ISC

Peace education at schools

Last month, the Institute for Sustainable Communities organized a training course in Skopje on "Education for peace". The training was carried out by Gisele Ober, an expert on conflict solution from the international organization "Alliance for Conflict Transformation, with headquarters in Virginia, USA. The training was attended by representatives from eight NGOs from Macedonia, working on project for conflict prevention at primary and high schools in Macedonia.

According to trainers' evaluation, the meeting showed that the NGOs are worried about violence at schools, especially in the multiethnic ones, reflecting at the same time the need to be introduced to various models and techniques for dealing with such problems. One possible approach in that direction, according to the trainer, is the following: the schools should develop programmes for conflict solution and peace education for children, young people, teachers and parents, where they could develop their analytical and communication skills for understanding the conflict and its dynamics and elements. Another possibility is to develop programmes for training the pupils and providing them with skills for solving the conflicts through mediation programmes. The third approach, according to Ober, would be to introduce elements and frameworks for analytics and communication into the regular school subjects.

 

G. Shabani