Adopting recommendations from the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), the government of the Gambia has initialized a plan to implement peace education in the classroom. Spokesman for the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Babucarr Bouy, has announced that the new Peace Education Program will teach peaceful values, with the intent to “foster students to be responsible citizens, open to other cultures, respectful of diversity, and committed to nonviolence.”
WANEP’s plan for peace education launched as a pilot program in 2000 in seven West African countries. In August 2013 the NGO released a school implementation guide for educators across the region.
In his official statement, Mr. Bouy noted that the Gambia’s adaptation of WANEP’s guide could not have come at a better time, as many West African countries have struggled with wars and conflict in recent years.
“This has led to an increase in vulnerable youths,” said Bouy. “Physical and psychological impacts [of violent conflict] generally affect children and young people.”
Maria Dacosta, WANEP’s board chair, also noted that “There is a growing concern that the exposure of our children and young people to violence has led to a pool of vulnerable youth whose worldview has been shaped and influenced by a culture of intolerance, radicalism, and violence with implication for future stability of the region.”
Peace education in the classroom is designed to prevent future conflicts by fostering a nonviolent culture in affected regions. In the Gambia, WANEP’s program will teach conflict resolution skills, nonviolent cultural values, and personal and community empowerment. Students and teachers will also address issues of racism, human rights, and gender equality.
According to Dacosta, children remain the best hope for a more peaceful future. When everyone understands the issues that lead to conflict, she says, and is empowered with adequate skills to resolve problems, lives by international standards of human rights, and respects individual and cultural diversity, “a culture of peace will be achieved.”
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Written by Carla Drumhiller Smith