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THE TWO FACES

OF EDUCATION

IN ETHNIC

CONFLICT

Towards a PeacebuildingEducation for Children

U N I C E F

I n n o c e n t i I n s i g h t

Edited by

Kenneth D. BushDiana Saltarelli

UNICEFInnocenti Insight

THE TWO FACESOF EDUCATION

IN ETHNIC CONFLICTTowards a Peacebuilding Education

for Children

Edited by

Kenneth D. BushDiana Saltarelli

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study draws on the findings of a project originated and coordinated by Paolo Basurto, formerdirector of the UNICEF International Child Development Centre (now known as the UNICEF Inno-centi Research Centre). The editorial team wishes to thank all those who assisted in the preparationof this publication. For contributions to the main text: Sami Adwan, Paulo Basurto, Kenneth D. Bush,Aziz Esmail, Robert Ferguson, Ruth Firer, Anthony M. Gallagher, Jagdish Gundara, Stephen P. Heyne-man, Peter Newell, and Diana Saltarelli. For assistance in initiating the project and in carrying outresearch: Paola Sanchez-Moreno. For reviewing background papers and providing guidance on thescope of the current study, in addition to the main contributors, Alan Phillips of Minority Rights GroupsInternational, London. For coordinating the project’s research in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank,Marilena Viviani, Special Representative, UNICEF Jerusalem; and for his support of this work, Gami-ni Abeysekera, Representative, UNICEF Bangkok, Thailand, formerly Special Representative,UNICEF Jerusalem.

Kenneth D. Bush is Research Fellow at Dalhousie University, Canada.Diana Saltarelli is a Research Consultant and Editor on human rights issues.

Cover design: Miller, Craig & Cocking, Oxfordshire - UK

Layout and phototypesetting: Bernard & Co, Siena - Italy

Printed by Arti Grafiche Ticci, Siena - Italy

ISBN 88-85401-67-8

August 2000

Front cover picture: © UNICEF/HQ97-0583/Roger Lemoyne

A map of Albania on the blackboard behind her, a girl stands in a classroom in the northern city of Shkodra, addressing classmates dur-

ing a UNICEF-assisted psychosocial rehabilitation programme to help children cope with the effects of recent civil unrest.

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UNICEF INNOCENTI RESEARCH CENTRE

The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy,was established in 1988 to strengthen the research capabili-ty of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and tosupport its advocacy for children worldwide. The Centre(formally known as the International Child DevelopmentCentre) helps to identify and research current and futureareas of UNICEF’s work. Its prime objectives are to improveinternational understanding of issues relating to children’srights and to help facilitate the full implementation of theUnited Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child inboth industrialized and developing countries.

The Centre’s publications are contributions to a globaldebate on child rights issues and include a wide range ofopinions. For that reason, the Centre may produce publica-tions that do not necessarily reflect UNICEF policies orapproaches on some topics. The views expressed are thoseof the authors and are published by the Centre in order tostimulate further dialogue on child rights.

The Centre collaborates with its host institution in Flo-rence, the Istituto degli Innocenti, in selected areas of work.Core funding for the Centre is provided by the Governmentof Italy, while financial support for specific projects is also pro-vided by other governments, international institutions andprivate sources, including UNICEF National Committees.

The opinions expressed are those of the authors andeditors and do not necessarily reflect the policies orviews of UNICEF.

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Contents

FOREWORD Mehr Khan, Director, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre vINTRODUCTION viiThe UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre Study ix

1. THE CONTEMPORARY IMPORTANCE OF ETHNICITY 11.1 A review of perspectives on ethnicity 11.2 Children’s ethnic socialization 21.3 The new math of ethnic violence 41.4 Nature and dynamics of violent ethnic conflict 41.5 A caveat: double minority complexes 51.6 Ethnicity, education and nation-building 6

2. THE TWO FACES OF EDUCATION 92.1. Negative 9

2.1.1 The uneven distribution of education 92.1.2 Education as a weapon in cultural repression 102.1.3 Denial of education as a weapon of war 112.1.4 Manipulating history for political purposes 112.1.5 Manipulating textbooks 132.1.6 Self-worth and hating others 142.1.7 Segregated education to ensure inequality, lowered esteem and stereotyping 14

2.2. Positive 162.2.1 Conflict-dampening impact of educational opportunity 162.2.2 Nurturing and sustaining an ethnically tolerant climate 162.2.3 The de-segregation of the mind 162.2.4 Linguistic tolerance 172.2.5 Cultivating inclusive citizenship 182.2.6 The disarming of history 192.2.7 Education for Peace Programmes 202.2.8 Educational practice as an explicit response to state oppression 21

