POSITION PAPER

NATIONAL FOCUS GROUPON

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

3.4

First EditionSeptember 2006 Asvina 1928

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Peace, as an integrative perspective for the school curriculum, is an idea whose time has come.Education for peace, as distinguished from peace education, acknowledges the goal of promotinga culture of peace as the purpose shaping the enterprise of education. If implemented withvigour and vision, education for peace can make learning a joyful and meaningful experience.

Peace and Education for Peace are then defined, and the need to introduce education forpeace in the school curriculum is viewed, albeit very briefly, from the global and national perspective.Education for Peace requires a reduction in curriculum load. Peace offers a contextually appropriateand pedagogically gainful point of coherence for all values. The complementarity of peace andjustice is underlined. In the event of a conflict of interests, the claims of justice must take precedenceover the dynamics of peace in the interests of peace in the long run, lest peace becomes arepressive or retrograde ideology. The need to do justice to teachers is also argued and the settingup of Teachers Tribunals is proposed to address this basic need. Inner peace is identified as theseed of peace, but a note of caution is struck against misunderstanding inner peace as escapismand sanctified selfishness.

This paper reckons with the reality of the alarming increase in violence in school life. It is to this endthat this paper outlines pedagogy for peace. The pivotal role that teachers play in learning is envisagedin education for peace and the need to turn schools into nurseries for peace is also examined.

The paper then examines, in some detail, the major frontiers for education for peace in theIndian context. This is done with reference to the two major goals of education: namely, educationfor personality formation and education to foster responsible citizenship. Citizenship, not religion,is what all Indians share in common. The major frontiers of education for peace are: (a) bringingabout peace-orientation in individuals through education; (b) nurturing in students the social skillsand outlook needed to live together in harmony; (c) reinforcing social justice, as envisaged in theConstitution; (d) the need and duty to propagate a secular culture; (e) education as a catalyst foractivating a democratic culture; (f) the scope for promoting national integration through education;and (g) education for peace as a lifestyle movement.

Attention is then turned to examining the major issues and concerns that an effective implementationof education for peace needs to engage. They include: teacher education, textbook writing, schoolsetting, evaluation, media literacy, parent-teacher partnership and the need to address the practicalimplications of integration as the preferred strategy for implementing education for peace.

If we are to teach real peace in the world we shall have to begin with children.Mahatma Gandhi

All education is for peace.Maria Montessori

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

iv

This paper then attempts to outline the curriculum contents for education for peace. Educationfor peace is not envisaged as a separate subject that would further augment curriculum load, buta perspective from which all subjects are to be taught. Curriculum contents are identified withreference to the goals of education for peace as identified in this paper. The papers suggestionswith respect to curriculum contents are as follows:(i) The primary school years could focus on laying the value foundations for personality formation

and the development of the social skills necessary to live together in harmony. Focus couldthen shift gradually to a perspective on peace, especially to enable students to understand thevalue-foundations of peace. The area of special emphasis here is the need to promote skillsfor the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

(ii) In the upper primary years, students could be enabled to view the culture of peace from theperspective of Indian history, philosophy, and culture.

(iii) Thereafter, education for peace could focus more on citizenship education. A brief introductionto the basic features and ethos of the Constitution is what is envisaged here. The emphasismay shift, thereafter, to peace as a lifestyle movement. Students can be made aware of theneed to for lifestyles conducive to the integrity of creation and stability of society. The variouschallenges to national unity can be the focus thereafter. The main emphasis here must be onpromoting an attitude of respect for diversity and difference. Students also need to be madeaware of the various hindrances to unity.

(iv) At the plus two level, the foci of education for peace could be: (a) understanding the logic,modes and expressions of violence; (b) skills for an objective understanding of issues; and(c) developing a global perspective on peace.The paper also makes a set of suggestions for making the implementation of education for

peace effective and enjoyable.The paper concludes by identifying some of the basic assumptions that shape the approach

to education for peace. These are: (a) schools can be nurseries for peace; (b) teachers can be socialhealers; (c) education for peace can humanise education as a whole; (d) the skills and orientationof peace promote life-long excellence; and (e) justice is integral to peace

A plea is then made, to turn education for peace into a peoples movement. A few notes ofcaution are also struck. The enterprise of education must be cleansed of social and gender injustice;for what is tainted with injustice cannot be a vehicle of peace. Letting the minds of childrenthecitizens of tomorrowbe warped by violence is a serious problem and it needs to beacknowledged and addressed with the seriousness and urgency it merits. Peace must be pursuedwith single-minded vigour and an undeviating sense of purpose. Education for peace, as apioneering move, must be implemented with vision and determination. A casual or half-heartedattempt could trivialise it and aggravate cynicism about its efficacy.

Dr. Valson Thampu (Chairperson)G-3, Administration Block, St. StephensHospital, Tis Hazari, Delhi-110 054

Dr. Mini KrishnanOxford HouseOxford University Press289, Anna SalaiChennai-600 006, Tamil Nadu

Dr. Kalpana VenugopalLecturer in EducationRegional Institute of Education (NCERT)Mysore-570 006, Karnataka

Prof. R.C. TripathiDirectorG.B. Pant Social Science InstituteYamuna Enclave, JhusiAllahabad-211 019, Uttar Pradesh

Dr. Kamlesh Sen6A/53, WEA Karol BaghNew Delhi-110 005

Prof. K.M. GuptaDepartment of EducationRegional Institute of Education (NCERT)Ajmer-305 004, Rajasthan

Prof. Naresh DadhichDepartment of Political ScienceUniversity of RajasthanJaipur- 302 004, Rajasthan

MEMBERS OF NATIONAL FOCUS GROUP ONEDUCATION FOR PEACE

Smt. Asha NairPrincipalAmrita VidyalayamSector VII, Pushp Vihar, SaketNew Delhi-110 017

Dr. Saroj PandeyReaderDepartment of Teacher Educationand Extension (DTEE)NCERT, Sri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi-110 016

Dr. (Smt.) Daya PantDepartment of EducationalPsychology and Foundations ofEducation (DEPFE)NCERT, Sri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi-110 016

Dr. (Smt.) Anjum SibiaDepartment of EducationalPsychology and Foundations ofEducation (DEPFE)NCERT, Sri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi-110 016

Prof. Sushma Gulati (Member Secretary)HeadDepartment of EducationalPsychology and Foundations ofEducation (DEPFE)NCERT, Sri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi-110 016

CONTENTSExecutive Summary ...iiiMembers of National Focus Group on Education for Peace...v

1. CONCEPTS AND CONCERNS ...1

2. A BRIEF BACKGROUND ...52.1 Initiatives: International and National ...52.2 Policy Perspectives: A Brief Overview ...6

3. AN APPROACH TO EDUCATION FOR PEACE ...83.1 Stage-Specific Approach ...83.2 Teachers as Peace Builders ...93.3 Pedagogical Skills and Strategies ...103.4 Integrating Peace Concerns in Classroom Transactions ...12

4. FRONTIERS OF EDUCATION FOR PEACE ...134.1 Personality Formation ...134.2 Living Together in Harmony ...144.3 Responsible Citizenship ...144.4 National Integration ...184.5 Education for Peace as a Lifestyle Movement ...19

5. SOME CRITICAL ISSUES ..195.1 Curriculum Load ...195.2 Textbook Writing ...205.3 Assessment and Examination ..215.4 Teacher Education ...225.5 School Setting ...255.6 The Media and Violence ...265.7 TeacherParent Partnership ...275.8 The Challenge of Integration ...27

6. EDUCATION FOR PEACE: VALUES AND SKILLS ...286.1 Peace Values ...286.2 Peace Skills ...29

7. EDUCATION FOR PEACE: SOME RECOMMENDATIONS ...30

8. CONCLUSION ...32

References ...35

11. CONCEPTS AND CONCERNSAs stated, peace, as an integrative perspective for theschool curriculum, is an idea whose time has come.The purpose of education goes beyond the propagationof knowledge. As Daniel Webster said,

Knowledge does not comprise all that is containedin the larger term of education. The feelings are to bedisciplined. The passions are to be restrained. Trueand worthy motives are to be inspired.And puremorality is to be inculcated in all circumstances.

Education for peace is different from peaceeducation. In the latter, peace is a subject in the syllabus.In the former, peace becomes the shaping vision ofeducation. This implies a paradigm shift in the totaltransaction of education. Currently, the enterprise ofeducation is driven by market forces. Education forpeace is not antagonistic to the market, but it does notrecognise the market as the purpose of education. Themarket is only a part of our life-world. Education forpeace is education for life, and not merely training fora livelihood. Equipping individuals with the values,skills, and attitudes they need to be wholesome personswho live in harmony with others and as responsiblecitizens is the goal of education for peace.

