School children have become less quarrelsome. Muslim and Christian teachers more friendly, they have learned to make friends, greet each other with a smile. There is lesser conflict now as they have come to value peace.
These were some of the felt and observable results of peace education captured during the two-day session of the Mindanao Peace Education Forum (MinPEF) conducted from May 19 to May 20 in Davao City.
It was participated in by more than 100 officials of the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, officials from the academe sector and civil society, and those in non-government organizations working on peace initiatives.
MinPEF is a group of government, NGO, civil society and the academe sectors. It is co-chaired by the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and the Catholic Relief Services, representing the government and civil society sectors, respectively.
MinPEF picked up the best practices, experiences, lessons learned as well as the challenges that peace education implementers encountered as they integrated peace concepts in school curriculum and in alternative learning system.
If not for time limitation, participants would have wanted to say much more about the initiatives they had undertaken to mainstream peace education; about the observable results of their initiatives, the facilitating factors of mainstreaming peace education, the hindrances to carrying out their initiatives and about the contribution of such initiatives to peace education in general.
The change in behavior of school children and teachers was clearly observed in Western Mindanao. Muslim and Christian school children used to feel being involved with their parents’ conflict but they have learned to cast it aside, and befriend each other.
Teachers who did not mind reporting late have become punctual. They have shed off backbiting and have learned to extend a hand and a smile to a fellow they get in conflict with.
In Region 10, the Peace Village in Lanao del Norte has become a venue for students, school administrators and DepEd regional officials to give time for self-reflection, for knowing each other and for fostering good relationship with each other.
Conflict with Moro rebels in Region 11 is less known, and there has been lesser occurrences of human rights violations.
In Region 12, harsh words no longer issue forth from the mouths of teachers and school administrators. Such good-natured behavior has enticed parents to attend school meetings and has paved the way for parents to feel a sense of ownership of the school and its activities.
In the CARAGA region which has 19 of the 60 Schools of Peace in Mindanao, a generally harmonious relationship between the school and the community is most noticeable.
Meanwhile, the push to clinch a final agreement between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has become stronger in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as peace education permeates the education system.
Muslim educators have spearheaded the initiative to develop a curriculum on Bachelor of Science in Muslim Education and on Bachelor of Arts in Philippine History major in Bangsamoro History, and have written a module on Islamic Education.
The development of self-reliance among internally displaced persons (IDPs) has also been noted in the ARMM. IDPs have become productive and have learned to provide for themselves.
Mainstreaming peace education started in 2006 when the Action for Conflict Transformation (ACT) for Peace began integrating teacher education and peace education in Schools of Peace designed after the Jay Marquez School of Peace which had been into peace education since 1997 after the peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front was signed in 1996.
The ACT for Peace Programme will finally end this month, but the culture of peace that it has spread has been felt and experienced primarily in 60 Schools of Peace with which it has worked with to mainstream peace education. [PIA 11/ Jeanevive D. Abangan]
Reyzalde B. Tan, deputy program manager of ACT for Peace last Friday explained that ACT for Peace anchors its peace education on Executive Order 570 otherwise known as “Institutionalizing Peace Education in Basic Education and Teacher Education” signed in 2006.
Tan expects MinDA and MinPEF along with DepEd, CHED, the civil society, the NGO sector to carry through the advocacy on mainstraiming the culture of peace through peace education.