3. TOWARDS A PEACEBUILDING EDUCATION 233.1 An introduction to peacebuilding education 233.2 The context 243.3 Cultures of fear and coping mechanisms 263.4 Distinguishing peacebuilding education from peace education 263.5 Guiding principles and the role of external actors 273.6 The goals of peacebuilding education 273.7 The importance of re-membering 30

4. CONCLUSION 334.1 The negative face of education 344.2 The positive face of education 344.3 Guiding principles for peacebuilding education 344.4 The goals of peacebuilding education 34

Annex – The international legal framework 36References 39

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ForewordThe Two Faces of Education in Ethnic Conflict challenges a widely-held assumption – that education isinevitably a force for good. While the provision of good quality education can be a stabilizing factor, Ken-neth Bush and Diana Saltarelli show how educational systems can be manipulated to drive a wedgebetween people, rather than drawing them closer together. In short, education reflects the society aroundit. The attitudes that flourish beyond the school walls will, inevitably, filter into the classroom.

The report begins by describing the nature of today’s armed conflicts, with virtually every conflictof recent years fought within, rather than between, nations. It examines the growing importance of‘ethnicity’ in conflicts, as clearly seen in recent tragedies such as Rwanda, Kosovo and Chechnya.

Section two describes the two very different faces of education. The negative face shows itself inthe uneven distribution of education to create or preserve privilege, the use of education as a weaponof cultural repression, and the production or doctoring of textbooks to promote intolerance. The posi-tive face goes beyond the provision of education for peace programmes, reflecting the cumulative ben-efits of the provision of good quality education. These include the conflict-dampening impact of edu-cational opportunity, the promotion of linguistic tolerance, the nurturing of ethnic tolerance, and the‘disarming’ of history.

While Bush and Saltarelli recognize the value of peace education, they stress that it is only one ofmany educational measures needed in the midst of ethnic hatred. Curriculum packages that promotetolerance will have little impact if they are delivered within educational structures that are fundamen-tally intolerant. Peace education cannot succeed without measures to tackle the destructive educa-tional practices that fuel hostility, and should be seen as one part of a wider peacebuilding educationapproach. Peacebuilding education is a process rather than a product, long-term rather than short-term,relying on local, rather than external, inputs and resources, seeking to create opportunities rather thanimpose solutions

Peacebuilding education goes further than the ‘add good education and stir’ approach, aiming totransform the very foundations of intolerance. Sadly, these foundations are controlled by the samepolitical or ideological forces that control education, making the necessary transformation immenselydifficult. Such change would threaten the structures of authority, dominance and control – in the Northas well as the South.

The study examines possible steps towards the creation of a peacebuilding education, outliningguiding principles and goals, including the demilitarization of the mind, the introduction of alternativesto suspicion, hatred and violence, and the value of memory.

The Two Faces of Education has been prepared with the support of the UNICEF Innocenti ResearchCentre in Florence, Italy, which is committed to researching new areas that affect the implementationof the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Mehr KhanDirector

UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre

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TOWARDS A PEACEBUILDING EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN v

IntroductionThis study seeks to develop a clearer understanding of one particular dimension of contemporary eth-nic conflict: the constructive and destructive impacts of education – the two faces of education. The needfor such analysis is apparent from even a cursory review of experiences in conflict-prone regions.Because educational initiatives can have polar opposite impacts, those involved must stop supportingpeace-destroying educational initiatives, and start supporting those aimed at peacebuilding. In otherwords, if such educational initiatives are to have a positive peacebuilding impact, then they must seekto deconstruct structures of violence and construct structures of peace. The ways in which this might beachieved are addressed in the final section of this study.

Most of the world’s armed conflicts are civil wars. Of the 25 armed conflicts in 1997, only one –between India and Pakistan – was interstate. All the others were internal conflicts. (SIPRI Yearbook1998, Oxford University Press, 1999). The current trend is to label these conflicts ‘ethnic’, perhaps todistinguish them from the conflicts of the past, when the underlying problems seemed to be ideologi-cal and political. Now they appear at first glance to be motivated by the fact of one’s religion, traditions,the colour of one’s skin or any other reason that is not openly ideological or economic in nature.

Countries that have endured such conflicts have diverted vast amounts of resources, both economicand human, to support military actions. ‘Victory’, if ever finally declared, has a very hollow ring indeed.In such conflicts there are no victors, only victims. Such countries often find themselves in a state of com-plete economic and social collapse. In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwanda genocide – which resulted in thedeaths of an estimated 800,000 children, women and men – the national economy was decimated, andalmost every institution of local and central government destroyed. Large portions of international aidthat could have gone to development were, instead, diverted to emergency assistance. It is estimated thatinternational emergency relief to Rwandan refugees and displaced persons during nine months in 1996alone amounted to US$ 1.4 billion (Sellstrom and Wohlgemuth, 1996; Cantwell, 1997).

