Opinion

Through Peace Education, Youth Can Become Vanguards of Peace in the Great Lakes Region

/ Opinion

Over the past five decades, youth have played a central role in the numerous violent conflicts that have afflicted the African Great Lakes Region. The existence of deeply entrenched stereotypes based on ethnicity or nationality has been a key impediment for the prospects of peace. These stereotypes, marinated over the decades, have long been internalised by local communities and have regrettably been handed down to successive generations. We have a strong conviction that peace education offers the promise of nurturing a new generation of youth into vanguards of peace in the Great Lakes Region. It is on this premise that the ICGLR and Interpeace will bring together key stakeholders from the region to a Peace Education Summit in Nairobi on 3 – 4 March 2016.

Educar para la paz: mucho más que una cátedra (Colombia)

/ Opinion

De cara al posconflicto, la pregunta sobre el papel de la educaciónha estado presente en diversos ámbitos, tanto académicos como mediáticos. La primera reacción de nuestros legisladores siempre ha sido proponer cátedras: de convivencia, prevención de acoso escolar, protección del agua, del páramo… y ahora de la paz. Esto evidencia la poca o nula reflexión sobre el rol de la escuela en diálogo con la normatividad vigente y los retos de la sociedad actual, además de un gran desconocimiento de los problemas de fondo del sector educativo.

Impacts of the Privatization of Public Education

/ Opinion

The political economy of public sector failure is wholly ignored when schools are declared failing and threatened with closure. Further, parents, guardians, community members, educators, and youth are systematically excluded from decisions to close schools and plans to redesign their replacements. The cover story about saving communities from educational crisis grows a bit suspect when the very communities presumably being saved are kept out of the process–and their children are often denied admission to the replacement schools.

Working for world peace here at home

/ Opinion

David Smith suggests that to hope and pray for peace, though showing good intentions, will not prevent the tragedies we might face. Though most are not connected to efforts that focus directly on preventing violence, everyone can work for world peace in 2016. He suggests five things everyone can do to work for peace: learn about conflict, engage and share, model peace, identify and use peaceful means, and support good policies.

Children have no place in the British army

/ Opinion

As the UK armed forces continue with their policy of targeting visits disproportionately to schools in deprived areas and children from low-income families, the Department of Education ignores the UN’s recommendations that some form of peace education should be part of the curriculum in UK state schools, and supports initiatives encouraging a military ethos.

Beyond Gun Control

/ Opinion

(Original article: Laura Finley, CounterPunch, Dec. 3, 2015) Surely some uber-conservative political candidates will call me out on “politicizing tragedy” but I don’t care. I don’t want to pray for …

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