Historically, moral instruction and value education werethe precursors of education for peace. They share much incommon. Religion, according to the National CurriculumFramework for School Education (NCFSE)2000, is asource of value generation. Values and attitudes are thebuilding blocks of the culture of peace. What, then, is uniqueto education for peace? Why should we bother ourselves,or burden students, with a new perspective?

Education for peace calls for a significantreduction, not an increase, in curriculum load. Peaceembodies the joy of living. Learning, from the peaceperspective, has to be a joyful experience. Joy is of the

essence of life. Peace is not unrrelated to pace. In todaysworld, hurry and worry sour the joy of learning andundermine learning and the harmony of life. This isthe stark reality to which the increasing incidence ofsuicide among students draws our attention.

Value education is subsumed in education forpeace, but is not identical with it. Peace is a contextuallyappropriate and pedagogically gainful point ofcoherence for values. Peace concretises the purposeof values and motivates their internalisation. Withoutsuch a framework, the integration of values into thelearning process remains a non-starter. Educating forpeace is, thus, the ideal strategy for contextualising andmaking operative value education. Values areinternalised through experience, which is woefullylacking in the classroom-centred and exclusivelycognitive approach to teaching. Education for peacecalls for a liberation of learning from the confines ofthe classroom and its transformation into a celebrationof awareness enlivened with the delight of discovery.

Education for peace contextualises learning. Welive in an age of unprecedented violence: locally,nationally, and globally. It is a serious matter thatschools, which are meant to be the nurseries of peace,become transmission points for violence. The alumnusof a well-known college in Delhi, to take a recentexample, was found to be running a kidnapping racketin Patna. Consider what an experienced, urban schoolteacher has to say on the change that has come aboutin the school setting. There is a quantum leap inviolence. The words children use are violent. Theirtastes and games are violent. Their relationships areviolent. But I dont blame them. They come fromviolent homes.

Now listen to the anguish of a sweeper in a SouthIndian school, lest we presume that only students are

2vulnerable to violence. She was interviewed by amember of the Focus Group on Education for Peacein the course of a survey conducted for this positionpaper.

Tulasiamma is not a one-off island of anxiety. Shehas innumerable counterparts in urban India. It is not

physical violence that worries every one of them, butwordless emotional violence. Not all of them areworried that their children might turn into terrorists.But they do worry about whether they will ever have asoul-filling heart-to-heart with their children. Increasingemotional alienation, resulting in the erosion of

Will he become a Terrorist or a Goonda? I was 10 years old when my father died in the Satyagraha movement in 1945. Mahatmaji came to see

us. Here, look at this my treasure[she points to a charakha and a white cap]. He gave me this and

said, Do not weep, your father is a hero, come join the Vanaraseva. My elder brother was also in the

movement with Indira Gandhi. We were illiterate in todays sense because we did not attend school.

Now I feel, we were educated. We had these great leaders of the nation to teach us. My grandson, this

little fellow, is just 13 years old now. I have been taking care of him since his mother died 10 years ago.

He was a nice, kind, truthful, and patient child until one day he spoke the truth and got beaten up so

badly that one of his limbs was broken. When the school inspector asked the children about the

school, the teachers, and the facilities, he stood up boldly and spoke. He told the inspector about a boy

who was allowed to copy in the science exam, because he was the Headmasters (HMs) nephew. The

inspector took action on the HM and the HM beat this boy. He engaged some gangsters to beat him

up. I went to the police but to no effect. Today this boy is changed. He gets his way by intimidating

others. He has shifted to another school. He is a hero in the new school because of his physical

might. I do not believe that children learn violence at home. They learn it from school. I have lived

all my life as a Gandhian believing in satya and Ahimsa but can I die peacefully when my own flesh and

blood engage in hinsa? Please do something to change the school learning. Merely talking to them

about peace is insufficient, we need to train them in peacepeace training. Gandhi trained us in

satya and ahimsa for Shantimargam. You tell me that all this is done in Delhitell them to wakeup at

least nowthey have Gandhijis blessings. Go ahead and teach children shanti. I sometimes have

nightmares about this little fellow. Will he turn out to be a terrorist or a goonda? How can I give him

these treasures [the charakha and cap] when he has no belief in ahimsa?

Tulasiamma: a 70-year-old sweeper in a school in Tamil Nadu

3togetherness and the virtual death of communicationat home, is the substance of their silent suffering. Andit threatens to assume epidemic proportions. Alienationis the seed of violence. In alienation, even silencebecomes violence. It needs to be asked if we are notspreading alienation, albeit unwittingly, througheducation by undermining the affective, relational andexperiential aspects of learning. Education of this kindturns children into cerebral machines that master factsand are mastered by them. But it leaves them deficientin emotional and relational skills. As a result, the moreachievement-oriented a person is the less able hetends to be in relating to people, even dear ones,sensitively, reciprocally, and responsibly. Lopsideddevelopment, marked by deficient social imagination,makes children vulnerable to violence. In a surveyconducted for this position paper, 18 per cent of thechildren interviewed were found to take pleasure invarious acts of violence. They enjoyed stoning littlepups and kittens, breaking flower buds off plants,holding butterflies between their fingers, older childrenengaged in eve-teasing and ragging to the extent that itsometimes became fatal.

Faith in violence as a quick-fix problem-solver isan emerging epidemic. Even more worrisome thancrude eruptions of physical violence is the violenceensconced in our craving for achievement andeffectiveness. If India, a country of a billion people,does not win an Olympic gold medal, we believe thatthis is not because we do not develop talent or workhard with a vigorous sense of purpose, but becausewe lack the killer instinct. Opposition parties prefer,not to debate, but to drive their point home by holdingthe Parliament to ransom. We assume that even routinethings cannot be accomplished, unless launchedon a war-footing. Our eagerness to eradicateilliteracy is not matched by a keenness to promote

education. Young people, today get a kick out oftheir birthday parties, by turn them into birthdaybashes. Rather than go out for a drive, they hit theroad and take a spin. Why, we even talk oflaunching peace offensives or waging peace.

Agenda-wars in workplaces, gender-wars in homes,propaganda wars in the public space. The result? Childrengrow up unwittingly schooled in violence. The worstdis-service to a nation is to infect the minds of its childrenwith violence. This is done actively by indoctrinatingyoung minds with ideologies of violence. It is also donepassively by denying them integrative ideals and universalvalues. The citizens of tomorrow need to be empoweredto choose the way of peace; lest, by default, they strayinto the blind alleys of violence. violence literacythreatens to become universal.

But escalating violence is not the only, or even themost important, reason for re-orienting eduction topeace, just as the need to avoid accidents is not themain reason why a car needs to be roadworthy.Accidents must be avoided at all costs. But one doesnot own a car only to avoid accidents. One does so,primarily, to reach desired destinations. Education is anations tryst with destiny. We owe it to our country toensure that the education we impart is conducive tothe health and wholeness of India. Peace is a primerequirement for progress and national integration.Conflicts dissipate our collective energy and destroythe framework for a better quality of life, even whenthe material resources for it are available. Implementingeducation for peace is not only an appropriate strategyfor conflict resolution and conflict avoidance, but alsoa proactive investment in realising the India of ourdreams. Every society in every age has acknowledgedpeace as a noble and necessary ideal. The great spiritualteachers of the past were, in their own ways, educatorsfor peace.

4No value is either absolute or self-sufficient. Valuesare complementary and inter-dependent. A valuebecomes counter-productive when pursued in isolationof other values. Loyalty, for instance, is a value. Butwhen loyalty excludes truth, it degenerates intosycophancy. Speaking the truth, devoid of love, hurtsmore than it heals. Peace, likewise, becomes an alibifor oppression when delinked from a commitment tojustice. Injustice subverts peace. The most pervasiveforms of systemic injustice in our context arediscriminations and disabilities based on caste andgender, both of which further vitiated by povertycontinue to rob millions of children of their theright to education and dignity in school. Caste andgender-based injustices continue to subvert educationas a fundamental right. Addressing and rectifying theseaberrations is a core agenda in education for peace.Denial of access to basic education perpetuatespolitical, economic, and social injustice against theunderprivileged, prejudices them, and excludes themfrom the mainstream of national life. In a societymarked by multiple pockets of endemic injustice, thedemands of justice must take precedence over the claims of peace,paradoxically, for the sake of peace.

Inner peace is the kernel of collective peace.Without this, one may be restless even in a haven ofcalm. In contrast, one who is at peace with himselfcan stay calm in the eye of the storm. This inner peaceshould not, however, be misunderstood as a state ofself-centred apathy, or wilful blindness to humansuffering. Peace implies the ability to respond to thesurrounding suffering and others needs in ways thataffirm faith in the light beyond the darkness. It is inthe presence, not in the absence of turbulence, thatthe capacity for peace is tested and proved. The ability torespond justly and affirmatively to the needs and sufferings ofothers is the hallmark of authentic inner peace. Also, inner

peace is a precondition for proactive solidarity. It isnot an exclusive obsession with peace for oneself, buta commitment to peace for all. It includes, besides, thefortitude to recognise, renounce, resist, and removewhatever undermines peace for all.

