Peacebuilding Through Education Conference. - September 24, 2012

International conference on peacebuilding through education has been successfully held in the Times Center, New York. Minister of Education of Philippines, Minister of Education and Vocational Training of Tanzania, Secretary of Higher Education of New Jersey, and many other professors from different countries have presented their works with policy implications. Topics covered in the conference varied from the education policies of specific countries to the methodologies in peace education.

Having observed bullying, violence and some cases of deaths in schools in Philippines, Minister Armin Luistro explained how education policy had been effective in fighting against these issues. To improve education and foster friendships, students are constantly encouraged to compete as well as to build teams and work together. These values are believed to enhance “co-opetition”, or competitive cooperation, in other words.

 Shukuru Jumanne Kawambwa, Minister of Education and Vocational Training of Tanzania, first introduced Tanzania and its education system to the conference participants. With a diverse population which consists of Christians, Muslims and adherents of other traditional religions, Tanzania has been successful in political stability. This has been possible through education system which was designed to strengthen peaceful coexistence among followers of different religion. Although Tanzania is a secular state, Minister explained that religion is taught in primary and secondary schools with a significant emphasis on tolerance and coexistence. There are several private schools in Tanzania such as Feza schools. These schools have been opened by devoted people from Turkey. The main goal of the Feza schools is to grow a golden generation. To achieve it, these schools teach integrity of character, tolerance and respect in addition to the strong emphasis on science and mathematics. 

Rochelle Hendricks, Secretary of Higher Education of New Jersey, explained how education system in the state of New Jersey is designed to promote and teach peace. Students in K-12 grades are taught values such as sharing and thanking. State legislature requires teaching of the Holocaust and other genocides as well as the history of African Americans. Students in the state are engaged in community services and deal with issues such as poverty, crime and disease. These experiences significantly improve students’ understanding of their community and people who live there. The tie between the schools and communities gives students confidence to work on the solution for the public issues together. The Secretary underlined the importance of higher education in New Jersey which focuses not only on educating future elites of the world, but also future leaders who are in services of the people of the world.

In panel discussion on the principles and methodologies of peace education, Dr. Johnston McMaster, from the Irish Institute of Ecumenics in Belfast, explained peacebuilding education from the glocal perspective. In glocalized world, global and local are together. We live with our own narratives, history, stories in our communities. However, we are also under tremendous impact of other narratives, cultures, ideologies, religions. Therefore education for peacebuilding has to be understood and designed from the glocal perspective. Schools opened by the Gulen movement can be understood from this point of view. Their focus in curriculum is on science and mathematics as well as ethics and character building. Global skills and local values are all in one education system. 

In this panel, Dr. Alp Aslandogan, president of the Alliance for Shared Values, explained how Hizmet, a movement inspired by Fethullah Gulen, transformed form national to international movement. The concept of the committed core within the Hizmet movement has been essential in mobilizing community to fight against violence, substance abuse and poverty. Inclusiveness of the movement has enabled many members of different communities to come together and establish schools, clinics, relief agencies and interfaith dialogue institute around the world. These institutions have been at the core of the Hizmet movement in improving education, healthcare and fighting poverty in disadvantaged communities. 

Michael Anthony Samuel, another panelist and former Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, discussed the concept of the peace education and explained that there could be potential undesired effect if we intervened formal education in order to include peace education. For him, peace education is not heroism, but small actions which will have big consequences in the future. 

Making peace with pictures was another interesting topic of the panel. Dr. David Perlmutter, Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication in University of Iowa, explained how images have been used to communicate from the beginning of the humanity. Images have influenced public opinion about countries and people of different origins. Dr. Perlmutter argued that the same methodology can be used in international conflict resolution as well as in promotion of better understanding of other nations. 

Professor Thomas Gage’s (Professor Emeritus in English at Humboldt State University) discussion on methods and tools used in secondary and community colleges for six years shows in practice how such internet based methods in peace education is critical. Cross cultural fluency program has been designed and implemented to engage students “here” with students “there”. This method of educating peace, tolerance, understanding others can be a useful model or tool for other instructors and can alleviate the international tensions and misunderstandings, foster friendships and build dialogue among peoples of different nations. 

Dr. Hilary Cremin from University of Cambridge makes clear distinctions among peace-keeping, peace-making and peace-building to understand what schools really need to establish. In peace-keeping, metal detectors, codes of conduct and behavioral interventions may create a hostile environment in schools. School management is more authoritative. Peace-making includes activities such as peer mediation, restorative justice and anti-bullying initiatives. This is a reactive process in peace education. Dr. Cremin argues that peace-building, which is a proactive process, is essential in school environment. By establishing Peace Circles, students and adults can develop their social skills which will build long lasting peace and prevent crime and violence in schools and communities. 

  Panel “Peace as a Shared Ideal” was another essential part of the conference. Dr. Agneta Ucko, Director of Arigatou International, explained how her organization implements ethics education for children which is important in today’s multicultural and pluralistic societies. She argued that informal education should be provided to students in addition to the formal school education. Children have to be given opportunities to learn about other cultures. This is essential in today’s societies.

Professor Ihsan Yilmaz from Fatih University argued that Turkish nationalism which consisted of elements such as laicism, Ataturkism, sunnism and Turkism, have been source of some internal conflicts in modern Turkey. Leftists and rightists had violent clashes with each other resulting in many deaths of youngsters. Fethullah Gulen’s ideas and initiatives, in this context, have been essential in promoting domestic peace among those groups. Inclusiveness of the Hizmet movement, its openness and promotion of dialogue has had a tremendous impact on the relationships between the conflicting sides. Initiation of interfaith dialogue was the first of its kind in Turkey. Minority groups with various religious affiliations could for the first time come together to understand others. Abant platform, which was initiated by the Journalists and Writers Foundation, has opened doors to academicians, writers and journalists with different ideological views. The platform which brought violently conflicting sides together has also been one of its kind in modern Turkey. 

Friedrick Affolter, from the UNICEF, defined concepts such as peace and conflict. These definitions are important since most of the researches and discussions about these topics may by referring to different concepts while using the same word. He has explained how project in Sierra Leone had been implemented. One of the important points in his discussion was the need for more research on the effects of education on peacebuilding. Most of the discussions on this topic have been focused on individual cases rather than large sample quantitative studies.