CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of November 1, 2022

Education for peace

A virtual conference advocating that the United Nations recognize a Global Peace Education Day featured 50 peace educators from around the world. They included Anwarul Chowdhury, Federico Mayor, Nobel Peace Laureate Ouidad Bouchamaoui, Gabriela Ramos from UNESCO, Reiner Braun of the International Peace Bureau, Francisco Rojas of the University of Peace, Tony Jenkins of the Global Campaign for Peace Education, Lisa Huber of the National Peace Academy, David Weinberg of the Global Peace Education Network, Philippe Rio of Mayors for Peace and Tezekiah Gabriel of Pathways to Peace. Videos of their presentations are available for the first five listed.

According to the conference notes, “Nuclear holocaust is closer than ever before. Armed conflicts are raging in 27 countries, with civilian populations mistreated by the military. How can peace education help end the threat of war? . . . Because peace education is central to the United Nations central mission, it certainly deserves a special day for public awareness – a day to promote practical efforts in peace education throughout the world, a day to empower educators for peace; a day to connect and celebrate with others in the peace education field.”

Latin America continues to provide leadership for the culture of peace and peace education.

In Colombia , the National Ministry of Education sponsored Education for Peace dialogues in Cartagena, Colombia. More than 150 attendees from different regions of the country included teachers, teaching directors, officials from the secretariats of education, students, representatives of higher education institutions, and social organizations from different parts of the country.

In Panama, it was the Minister of Government, Janaina Tewaney Mencomo, who started the pilot plan of the project “Cultivating Builders of Peace.” This took place at the Justo Arosemena Institute to the joy of fifth graders. The project will be developed through three thematic axes: Values ​​to build peace, Learning to live together and Techniques for the peaceful resolution of school conflicts.

In Argentina, the first edition of the iFLAC World Peace Festival, took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from September 21 to 25. It brought together around 30 poets, artists and cultural leaders, from countries such as Sri Lanka , Argentina, Colombia, United States of America, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile, Haiti, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, among others. Poetry, art and the different cultural manifestations of the countries of the region were present in a fraternal encounter full of hope, with the aim of creating new links and spaces of solidarity, recognition and cultural diffusion.

As CPNN has documented over the years, Africa also continues to provide leadership.

The First Lady of Nigeria, Aisha Muhammadu Buhari has advocated for the mandatory inclusion of peace education in the curriculum of basic education in African schools in order to promote a culture of peace on the continent. She made the call at an event in New York on “The Role of Young Women and Girls in Advancing Peace and Security: Promoting a Culture of Peace in Fragile Settings”. She said it was necessary to include peace education in curriculum because of the peculiarity of conflicts in Africa.

The Ministry of National Education, through the Project to improve the quality and results of education for all in Mali, has decided to implement teacher training activities in the Culture of Peace in all teaching academies. The training aims to build the capacities of teachers in education for the culture of peace; understand the key concepts of peace, culture of peace, peace education, culture of peace education; determine the causes and consequences of conflicts; identify the phases in the development of a conflict.

Elsewhere, peace education is in the news from the Philippines. At least 100 peace education champions across the country converged during the First National Peace Education Summit, to provide recommendations on how to promote peace and understanding in the basic and higher education sectors. Last year, the signing of an Executive Order put peace education at the core of the peacebuilding strategies of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity.

Conclusion from previous bulletin or blog or look for Guterres/peace education As Mahatma Gandhi wrote to Maria Montessori in their famous correspondence: “if we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children and if they will grow up in their natural innocence, we won’t have the struggle, we won’t have to pass fruitless idle resolutions, but we shall go from love to love and peace to peace, until at last all the corners of the world are covered with that peace and love for which, consciously or unconsciously, the whole world is hungering.”