The foremost challenge before education for peacethat deserves special mention at the outset, is the needto do justice to teachers. We expect a great deal fromteachers; and the burden of expectations continues tomount. But the duty to do justice to teachers isoverlooked. Teachers day is observed; but we turn ablind eye to how teachers live their lives underpaidand, in some states, paid erratically. In hundreds andthousands of cases, teachers are actually paid a greatdeal less than their salaries on paper. Many of themhave had to pay huge bribes for their jobs and feeldemoralised and aggrieved. Thousands live insmouldering resentment. Even the most lowly workerin the organised sector can have recourse to the labourcourts for the redressal of grievances. There is nocorresponding provision for teachers. It is necessary,therefore, to set up a constitutionally empowered NationalTribunal for Teachers with branches in every State and UnionTerritory to address and redress the grievances of teachers. Inlarge States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, andBihar, it might be necessary to have more than onebranch to ensure accessibility, affordability, andpromptitude. Doing justice to teachers is crucial toimplementing education for peace.

Education for peace seeks to nurture theknowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that comprise aculture of peace. It is a long-term proactive strategy tonurture peaceful persons who resolve conflictsnon-violently. Education for peace is holistic. Itembraces the physical, emotional, intellectual, and socialgrowth of children within a framework of humanvalues. Recognising peace as holistic carries two major

5implications for education for peace. (a) Peace involvesall aspects and dimensions of human existence in aninter-dependent way. Only those who are at peace withthemselves can be at peace with others and developthe sensitivity it takes to be just and caring towardsnature. Spiritual and psychological peace is neitherstable nor viable without social, economic, andecological peace. (b) Peace implies reciprocity. Valueslike love, freedom, and peace can be had only by givingthem to others. Peace for oneself that excludes peacefor others is a dangerous illusion. Education for Peace,hence, has a two-fold purpose: (a) to empowerindividuals to choose the path of peace rather than thepath of violence; and (b) to enabling them to bepeacemakers rather than the consumers of peace.Education for peace is, in this sense, an essentialcomponent of holistic basic education that aims at thecomprehensive development of persons.

Peace is often equated with the absence of violence.To Gandhiji, exploitation was the most familiar and practicalform of violence on an individual by the state, a group,another individual, or by machines; on women by men;and on one nation by another. Peace mandates the practiceof values such as love, truth, justice, equality, tolerance,harmony, humility, togetherness, and self-control.Self-suffering, if need be, is to be preferred to inflictingviolence on others. Gandhijis concept of peace includes:(i) The absence of tensions, conflicts, and all forms

of violence including terrorism and war. Peaceimplies the capacity to live together in harmony.This calls for non-violent ways of resolvingconflicts. Diversity occasions conflicts but conflictsdo not have to eventuate into violence.

(ii) The creation of non-violent social systems, i.e., asociety free from structural violence. The dutyto practice justice: social, economic, cultural, andpolitical. Hunger is systemic violence.

(iii) The absence of exploitation and injustice of everykind.

(iv) International cooperation and understanding. Thisinvolves the creation of a just world order, markedby a willingness to share the earths resources tomeet the needs of all. That is, the need to shiftfrom greed to need.

(v) Ecological balance and conservation. The adoptionof lifestyles conducive to the wholeness ofcreation.

(vi) Peace of mind, or the psycho-spiritual dimensionof peace.Peace begins with the individual and spreads to

the family, to the community, to the nation, and to theglobal village. Promoting a culture of peace, hence,involves a two-pronged strategy. The members of asociety need to be oriented toward peace rather thantoward violence. At the same time, social, economic,and political systems have to be reoriented to peace.The discipline of peace must shape our way of life.Education is vital for the effectiveness of bothstrategies. For this to happen education has to gobeyond the warehousing of information to a celebrationof awareness, which is best facilitated througheducation for peace.

2. A BRIEF BACKGROUND

2.1 Initiatives: International and NationalWe are at present halfway through the decade for thepromotion of a culture of peace, as approved bythe United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1999.2000-2010 was declared by the UNESCO as theInternational Decade for Promotion of a Culture ofPeace and Non-violence for the Children of the World.The last five decades have witnessed several significantadvocacies for education for peace. The UNESCO

6recommendations on education for internationalunderstanding, peace, human rights, and fundamentalfreedoms (1974) and UNESCOs 1994 action plan foreducation for peace, human rights, and democracy,endorsed by 144 countries, are two of the prominentlandmarks. ASPnet was launched by UNESCO in 1953to promote international understanding and peace. Asof 2003, ASPnet includes 7500 institutions rangingfrom nursery schools to teacher training institutions in170 countries. The network is dedicated to the pursuitof peace, liberty, justice, and human development.

An innovative pilot project on peace anddisarmament education is being implemented in fourcountries: Albania, Niger, Peru, and Cambodia, by theUN Department of Disarmament Affairs (UNDDA)and the Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP). The Centrefor Research on Education for peace (CERPE) at theUniversity of Haifa, Israel, which has been functioningsince in 1998 serves as an interdisciplinary andinternational forum for the scholarly study of educationfor peace. The center has undertaken a number ofresearch projects on education for peace. The Earthand Peace Education Associates International (EPE),New York, is yet another organisation which promotesbasic values related to peace, viz., sustainability,non-violence, social justice, intergenerational equity, andparticipatory decision-making. Besides these, a numberof other organisations around the world are workingfor peace.

Many institutions in the country are working forthe promotion of peace, particularly Gandhian ideasof peace, the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Gandhi Smritiand Darshan Samriti, Gandhian Institute of Studies,and Jaipur Peace Foundation being prominentexamples. It is regrettable that peace studies continueto be neglected by Indian academic institutions. Givenour philosophical tradition of ahimsa, cultural heritage

of peaceful co-existence, and the Gandhian legacy ofnon-violent resolution of conflicts that inspires heroesand sagas of peace in other parts of the world, thisstate of affairs should embarrass us.

Although Non-governmental Organisations(NGOs) have been contributing to different aspectsof peace studies, viz., human rights, genderdiscrimination, environment, etc. they do not impacteducation adequately at the school level. There is needfor networking among all such institutions in order toenhance their effectiveness.

2.2 Policy Perspectives: A Brief OverviewThe approach to education in the pre-British period,as the Report of the University Education Commission(1962) points out, was shaped by the awareness thateducation should not stop with the development ofintellectual powers but must provide the studentacode of behaviour based on fundamental principlesof ethics and religion. The British Period, otherwisetermed the Raj, in contrast, marked a hiatus in thehistory of education. The attitude of the Raj wasnegative, even antagonistic, to religious and moraleducation. The Education Commission of 1882,however, ventured to recommend the inclusion ofmoral education in the curriculum, which thegovernment dismissed as impractical in 1884.

The Report of the Central Advisory Board of1944-46, however, marked a departure in the thinkingon the subject. It recognised that religion in the widestsense should inspire all education and that a curriculumdevoid of ethical basis will prove barren in the end.This did not, however, result in any change on theground. The Special Committee appointed to studythe feasibility of implementing this recommendation,under the Chairmanship of Bishop G. D. Barne, cameto the conclusion that religious education should be

7the responsibility of the home and community towhich the pupil belongs.

The Report of the Secondary EducationCommission of 195253 is a significant landmark inthe thinking on moral and religious education. Itidentified character building as the defining goal ofeducation. The supreme end of the educative processshould be the training of the character and personalityof students in such a way that they will be able to realisetheir full potentialities and contribute to the well-beingof the community. The report prescribed moralinstruction as the means to achieve this goal. Itrecommended, besides, an integrative approach tomoral instruction rather than treating it as a separatesubject. In respect of religious instruction, however,the report stipulated that it may be given in schoolonly on a voluntary basis and outside the regular schoolhours, such instruction being confined to the childrenof the particular faith concerned and given with theconsent of the parents and the managements.

The Report of the University EducationCommission (1962) struck a more confident note. Ifwe exclude spiritual training in our institutions, theReport warned, we would be untrue to our wholehistorical development. The Report then goes on tomake a case, not for religious or moral education, butfor evolving a national faith, a national way of lifebased on the Indian outlook on religion, free fromdogmas, rituals and assertions. The EducationCommission of 196466 put the spotlight oneducation and national development, from whichperspective it identified the absence of provision foreducation in social, moral and spiritual values as aserious defect in the curriculum. The commissionrecommended that these values be taught with thehelp, wherever possible, of the ethical teachings of greatreligions. Agreeing with the Sri Prakasa Committee

Report it recommended direct moral instruction forwhich one or two periods a week should be set asidein the school time-table.

