education. One such effort is reflected in the efforts to think of Peace Education as a part of the school curriculum.

Peace Education is relatively a new subject though earlier through value education we indirectly worked on peace education too. The NCF-2005 has proposed Peace Education as a conscious process to be incorporated in the school curriculum. The objectives as stated in the position paper on Peace Education are as follows.

1. bringing about peace-orientation in individuals through education;
2. nurturing in students the social skills and outlook needed to live together in harmony;
3. reinforcing social justice, as envisaged in the Constitution;
4. the need and duty to propagate a secular culture;
5. education as a catalyst for activating a democratic culture;
6. the scope for promoting national integration through education; and
7. education for peace as a lifestyle movement.

Useful Web links

You would probably like to know more about Peace Education. The following link takes you to the position paper published by the NCERT in connection with NCF 2005. Please go through the paper and make your observations about this concept. You can write down your views and open a dialogue with any of your colleagues on Peace Education.

• Position Paper on Peace Education .. this link is broken --Valerie Taylor 22:53, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_education

• http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001593/159355e.pdf

• Video on What Peace Means to Children - no longer links to a specific video --Valerie Taylor 22:54, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Activity

Do we need to have a separate subject for imparting Peace Education or can we integrate Peace Education into our existing subjects? Discuss. Send the findings of your discussions to your online facilitator and to kumaraswamy64@gmail.com