Role of Schools in Peace 

Honourable chief guest & valuable audience, Assalam-o-Alai'kum! I feel privileged to address you and

speak my mind on the role of schools in promoting and maintaining peace.

Dear audience, no one can deny the importance and the vital role schools and other educational

institutions play in the character building of an individual, a community, a nation and a civilization. A

brief survey of the history of past civilizations makes this point clear that those very people and nations

have progressed and been successful in maintaining peace and harmony, who had excelled in the field

of education. And there is no doubt about the role and importance of schools and other educational

institutions in providing education to the individuals and molding their character and instilling in them

the qualities of accommodation, feeling for others, sympathy, mutual understanding and the spirit of

sacrifice for others. These are the very qualities required for the promotion and maintenance of a

peaceful environment.

Dear audience! Learning to live together in peace and harmony is a dynamic, holistic and

lifelong process through which mutual respect, understanding, caring and sharing, compassion,

social’ responsibility, solidarity, acceptance and tolerance of diversity among individuals and

groups (ethnic, social, cultural, religious, national and regional) are internalized and practiced

together to solve problems and to work towards a just and free, peaceful and democratic

society.

This process begins with the development of inner peace in the minds and hearts of individuals

engaged in the search for truth, knowledge and understanding of each other’s cultures and the

appreciation of shared common values to achieve a better future.

Learning to live together in peace and harmony requires that quality of relationships at all levels

is committed to peace, human rights, democracy and social justice in an ecologically sustainable

environment. Our schools, colleges and universities can help a lot in the way to inculcate these

very qualities in our youth, so that, the required objectives are realized.

Wars and conflicts threaten peace and security to all. Their urgent nature calls for the need to

reduce violence through education. Times have changed, and this requires a more proactive

outlook. Education covers economic, political, social, cultural, moral and ethical issues, and is

vital in transforming people’s attitudes towards dealing with conflicts. 

Dear Audience! A society that promotes education to all members of the society will make

progress towards peace, as education will empower people to have the ability to form opinions

and act on issues concerning societal development. This ability is essential for spreading the

universal values of human rights, peace and tolerance, understanding and democracy.

Establishing a strategy to promote peace through education can be accomplished through the

incorporation of the universal values of peace, non-violence, tolerance and respect for human

beings into all education curricula and methods. Schools must work towards educating students

 

in the benefits of literacy and numeracy, teaching skills and knowledge needed to fulfill self-

development, in addition to teaching participation in society and how to collectively improve

quality of life.

Parents and teachers can play a major role in the reduction of conflict. Children and youth are

desperately in need of mentors that can teach them the values of tolerance and compassion.

When children leave their schools, they also need to be exposed to the values of peace within

their home and in the larger society. This requires that education programs be created not only

for children, but also for parents and for the society as a whole.

Schools and other educational institutions can promote peace through hosting and arranging

many activities that bring social harmony. Cultural activities create social bonds between

different segments of society, giving them common interests and background. Sporting events

are a universal example of people setting aside their interests to accomplish a unified goal. Art

activities stimulate members of the society to express themselves in a similar way. Cultural

activities such as sporting events and artistic expression can work towards bonding people

together. Organizations can work so that the message of peace can be incorporated into these

activities.

Although basic access to education is essential for attaining a culture of peace, it is not enough.

Educational and training programs must be available to people at all levels, both formally and

non-formally. In such programs, the dimensions of peace education must include tolerance,

respect for human rights and democracy, international and intercultural understanding, cultural

and linguistic diversity.

In view of the above it becomes evident that schools and other higher educational institutions

are of great aid in promoting and establishing peace and harmony and can make this world, a

happy, healthy and peaceful place to live. We must preach for, and inculcate the spirit of peace,

sharing, mutual understanding and universal brotherhood through education and our

educational institutions shall be the working grounds for it.

Thank you