The National Policy on Education (1986) expressedconcern over the erosion of essential values and anincreasing cynicism in society. It advocated turningeducation into a forceful tool for the cultivation ofsocial and moral values. Education should fosteruniversal and eternal values, oriented towards the unityand integration of our people. The Programme ofAction of 1992 tried to integrate the variouscomponents of value education into the curriculum atall stages of school education, including the secondarystage.

The National Curriculum Framework for SchoolEducation (2000), echoing the National Policy onEducation (1986), lamented the erosion of theessential social, moral and spiritual values and anincrease in cynicism at all levels. Against this backdrop,the framework advanced a plea to integrate valueeducation into the curriculum. Stating that what wasrequired, however is not religious education buteducation about religions, their basics, the valuesinherent therein and also a comparative study of thephilosophy of all religions. The framework prescribedan integrative approach. Value education and educationabout religions should be judiciously integrated withall subjects of study.

The shift of focus, over the decades, from religiousand moral education to education for peace, via valueeducation, parallels the shifting sense and sensitivitiesin the larger context of education. Remedies point tomaladies. The acceptance of education for peace as anecessary ingredient of holistic education in the westerncontext was driven by deepening anxieties about therise and spread of violence. A similar pattern is obtainedin our context as well.

83. AN APPROACH TO EDUCATION FOR PEACEThe peace opportunities latent in the curriculum aremaximised when the school atmosphere is imbued withthe values and attitudes of peace. Teacherstudentinteractions, lesson designs in textbooks, the pedagogicapproach, and the total life of the school must all beoriented toward peace.

The pedagogic strategy for education for peacepresupposed in this paper is that of integration.Integration is the ideal, especially since peace is anintegrative and all-embracing concept. The integratedapproach is to be understood from two angles. At thebroader level, integration occurs when all the activitiesof the school, curricular as well as co-curricular, aregeared toward education for peace. At the classroomlevel, peace dimensions are woven into the contentsof the lessons, which are treated also as a means ofhelping students to imbibe peace values. Here, emphasisis not merely on acquisition of knowledge but also onthe process through which peace is achieved.

The integrated approach has an edge over theseparate subject approach from a number of pointsof view psychological, motivational, and pedagogical.From the cognitive and developmental point of view,constructivist psychology has established that childrenconstruct knowledge holistically. When knowledge isembedded in appropriate contexts, it becomes moremeaningful and enjoyable for the learner. In theintegrated approach, the lessons and topics becomethe vehicles to convey peace messages in meaningfulcontexts. This approach not only makes the subjectmatter wholesome and situated but also motivatesstudents to learn and to relate what they learn to theirown settings. It provides contexts and connections toexplore, think, reflect, and internalise positivedispositions. The integrated approach must be reflectedin the totality of educational programmes in schools

and must permeate the school curriculum andco-curriculum. Thus, every teacher becomes a peaceeducator. Teacherstudent interactions, textbooklessons and the pedagogy for teaching them, and theschool management and administrative staff must allbe oriented to education for peace.

3.1 Stage-Specific ApproachThe primary stage of education is the ideal time forlaying the foundation of a peace-oriented personality.These years comprise the formative period in the livesof the students. At this stage, students are comparativelyless burdened. The number of students who could beexposed to education for peace is at the maximumduring this phase. Thereafter, students begin to dropout. Therefore, this is the stage at which focusedattention should be paid to laying the foundation for aculture of peace through education. As the saying goes,It is easier to build a child than it is to repair an adult.

The values that make up a peace-orientedpersonality include: hygiene both of the self and ofthe surroundings, respect for others and for elders,recognition of the dignity of labour, honesty, love,sharing and cooperation, tolerance, regularity,punctuality, responsibility, etc. All children are naturallyloving and kind, but they are also imbued with thepotential to be otherwise. Hence, the need to affirmand fortify what is constructive and to forestall violenttendencies. Education for peace for primary schoolchildren is about helping them enjoy and celebratediversity, beauty, and harmony in nature. They must beencouraged to develop the skills it takes to be at homewith others (especially the art of listening) and withnature (aesthetic sensitivity and a sense ofresponsibility).

As children grow older and reach the middle schoolstage, they begin to grasp abstract thoughts. In a limited

9way they develop the capacity to think rationally andrelationally about the various happenings in theirsurroundings. A crucial issue for children at this stageis that of relating to other children and their status inpeer groups. Since, the school brings together childrenfrom multiple religious, cultural, and regionalbackgrounds, students need to be equipped withcognitive competence to understand the valuesunderlying democracy, equality, justice, dignity, andhuman rights. They need to respond positively tocultural plurality and appreciate the importance ofpeaceful coexistence.

This is the appropriate stage for developing theskills for handling information, thinking creatively,self-reflection, and self-discipline, which will enablethem to participate in groups and relate to othersresponsibly, negotiate conflicts with understanding, anddevelop an informed aversion to various forms ofviolence like communalism and discrimination on thebasis of gender, caste, class, and religion. Besides, theyneed to develop discernment, to respond with maturityto corruption, misleading advertisements, and whateveris violent and unhealthy in the media. Above all, theyneed to be educated in the basics of becomingresponsible citizens of a socialist, secular democracy.

In the secondary and senior secondary stagestudents gradually become aware of their identity. Theyare on the threshold of becoming independent persons,though still deficient in maturity. The resultingconfusion leads to conflict with peers, parents, andteachers. During this phase, their skills for rationalthinking, communication, and self-discipline are tested.They need training to resolve, through dialogue andnegotiation, the conflicts they are sure to encounter inday-to-day interactions. They also need to developawareness about inter-relationships andinterdependence in the global and ecological contexts,

so that they can form a wider perspective on justice,peace, and non-violence. It is important to enable themto be not only the recipients of peace but the activemakers of peace, who can think for others and helpthem. They need to be at peace with themselves asevolved human beings who are peaceful andnon-violent not because they are weak, but because oftheir commitment to peace based on a larger awarenessand rational thinking.

3.2 Teachers as Peace Builders

Some News Headlines

z Teacher molests eight year old(Hindustan Times, 4 December 2004)

z Teacher blinds boy with pen (A case ofa Class III student being punished forbeing inattentive in class) (HindustanTimes, 20 January 2005)

z Class III student thrashed for spellingerror (Hindustan Times, 16 February 2005)

z Teacher pulls out five year-olds hair,keeps her standing (the child waspunished for not bringing a plastic bagto carry some art assignments)(Hindustan Times, 17 March 2005)

For students, teachers are role-models. Therefore,teachers play a role, unwittingly, in propagating violenceif they are not oriented to peace. As the saying goes,What I teach is what I know and what I educate iswhat I am. A teachers prime responsibility is to helpstudents become good human beings, motivated tofulfil their true potential not only for their own benefitbut also for the betterment of the society as a whole.

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It is for this reason that a teacher is compared to agardener who plants seeds of knowledge and goodvalues, waters them with care and kindness, andremoves weeds of ignorance. Good teachers are modelsof peace values, such as, the art of listening, the humilityto acknowledge and correct ones mistakes, assumingresponsibility for ones actions, sharing concerns, andhelping each other to solve problems transcendingdifferences, even if they do not preach peace.

A teacher who imposes discipline in the classroomonly by intimidating children with blows and slaps is arole-model for violence as the sole problem-solvingstrategy. The teachers role in creating a positive climatein the classroom is of paramount importance. It is his/her attitudes, values, and relationships that determinethe nature of the classroom climate. A teacher who, froma peace perspective, can critically evaluate his/herattitudes, habitual modes of thinking, and approachto teachingwhat one teaches and what are thecarry-over values of what is taught and how it istaughtis an asset for eduction for peace.

Children close their ears to advice and open theireyes to example. This is especially true in the Indiancontext where teachers are respected as thefountainheads of knowledge and wisdom. Students willlearn peace values only if these are modelled by theirteachers and elders. If there is a mismatch betweenwhat adults do and what they say, students will imitatewhat is done. Teachers need to be aware of the effectof their behaviour on students. For example, insteadof exhorting students to care for others, it is moreeffective to practise this value and let students constructtheir own understanding of it.

