CSO Rallies Teachers on Role in Peace Education

The classroom is seen as a crucial element in the formation of young minds that shapes individuals who are peace-loving and with great concern for fellow human beings.

This is the very basis of civil society organizations like the Zamboanga-Basilan Integrated Alliance (ZABIDA) and the Nagdilaab Foundation Inc. (NFI) to train some 30 teachers from the Lamitan City Schools Division in Basilan on peace education recently.

“The trainers’ training intends to provide teachers a general orientation on peace education and eventually how to use the prepared lesson exemplars and modules to be integrated in the classroom experience,” Executive Director Miriam Suacito said.

She said that the Department of Education has been involved in the writing of the exemplars and modules until its publication. These publications were already distributed to most teachers and schools in the province since 2017, initially in Akbar, Maluso, and Lantawan towns and Isabela City.

The training used the 6 Flower-petal model for peace education that hopes to cultivate values and attitudes, which will encourage individual and social action for building more peaceful communities, societies, and ultimately a more peaceful world.

The six petals were translated into six sessions to include the following: 1) Cultivating inner peace that leads how to react to feelings of anger and sadness, techniques for calming ourselves, non-violent communication, deep listening, and encouraging outlets for self-expression; 2) Dismantling the culture of war and also, the culture of violence, to acknowledge the roots of violence and visualize the potential for peace; 3) Living with justice and compassion that raise awareness to the consequences of profit-driven development; 4) Building cultural respect, reconciliation, and solidarity that move towards developing a deeper understanding and a strong sense of empathy and responsibility to advocate for those groups who are suffering injustices; 5) Promoting human rights and responsibilities, that explains our responsibility to protect the human rights of others; and 6) Living in harmony with the earth, where our actions have reactions within the natural world and currently this has caused a state of environmental emergency.

The teachers expressed their gratitude saying that the training is a big help and provided them the opportunity to relearn various perspectives to peace education that equipped them to shape the youth to become better persons who have compassion and justice to fellow human beings.

The participating teachers came from the different schools in Lamitan City namely Parangbasak National High School, Colony National High School, Campo Uno Elementary School, Maloong San Jose Elementary School, Ubit Elementary School, Cabobo Elementary School, B. Aldana Elementary School, Lamitan Central Elementary School, Lamitan National High School, and Damaso Furigay Memorial High School.

Nagdilaab and ZABIDA are civil society organizations that have been providing technical assistance and training various government institutions that enhances capacities to serve the public.

In support to government’s peace programs and initiatives, the training also hopes to improve schools’ conflict management performance on school peace issues with gender approach and environmental education. (ALT/RVC/PIA9-Basilan)