Standardised peace education urgently needed to contain conflicts

A standardised package of peace education offered in primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities, prisons, villages and workplaces can enable Africa and other parts of the world prevent conflicts and resolve existing ones peacefully and quickly, instead of doing so violently or delaying or doing so at the last minute or doing nothing at all. It should be a kind of peace education that includes or covers human rights education, values education, good parenting, environmental education, decency, morality, democracy, good governance, equal opportunity, economic empowerment, integrity, transparency, accountability, civilisation, the rule of law, constitutionality, peaceful and fair competition before and during elections, good citizenship, objectivity, tolerance, constructive criticism and patriotism, the advantages of repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and amicable dialogue as a means of avoiding and or preventing conflicts, and as a sure way of equipping people in conflict, with a civilised and decent way of resolving conflicts between them peacefully rather than violently. In order for it to succeed, it should be intertwined with any readily available decent, traditional methods of preventing conflicts, resolving existing ones peacefully and quickly instead of violently or delaying or doing so at the last minute or doing nothing at all. The best way to make peace education effective so that it gradually becomes part of the people’s culture in a country, in a sustainable manner, Governments of Africa and those of other parts of the world should include it as a subject or course in their systems of education or curricula. This is because no country is capable of absolutely containing conflicts within her borders, not to affect other countries in the region or in the world. Therefore it is sensible and effective for countries to cooperate and work together in this regard instead of acting alone. A good example is civil strife which usually culminates to a situation of internally displaced people (IDPs), fleeing from one part of the country to another and or refugees fleeing a particular country to neighbouring countries or other countries. Governments that are already including peace building and conflict resolution in their national development plans, budgets and policies, should specially be commended and encouraged to continue doing so, to ensure peace and stability. An agreed, standardised package of peace education will promote the best practice of dealing with conflicts. It will also rule out sub standard handling of the same, limiting and or reducing risks, damage and loss. In order to effectively determine the right dosage of peace education to teach to each level of people, students or trainees, Governments and their agencies should research or sponsor researches on the different dosages suitable for primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities, prisons, workplaces and villages. Offered peace education will have the effect of positively influencing the evolution of a peaceful, humane and responsible culture in the communities. Upon attainment of the same, it will spontaneously serve as a people’s cultural tool in preventing conflicts and resolving existing ones peacefully and quickly instead of violently or delaying or doing so at the last minute or being complacent. Civil Society Organisations InvolvementGuided by existing Peace Education tools, civil society organisations, covering non governmental organisations, community based organisations, faith based organisations and private business entities should start including peace building and conflict resolution in their policies, programmes and budgets. They should do so as they do for HIV/AIDs and health and safety in general. They must wake up to the fact that all of us are potential victims of the consequences of lack of peace in our respective countries and or wherever we are. Those mainly or specifically concerned with peace building and conflict resolution should devise a strategy of beginning their work, after registration, by identifying and introducing themselves to relevant Government structures and platforms in the respective country. They should do so with such structures at national, provincial or regional, district, county, sub county, parish, ward and village level. They should use the same opportunity to introduce the programmes and projects they want to mobilise and inspire particular communities about in the country, to prevent conflicts and respond responsibly to those that they fail to prevent. They should work through the structures to reach the communities and accordingly mobilise them to know how to reduce likely conflicts, how to effectively respond to those they have failed to prevent, including allaying their fear and panic, so that they respond constructively to contain the situation. They should also let such communities know how to become resilient and mitigate suffering, loss of life, the environment and property, and where possible facilitate them materially. They should avoid forming their own structures to rightly avoid duplication of efforts and reinventing the wheel. dalemuta@yahoo.co.uk