3.3 Pedagogical Skills and StrategiesThe common pedagogic goal for teachers is syllabusand examination oriented. In peace-oriented pedagogy,

the focus is not merely on retention of concepts,memorisation of texts, or achieving individual goalsand excellence but on learning to reflect, share, care,and collaborate with each other. Every topic/lessonhas peace-laden (hidden or explicit) components, whichneed to be transacted with deliberate planning from apositive and humanistic perspective. The methods ofteaching should be creative, child-centred, largelyexperiential, and participatory. These include creationof appropriate learning experiences, discussion,debates, presentation, and group and cooperativeprojects, depending on students maturity levels andthe subject content. The teacher and school may deviseother context-specific strategies to develop amongstudents a sense of openness and comprehension aboutdiverse cultures, histories, and fundamental sharedvalues. There is ample scope in the syllabi of varioussubject areas for teaching students the importance ofadopting peaceful means of resolving disagreementsand conflicts and eschewing violence; and teachers needto take full advantage of this.

Presenting lessons from a humanistic and positiveperspective is the basis of education. Teaching shouldawaken positive feelings and foster positive experiences,help in arriving at an understanding of the self,encourage openness to inquiry by raising questions,exploring, and discovering and constructing anunderstanding of values, and provide an opportunityfor applying the knowledge of values the student haslearnt. Strategies like questions, stories, anecdotes,games, experiments, discussions, dialogues, valueclarification, examples, analogies, metaphors, role-play,and simulation are helpful in promoting peace throughteaching-learning. Some peace values may be moreappropriately inculcated while teaching a particularsubject at a particular stage or grade, while others arebetter integrated with other subjects in a different grade.

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Thus subject-appropriate and stage-/grade-appropriatestrategies vis-a-vis values need to be delineated.

In all of this, what stands out is the crucial rolethat the teacher plays in an approach to education thatpromotes a culture of peace. The fact that learning hasto necessarily be pupil-oriented does not contradict this.Learning can be pupil-oriented only if the teacherfacilitates it. It would be nave to understand thepupil-oriented approach in a way that devalues the rolethat the teacher plays in the learning process. Foreducation for peace, a great deal depends on thepeace-motivation of teachers, especially in theintegrated approach. The teacher has to be alert to peaceopportunities and creative in appropriating them inrespect of the curriculum as a whole. Teachers whoare either aggressive or indifferent to the culture ofpeace, and hence see teaching only as the warehousingof information, may remain blind to the exciting scopethat every lesson and every experience in the schooloffers to promote the cause of peace.

Some examples of teaching-learning activities aresuggested below for integration in the subject content.The teacher is the best judge when and where to use them.

Children could be asked to:z Demonstrate the many ways in which one can show

respect to elders at home and in school. How dowe show respect while asking for things, listening,or talking? (Environmental Studies/Language).

z Express the meaning of the word cooperation indifferent ways (Language).

z Demonstrate using puppets, how to resolveconflicts peacefully through the usage of properwords and gestures [Environmental Studies (EVS)/Language].

z Imagine a peaceful world and what would it be like(Social Science).

z Describe how anger destroys peace (Social Science/Language).

z Explain the paradox: everyone wants a peacefulworld, but the world is not peaceful. Why is thisso? Analyse the factors that come in the way ofpeace. (Social Science).

z Identify the changes we need to bring about, if weare to have a peaceful world. These changes includechanges in respect of ones own feelings and values(Social Science).

z Identify as many activities as possible, whichindicate the good that we can do to others withour hands (Language).

z Complete an incomplete story in different wayswith peace messages (Language).

z Demonstrate different ways, i.e., emotions/gestures, to be supportive and caring to a personin a wheelchair (Language).

z Role-play different objects like trees, a broom,various civic facilities, showing how they benefitus (EVS/Language).

z Write a story or poem or come up with a quotationbased on the picture displayed on a chart. Thestory, besides being original, must carry somesocial/moral message (Language).

z Write a story on tolerance, sensitivity to others,etc. Collect newspaper chippings, magazines,articles on different themes and create a wallmagazine (Language).

z Improvise the solution to a problem affectingweaker students through teamwork, utilisingavailable resources (EVS/Social Sciences).

z Show the students an object, for example, a flower,and ask them to write a few lines, a poem, or asong, comparing the qualities of a flower or otherobject with those of a good human being(Language).

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z Compose various value-words, using a set of lettersprovided. For example, qualities like honesty andtruthfulness, making new associations among them(Language).

z Compose a poem or a song depicting values likehonesty, hard work, etc. (Language).

z Write a letter pertaining to a misunderstanding betweentwo friends, suggesting a way to resolve the problemwithout either one feeling humiliated (Language).

z Imagine being the victim of violence, for example,having to pay a bribe, being humiliated, having tolive in fear of ones life, being a victim of red tapism,etc. and express what it means to be a victim.

z Collect the works of relatively lesser known peoplewho have contributed to the welfare of others andanalyse their qualities (Social Science).

z Identify problem areas in the community thatrequire creative solution (Social Science).

z Write a composition on A Day in the Life of aTeacher (Language).

z Imagine different ways to help a street child. Forexample, the students could write a letter to theeditor of a leading newspaper circulating in thearea about how to be more caring to othersespecially the young and the needy (Language).

z Organise field visits to local orphanages or old agehomes to sensitise students to the loneliness,deprivation, and helplessness of these sections ofsociety.

z Organise programmes, talks, workshops, filmshows, etc. to inculcate in the students love andconcern for the human family. A case in point isthe science and ethics of organ transplants, whereunscientific assumptions and anxieties stand in theway of improving the quality of life of thousands.

z Develop projects on ecological changes over theyears and their effect on local crops. This exercise

is of especial significance for rural students.Discuss how environmental degradation affects thepoor.

z Provide opportunities for development of socialskills through dramatics, plays, community singing,and group work, etc.

z Undertake a survey on how many children belowthe age of 14 are not attending school in the village,town, or neighbourhood in question, exploring alsothe reasons why they are out of school.

z Organise discussions on daily news items, currentaffairs, etc.

z Organise conflict resolution sessions on selectedthemes.

z Study problems linked with violence. Encouragethe students to share their experiences withviolence so that others in the class can also learnstrategies for coping with fears and anxieties.

3.4 Integrating Peace Concerns in ClassroomTransactionSome exemplars

ScienceConsider illustrating a magnetic field. Theteacher holds a magnet under a sheet of paperand sprinkles iron filings on it. The iron filingsget instantaneously arranged into an intricatepattern due to the force field created by thehidden magnet. The teacher then changes themagnet and sprinkles the same iron filings. Theiron filings then form an entirely differentpattern. All that has changed is the magnet.Usually teachers leave the lesson at that, butnot a peace-oriented teacher. To such a teacher,the experiment may be used as an opportunity

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to explain to the students what happens toindividuals subjected to indoctrination andmass hysteria. Their ability to be authenticindividuals, who think rationally and actresponsibly, is taken over by powerful hiddeninterests. They are coerced into attitudes andactions dictated by others. The teacher can,then, offer some reflections on the nature ofviolence. Violence suppresses ones moralsensibility, rational thinking and humanesentiments. Violence makes us like the ironfilings. And when the context changes, weregret our conduct.

HistoryLesson on the Mughal Emperor Akbar:The teacher may use this lesson to helpstudents reflect on Akbars policy of religioustolerance. The points to emphasise:(a) religious harmony is basic to our culturalheritage; (b) the untruth and injustice instereotyping certain communities and groups;(c) the need for religious tolerance today; and(d) The contrast between a culture of peaceand culture of war. In the latter religions alsobecome violent.

It may be pointed out that integrating peace-relatedvalues into the school syllabus should not mean thatvarious subjects are to be treated only as vehicles ofeducation for peace, and not as mediums for cultivatinga taste for the subject concerned. The Report of theEducation Commission (196466) cautions us that,the teacher need not draw out the underlying moralall the time, but if he/she has given some thoughts tothe values underlying the scope of the subject and his

work as teacher, they will imperceptibly pass into histeaching and make an impact on the minds of students.

4. FRONTIERS OF EDUCATION FOR PEACESince war begins in the minds of men, it is in theminds of men that the defence of peace must beconstructed.

Preamble of the Constitution of UNESCOThose who want war prepare young people forwar: but those who want peace have neglectedyoung children and adolescents so that they areunable to organise them for peace.

Maria Montessori

4.1 Personality Formation

The Inferno withinTen year old Rani (name changed) studied in aprestigious English medium school. She beganto misbehave, stealing pens and smashing thelunch boxes of fellow students. Reprimandedsharply by her teacher, Rani went home, poureda can of kerosene on herself and lit a match.Admitted to hospital with 50 per cent burns,she struggled for life for a few days, but in vain.

Her dazed parents ask, Where did we gowrong? Rani awakens in us feelings ofindividual and collective guilt. We know wehave created a scheme of things in which theinnocence of children is violated. Did Ranigrow up in a violent environment? Did theschool look the other way when she showedearly signs of aggression?

Schools across the country are obsessedwith academic goals, but neglect character

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goals. Many children cannot cherish eitherthemselves or love others. Violence ofvarious kinds is becoming increasinglycommonplaceteasing that borders onbullying, gossiping, discourteous conduct,using intemperate language, and stealing toname a few. Tragedies like that of Rani alertus to the fact that we are neglecting the moraldevelopment of our children.

The age in which we live has, among other things,two striking features. First, it is an age of unprecedentedmaterial progress. Second, it is marked by a universalerosion of our human capital. The imbalance betweenmaterial progress and human stature is the prime causefor the multiplying social ills of our times.

We can no longer overlook the possibility that thecurrent model of education contributes to this unhappystate of affairs. Lopsided personality developmentthe alienation between head and heartis thebyproduct of the current model of education. Theexclusive focus on the cognitive to the total neglect ofthe affective in the learning process has long beenrecognised as a pedagogic aberration. This correctdiagnosis notwithstanding, the transaction of thelearning process, confined almost entirely toclassrooms, has only continued to aggravate thisimbalance, aided and abetted by the current nature ofclassroom transaction, curriculum formation, teachereducation, and modes of evaluation.

The tragic implications of neglecting the need todevelop relational, linguistic, emotional, andcommunication skills through school education needto be recognised upfront. The lost balance betweenthe emotional development of students and theirintellectual development must be restored. In point of

fact, the polarisation between emotion and intellect isan aberration. Their mutual separation degrades both.Emotional intelligence, leading to unified sensibility,rather than the mastery of mountains of information,is the secret of wholesome personality development.

4.2 Living Together in HarmonyWe are social animals, not self-contained islands.Self-reliance, as Gandhiji pointed out, must not bemistaken for self-sufficiency. We need each other.Interdependence is the human face of self-reliance.How we respond and relate to others is a definingelement in our personalities. If this be the case,education needs to nurture in students the values andskills that enable them to live in harmony with others.Jacques Delors in Learning: The Treasure Within identifiesliving together in harmony as one of the four pillarsof education.

The current practice of education is inadequate topromote the art of living together in harmony. Studentsare nurtured in a spirit of competition and trained, fromthe beginning, to relate to facts and objects. Learningtakes place in a milieu isolated from the world ofrelationships and realities. Learning of this kindcomprises, as Charles Dickens lamented in Hard Times,facts, facts and nothing but facts. The emotional andrelational deficit this breeds is vitiated further by anindividualistic idea of excellence. Such a perspectivereduces the purpose of education to acquiring theskills to milk and massage the system to ones ownadvantage. A potential for violence is latent in thisapproach to education.

4.3 Responsible CitizenshipThe real purpose of education is to train youth todischarge the duties of citizenship properly. All otherobjectives are incidental.

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Report of the Secondary EducationCommission, October 1952 June, 1953, p. 101

What every Indian shares in common is not religionbut citizenship. Citizenship is the framework fornational unity and identity. Responsible citizenship isalso the matrix for collective peace. Yet, citizenshipeducation suffers neglect in the current approach toeducation. Citizenship involves a multi-polarenlargement of the loyalty and consciousness ofindividuals. This should not be taken for granted buthas to be facilitated through appropriate education.Growth involves a gradual enlargement ofconsciousness, from the self to the other. From beingconscious only of the self, the individual moves on toa knowledge of the self as a member of a family, aneighbourhood, a village, a town, a city, a religiouscommunity, a nation, and, beyond that, of the globalvillage. At each stage there is an enlargement ofawareness, a refinement of loyalties and a readjustmentof priorities. The yardstick for measuring theeducational progress of students should not be onlythe marks scored in core subjects but also the extentto which their consciousness grows from beingmembers of a clan or caste to becoming citizens.Citizenship does not involve a renunciation of thevarious foci of individual consciousness but theirharmonious functioning. One can be, for example, adevout daughter, a competent professional, a ferventHindu or Muslim, and also a patriotic Indian, providedone is able to harmonise these loyalties. In the event of aconflict between them, responsible citizenship demands that theconflict be resolved in favour of citizenship. A citizens firstloyalty is to the Constitution. Religious faith cannotclaim primacy over constitutional mandate. It is aserious problem when the citizens of a seculardemocracy are unable to rise above their clan, caste, orreligious loyalties in respect of national issues. It is an

even greater problem when these loyalties are invokedand deployed in defiance of the Constitution. IfJawaharlal Nehrus hope that a casteless and classlesssociety would emerge through the spread of seculareducation and scientific temper has been belied, it islargely due to the neglect of citizenship education. Theascendancy of caste is so conspicuous today thatelectoral exercises are often described as voting onescaste rather than casting ones vote.

Citizenship is the kernel of democracy. Surely, wecannot keep the citizens ignorant of the vision andvalues of the Constitution and expect them to beresponsible citizens. There is an added urgency toaddress this task in earnest, today. Prior to the era ofLiberalisation, Privatisation, and Globalisation (LPG),we could have taken for granted a reasonable extent ofcommunitarian and citizenship consciousness fromindividuals. The consumerist, pleasure-seeking way oflife presumed in LPG degrades citizens to consumers.Unilateralism is the essence of consumerism. It erodesreciprocity and makes individuals obsessed with rightsto the neglect of duties. They relate to the nation onlyfor what they can get out of it. Educated personsremaining ignorant of and indifferent to the duties ofcitizenship, defeats the very purpose of education.

4.3.1 Citizenship and SocialismFrom an educational perspective escalating poverty andinequality are the critical issues that socialism needs toaddress in the Indian context. The peace approach toeducation must engage with these challenges.Inequalities are reinforced and perpetuated by ahierarchical worldview that legitimises them. Education,conceived and implemented from such a perspective,could perpetuate inequality and the disempowermentof the underprivileged unless corrective measures areintegrated into the educational enterprise. The

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recognition of education as a fundamental right for allchildren below the age of 14 is a timely remedial step.The holistic perspective of peace is essential if the fullscope of this potential revolution is to be appropriated.Opening classrooms to underprivileged children is onething, but evolving a system, complete with accessories,which empowers them to benefit from this opportunityis quite another.

From a peace perspective education towards socialwholeness must address the scandal of povertyhead-on, lest the constitutional right to educationremains a tantalising illusion. Poverty results from policyoptions and priorities; it is not an accident. Strictlyspeaking, even accidents are not accidental. Poverty iseminently eradicable and this needs to be deemed anational priority. The quest for a wholesome societythrough education must address poverty-related issueswith a view to dismantling the customs and systems ofexclusion. Some areas that need urgent attention includethe need to:z Minimise the disparities between the various

streams of school education, as recommended bythe Kothari Commission (1964-66).

z Standardise educational infrastructure andtechnology nationwide, especially keeping in mindthe appalling urbanrural divide.

z Optimise the competence, motivation, and skillsof teachers. A key issue in this respect is corruptionin the recruitment of teachers.

z Create favourable economic and social conditionsto contain and gradually eradicate school dropoutrates in rural and tribal areas.

z Prioritise the education of the girl child.z Eradicate traditional stigma and prejudices in

respect of caste, poverty, and gender.z Propagate, through textbook writing and learning

experiences, values like respect for the inherent and

equal worth of all human beings and their rightsand dignity irrespective of caste, colour, gender,economic status, and religion.Given the ground realities, there is a compelling case

for applying the principle of reverse discrimination in favour ofrural and tribal India in respect of education. Equal treatmentfor all, in a context of accumulated inequalities, servesonly to perpetuate inequality. Improving the educationalscenario in rural and tribal India needs to be the prioritytoday. This is also a defining concern in education forpeace.

4.3.2 Citizenship and SecularismOur tradition teaches tolerance.Our philosophy preaches tolerance.Our Constitution practices tolerance.Let us not dilute it.(The Supreme Court of India in Bijose Emmanuelvs State of Kerala, AIR, 1987 SC 748)Even though, the word secular was incorporated

into the Preamble of the Indian Constitution only in1976, through the 42nd Amendment, secularism hasbeen a defining feature of our Constitution. Article14 enshrines the right to equality. This is furtherreinforced by Articles 15 and 16 that protect all citizensagainst discrimination based on religion and caste.Articles 19 and 21 guarantee freedom of speech andexpression to all citizens. Article 27 prohibits the statefrom being partisan or partial towards any religion.Article 25 gives to all citizens freedom of conscience,and the right to practice, preach and propagate theirfaith. Through Article 29, religious and linguisticminorities are granted the right to preserve their identityand culture, and Article 30 confers on them the rightto establish and administer institutions of their choice.Even though the scope of Article 30 and its underlyingphilosophy have come under increasing judicial scrutiny

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and ideological resentment, the founding fathers ofthe Constitution regarded them as basic to its secularfabric.

The specific issues in respect of secularism thateducation for peace needs to address in the Indiancontext are:z Respect for diversity.z Scientific temper and the spirit of critical inquiry

as opposed to blind faith.z Consolidation of our common identity as Indians,

fortified by a shared vision for India so as tominimise divisive sentiments and prejudices. Wehave created India. We must now address the evenmore important task of creating Indians, who cantranscend all divisive barriers and identifythemselves with the cause of nation-building.

z Shift from exclusive religious loyalty to inclusivespiritual values.

4.3.3 Citizenship and DemocracyThe two crucial issues for Indian democracy from theperspective of education are: (a) conflict resolution andreconciliation; and (b) peoples participation.Democracy is the best system available for managingconflicts without having recourse to violence.Differences of opinion, belief, ideology, culture, andso on, are a natural part of every society. Conflictsemerge from the disharmony of differences. We maychoose, however, to approach these conflicts from aperspective of peace or from a perspective of violence.The violent solution is the eradication of conflict bythe assimilation or elimination of those who aredifferent from the dominant group. The peacefulsolution involves developing respect for diversity or apositive attitude to difference, as well as engaging thosewho are different in a way that enables difference toco-exist without undermining the whole system. This

is the essence of a democratic culture, thedevelopment of which must be an educational priorityfor India, the largest functioning democracy in theworld.

Education is basic to peoples participation, whichis the hallmark of democracy. Illiteracy disablesdemocracy. Illiteracy limits peoples participation to thecasting of their vote, as and when elections take place.Such a democracy cannot be a government of thepeople, by the people, or for the people. Literacy initself is not, however, sufficient to facilitate democraticparticipation. Peace is a pre-requisite for participation.Violence excludes and disables all, except those whowield power. In times of large-scale conflict or war,citizenship rights get de-activated. People can beempowered only in a state of peace. A democracy thatfails to foster a culture of peace stands is in danger ofdegenerating into oligarchy, dictatorship, or fascism,as in Hitlers Germany.

Eradicating, through education, every kind ofexclusion from the life, resources, and opportunitiesof the nation is a bottom-line peace agenda indemocracy. Education for peace is a powerful andnecessary means for this purpose. The major categoriesof exclusion are:z Poverty: which accounts for the two most glaring

flaws in the present system of educationgrossinequalities between the various streams ofeducation and high dropout rates in rural and tribalIndia. The gulf between the rich and the poor isfurther widening in the wake of LPG, and it isnecessary to address poverty-related issues ineducation with urgency and courage.

z Caste: the eradication of which system is aConstitutional mandate. The caste system freezesour social capital and excludes millions of peoplefrom the march to progress. Various indices of

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underdevelopment such as social degradation andeconomic disempowerment, point directly to thetyranny of caste over our democratic culture.Education for peace can turn the eradication ofthe caste system into a peaceful revolution.

z Gender: The Convention on Elimination of AllForms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW) often described as an internationalBill of Rights for womendefines discriminationagainst women as:

...any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on thebasis of sex which has the effect or purpose ofimpairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment orexercise by womenon a basis of equality of menand women, of human rights and fundamentalfreedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural,civil or any other field.

India is a party to the convention. We are, as such,obliged to promote a culture of gender justice. Eventhough various NGOs have done, and are doing,commendable work in this respect, we are still woefullyshort of bringing about the required systemic andattitudinal changes mandated by gender justice.Violence, vulgarity, and sex-related crimes areincreasing. Women face insecurity and discriminationin the workplace, in the public space, and even at home.In many regions, even the female foetus is not spared.Bride burning and honour rapes continue. The workdone by women is not recognised or rewardedadequately. Sadly, justice is not done to girls and womeneven in textbook writing. Illustrations in textbooksmostly portray boys or men in superior roles. Girls andwomen, as and when they are portrayed are shown ininferior roles. This stereotypes women and stigmatisesthem with inferiority.z Democracy and Minorities. Special emphasis needs

to be laid on enabling students to understand the

democratic logic underlying the Constitutionalprovisions for empowering minorities (refer Article30 of the Indian Constitution). Democracy has thepotential to degenerate into a dictatorship of themajority, if special provisions are not made to enablereligious and linguistic minorities to preserve theirculture and identity. Making reasonable provisionsin this regard does not amount to minorityappeasement but provides for the health ofdemocracy itself. Globally, a nations commitmentto the welfare and security of minorities is regardedas a mark of the robustness of its democratic culture.

4.4 National IntegrationThe life of a nation is, at all times, in a state of continualevolution. Cultural agenda are key players in thisprocess. They shape or disfigure the India of ourdreams. Of late, the conflict of cultural paradigms hasassumed special intensity. A triangular pattern may benoticed in the ongoing confrontation of cultures.z Cultural homogeneityz Cultural pluralityz Cultural subalternism

The people of India have expressed themselves,in the language of democracy, against homogenisationas altogether alien to the sprit of India. Religious,linguistic, and cultural plurality is innate in our historyand heritage. Today we are poised to build further onthis unique foundation. The subaltern segments of oursociety have for long been invisible in the countryscultural profile. A significant and futuristic developmentin recent times is the dalit awakening. The need tonegotiate this new ferment has to be factored intopedagogy for peace in the Indian context. In the lightof the above, education must:z Promote an awareness and celebration of cultural

variety, diversity, and plurality.

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z Reflect the reality of an emerging subaltern fermentin the national context, promote a positive attitudetowards it, and allocate it due curricular space.

4.5 Education for Peace as a LifestyleMovement

War and violence are the byproducts of a particularway of life. The roots of violence lie in the paradigmshift from needs to insatiable desires that drive anunsustainable lifestyle. The core spiritual strategy forbuilding the foundation for peace has been that ofre-orienting lifestyles to needs, rather than to limitlessgreed. Covetousness is a one-way relationship thatgoes counter to the logic of caring. It treatsnature as a lifeless object to be exploited at will.Development then becomes despoilment.Desires-driven development is inherently violent andunsustainable; and it is at the root of the presentenvironmental crisis. Globalisation deifies greed asGod. An indulgent and consumerist lifestyle ismarked by apathy and callousness. It is incompatiblewith the culture of peace.

5. SOME CRITICAL ISSUESFor radical educational reform to be delivered onthe ground it is imperative that the way for it beprepared with an unwavering sense of purpose.Reform is a movement, and not a few disjointedcosmetic adjustments. From a total vision of theenvisaged reorientation, various parts of the vehicleof learning have to be redesigned, making sure thatthe deficiencies of the previous model are rectified.It is like paddling a boat from one side of a river tothe other. Even the most earnest and frenetic ofstrokes will not take it forward unless the boat isuntethered. Unfurling the panoply of an alteredorientation without clearing the roadblocks of the

old, may not yield the desired results. Identifiedbelow are some of the key areas that need to beaddressed urgently and boldly to ensure thateducation for peace has a reasonable chance ofsucceeding.

5.1 Curriculum Load

Is this the best you can do?Every year when millions of parents signup their young children sign to go to school,the nations future enacts an impersonalnightmare. Holding a crayon or chalk orpencil is itself a major feat at age three. Yet,before their fourth birthday little childrenare expected to know that the number 30 issomehow superior to 25. And that to standsecond in class is more admirable than beingin the 25th place. Before their fifth birthday,they are expected to be able to not just countbut to write in figures up to 500. By the timethey put on a school uniform and outgrowtheir first pair of school shoes this numberstands at 1,000. Is this the best you can do?is the anxious exasperated question thatplagues them all the days of their school life.Most children lose their natural optimismand joy by the time they are ten or elevenyears old. Many of them are already in a stateof fear and depression that adults simplyidentify as mulishness or rebellion.

It is nave to equate quality of education with thequantity of information it handles. Also, it is incorrectto assess curriculum load only by the weight that thetextbooks add up to. The load in question involves,

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no doubt, the burden of incomprehension; but it goesbeyond that. The load is as much attitudinal as it isquantitative. Even a small responsibility may seem aburden to one who resents it. Apart from thequantitative aspect of the syllabus, the factors thatdegrade learning into a burden are:z The approach to teaching that limits its scope to

covering the syllabus. Teachers then view thesyllabus as a burden and that sense of burden istransmitted to students, unawares.

z The exclusive tyranny of the cognitive degradeslearning into a laborious, not a joyful, experiencefor students. Joy can mitigate the sense of burden;whereas the absence of joy can exaggerate thesubjective perception of load.

z Inordinate parental ambition, in a context ofintense competition.

z The underdevelopment of personality and innerresources, on account of the current approach toeducation, results in the inability to cope with stressand strain and also magnifies them.

z In villages and tribal belts, the curricular burden iscompounded by the burden of poverty.Curriculum load has serious practical

implications for implementing education for peace.The sense of burden curriculum load breeds, andthe impatience it activates, may cause education forpeace to be seen as an unwelcome intruder. Sinceeducation for peace is to be integrated into thecurriculum, much depends on the availability ofadequate instructional time to teachers to practicethis integration. Education for peace calls for a vastlydifferent approach to teaching as compared to whatis in vogue now. Teachers have to be creative,innovative, and enterprising in their pedagogicapproach, all of which can be suppressed by a senseof burden and underprivilege.

5.2 Textbook Writing

Even after more than 50 years of Independencethe Indian system of education has not been ableto introduce the history of post-IndependenceIndia in the school curriculum. For most childrenthe history of India starts in ancient times andcomes to an abrupt end in 1947. Everything theypick up about Pakistan comes from newsbulletins and films. Thus, Partition comprises thelatest news that Indian students receive aboutour neighbour who is thoroughly demonisedat all levels.

Textbooks convey attitudes and values explicitly andimplicitly. Every aspect of textbookslanguage, contents,and presentation, including illustrationslends itself toeither a pro-peace or a pro-violence treatment. It is,therefore, important to ensure that textbooks are writtenand designed from the perspective of education for peace.

Care needs to be taken in writing textbooks to avoidviolence in diction and illustrations. Illustrations, at times,for purposes of effect tend to err on the side of the violentand the melodramatic. Implicit forms of violence arecommon in textbook writing, and tend to reinforceprejudices and stereotypes of discrimination. The followinginstances brought out by the PROBE Report illustrate this.z An analysis of the textbooks for Classes IV, V, and

VI of government schools in Madhya Pradesh showsthat not a single character can be identified as comingfrom a Scheduled Caste background. Yet a largeproportion of the students in these schools are fromthe erstwhile untouchable communities. Exclusion isa form of violence. It breeds a sense of inferiority.

z Forty-nine illustrations in a Class III Hindi textbook(Gyan Bharti), used in Utter Pradesh depict men or

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boys. These include a scientist, a soldier, twodoctors, a teacher, a king, and a poet. In contrast,only 14 women (or girls) are represented. Almostinvariably, they are shown in subordinatepositions or standard female roles. And this,notwithstanding the directive of the NationalPolicy on Education (1986) that sex stereotypingin the school curriculum be scrupulously avoided.The integration of a peace perspective in textbook

writing can help eradicate these anomalies. Textbookswritten with the sole aim of imparting information tendto be dry and fail to stimulate interest in students. Inthe process, precious opportunities to advance peacevalues and deepen peace insights are lost.

Ideally, textbook writing should take into accountthe larger context in which the educational formationof students takes place. Authors should be aware ofsocio-economic inequalities, negative attitudes,discriminatory stereotypes, prejudices based on caste,creed, and gender, as well as broad trends in theemerging popular culture, especially the growingprevalence of violence, that comprise the largerambience of education. They should take advantage,creatively and innovatively, of the peace opportunityin the treatment of every topic and subject.

Such opportunities include, among other things, thescope for enlarging the awareness of students in respectof the ground realities. Consider this instance. AClass IV EVS textbook has a chapter on Need for Food.In this chapter, the author recommends values likecleanliness, preference for wholesome food, and the needto ensure that food is not wasted. The author, however,does nothing to make the students aware of the povertyand malnutrition among the millions of childrenbelonging to the marginalised sections of our society.

A major limitation that textbook writing has to reckonwith is in respect of reflecting the immediate contexts of

students in their specificities. India is a vast country withimmense diversities. Textbook writers usually hail fromurban and privileged backgrounds. Directly or indirectlythis bias gets reflected in textbook writing. Rural and tribalrealities are rarely portrayed in textbooks. Special care needsto be taken to eradicate such discrimination.

Textbooks, in the end, are as good as their fate inthe hands of teachers. It should be possible for a teacher,trained from the perspective of proactive peace, to makeup for what textbooks lack in terms of contextualspecificity. This, however, should not be taken forgranted. Training future teachers to do so should be themajor thrust in teacher education for peace.

Every textbook must be thoroughly and criticallyreviewed for its contents, treatment, and overall vision.On the negative side, textbooks need to be kept clear ofanti-peace ideas, assumptions, and attitudes. From apositive angle, it needs to be ensured that they appropriatepeace opportunities optimally. Attention needs to bepaid to the language used in textbooks so as to ensurethat their sensibility is conducive to nurturing courteous,aesthetically-sensitive, and socially-aware human beings.

5.3 Assessment and ExaminationVis--vis education for peace, evaluation presents us withtwo major issues. First, the current system of examinationand evaluation, burdened by curriculum load, is vitiatedby violence. Learning, which is meant to be a joyfulexperience, is degraded into something burdensome, evenoppressive, by reducing its goal to examination-centricexcellence that is expected to eventuate into employmentin due course. Fierce competitionartificially keptred-hot through the denial of adequate opportunities forhigher educationand the stigma it imposes on failure,keep millions of children in a limbo of suffering and drivesa few to despair and suicide. These extreme reactions arestartling statements on the toll that education now takes

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on children. A misconceived pursuit of excellence hasdegraded the beneficiaries of education into its victims!The learning process, along with its system of evaluation,needs to be radically reorganised and made pro-peace andstudent-friendly.

It is inappropriate and inadvisable to evaluate studentsin respect of education for peace in the way they are inother subjects. Education for peace is situated in thedomain of affective learning, which is not measurable ina quantitative form. In a practical sense, however, the totalabsence of evaluation may erode accountability and causeeducation for peace to be neglected. It is quite possibleand necessary, therefore, to evaluate a schools effectivenessin educating students to be active agents for peace. TheInternational Schools Association, Global Issues Network,suggests the following indicators for evaluating theeffectiveness of education for peace programme ineducating students and the school community as a whole.

The schools mission statement should containaspirations to peace and related values and skills. It shouldbe mandatory to ensure that schools are free fromdiscriminatory attitudes and practices based on caste andgender. A social audit of schools in this respect mayhave to be considered. The mission statement of theschool should be periodically reviewed, under thefollowing main heads, by the whole school community.

At the personal level, for evidence of:ToleranceTruthfulnessRespectEqualityEffective communicationOpennessReconciliationCompassionFreedom from prejudice

At the classroom level, for evidence of:Recognition of diversity and disparityCooperative group workAbsence of discriminatory attitudes and practicesOpen and respectful student/staff relationshipsSeeking peaceful resolutions

At the school level, for evidence of:A secure and non-threatening climateFair school rulesA caring approach and provisions for counsellingRepresentationParent-teacher partnershipInclusion of appropriate educational activities relatedto peaceEvidence of staff development programmes relevantto education for peace

At the community level, for evidence of:Service programmesOutreach programmesDemonstrating leadershipAwareness of problems and contributions to solutionsExchangesPartnerships with other schools

5.4 Teacher Education

The village schoolmaster was once viewedwith respect. The day a peon in anationalised bank began to receive a highersalary than the village schoolmastermarked the fall of the intellectual in ruralIndia.

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Teachers conduct the symphony of education.More than any other subject or educational goal,education for peace depends on the teachers sense ofvocation and the kind of person that she/he is. Thus,it is obvious that the success of the initiative foreducation for peace substantially depends on the vision,motivation, skills, and awareness of teachers. Teacherswho carry out education for peace have to cherish itsvalues, hold comparable attitudes, and exhibit similarbehavioural tendencies.

The worst part of teacher education today is thatit does not equip would be teachers to engage theopportunities of their vocation with innovation andimagination. The skills promoted, and the approachesinculcated, through teacher education are mostlyirrelevant and impractical in the teachers work milieu.It can be said that, vis--vis the requirements ofeducation for peace, teacher education at presentpromotes more trained incompetence than pedagogicpreparedness or motivation.

There seems little point in introducing a curriculumfor education for peace in schools if the teachers whoimplement it, and the teacher-educators who train them,are culturally prejudiced, intolerant, and pedagogicallyill-equipped to transact the messages of the text in theclassroom in a way that promotes peace. Teachereducation institutions, in this context, have a very vitalrole to play as they are the centres that mould the teachingfraternity of the country through their pre-service andin-service teacher education programmes.

The teacher education curriculum frameworks of1978, 1988 and 1998 emphasised the role of teachersas catalysts in the process of promoting socialsensitivity, tolerance, cooperation, democratic andsecular values, national integration, internationalunderstanding, etc. through inclusion of relevantthemes in the Foundation Course and school

experience programmes. However, the existing realitiesand growing faith in violence among the teachersthemselves in the form of corporal punishment givento students, caste and/or gender discrimination,religious prejudice, etc. indicate that teacher educationprogrammes have not succeeded in equipping wouldbe teachers with humane qualities essential forpromoting a culture of peace in schools. Therefore,barring a few exceptions, teachers have ceased to berole models for peace vis--vis the students.

Hence, it is essential to reconsider the teachereducation programmes in order to equip teachers boththrough pre-service and in-service education to:z Be