The structures and processes that appear to turn ethnic intolerance into unbridled violence are highlycomplex. A list of causal factors might include ‘historical forces’, economic tensions, ‘bad’ governance, per-ceived threats to cultural identity and (in ways that are not adequately understood) formal, non-formaland informal educational processes. Ethnicity itself is often asserted to be a key contributor to ‘ethnicconflict’. However, it is increasingly evident that “ethnicity neither causes conflict, nor in many casesdoes it accurately describe it. Rather ethnicity/identity is increasingly mobilized and politicized in con-temporary violent conflicts” (Bush, 1997).

There are many theories attempting to explain the formation of ethnic identity and some are intro-duced below. However, this study focuses on the educational structures and processes that politicizeidentities in ways that allow diversity and cultural difference to become the basis for violent, protract-ed, conflict. Historically, much attention has been paid to ‘racial’ differences, but this has tended toobscure some of the underpinning dynamics of the problem. Today, we are quite aware that race is asocial and political construction, a social fact – or fiction, if you will – with no biological basis. Nonethe-

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TOWARDS A PEACEBUILDING EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN vii

less, such differences have been used – and continue to be used – as a pretext for treating people dif-ferently. The reality is that any difference, however accidental or barely perceptible, may be used as apretext for discriminatory practices.

The impact of violent ethnic conflicts on children is profound. According to the 1996 United Nationsreport on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, coordinated by Graça Machel1, two million childrendied during armed conflicts between 1986 and 1996. Six million children were seriously injured or per-manently disabled, and millions more were separated from their families, physically abused, abductedinto military groups and, particularly in the case of girls, traumatized by sexual violence and rape. InRwanda alone, as many as 300,000 children were killed within a period of three months in 1994, whilevast numbers were physically and psychologically maimed and forced to flee their homes (Cantwell,1997). In Chechnya, 40 per cent of civilian casualties from February to May 1995 were children (UN,1996a). In Bosnia and Herzegovina, over 15,000 children were killed during fighting. Classrooms had tomove underground to protect children from snipers (UNICEF Yugoslavia, 1994).

James Wolfenson, President of the World Bank, once observed that ‘true’ development could bedistinguished from fake development by “the smile on the face of a child”. The importance of this veryhuman and basic observation should not be underestimated. It sees the well-being of children as theessential measure of all development and peace work. The well-being of children, rather than abstractand complex indicators, becomes the most immediate and transparent measure of the well-being of anentire community. While there are challenges to collecting this type of information, it is an especiallyimportant and sensitive means of measuring and assessing conditions in conflict-prone settings becauseit focuses on those who are typically the first and most directly affected populations – children andwomen. Given the large number of conflicts still raging today, their devastating consequences andenormous costs, it becomes essential to ask not just how the damage can be repaired, but more impor-tantly how future conflicts can be prevented or at least foreseen.

Our current state of knowledge about the specific mechanisms that generate armed conflicts isexpressed well by James Rule (1988) when he writes, “We know a lot of things that are true about civilviolence, but we do not know when they are going to be true.”

Education on its own can not be expected to manage or resolve identity-based violent conflicts, justas diplomatic and peacekeeping initiatives on their own cannot be expected to resolve militarized con-flict in the absence of complementary political, economic and social initiatives. Any solution to violentconflict will be sustainable only if it is developed and supported by both governmental and non-governmental actors within violence-affected societies in ways that are consistent with the fundamen-tal and universal principles of human rights.

viii THE TWO FACES OF EDUCATION IN ETHNIC CONFLICT

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1 - United Nations, 1996a. ‘Impact of Armed Conflict on Children’, Graça Machel.

The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre StudyThis Study is an expression of UNICEF’s commitment to work for the protection of children’s rights,within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UNICEF Innocenti ResearchCentre (IRC) helps to identify and research emerging areas that may affect the implementation of theConvention. The profound change in the nature of warfare over recent decades is an obvious example,as it has had a major impact on children. They are increasingly targeted for violence on the basis of their‘ethnic’ identity.

Many factors contribute to peaceful or conflict-ridden coexistence between different ethnic groupswithin a society, but it is clear to many observers that education plays a definite role. The central objec-tive of the study is to gain a better understanding of the nature of the many linkages between threekey areas - education, ethnicity and conflict.

The study began life as a small research project carried out in 1997-1998 at UNICEF IRC (thenknown at the International Child Development Centre). A group of experts was appointed to definehow best to analyze the connections between ethnicity, education and conflict, to advise on data col-lection and analysis, prepare relevant questionnaires and suggest suitable research participants. A net-work was created among institutions and individuals already working in the three key areas, serving asa source of information for the study and as a ‘sounding board’ for its ideas.

Since education can have either a socially destructive or constructive impact, it is useful to exam-ine the educational experiences within and between a wide spectrum of countries, including those notcaught up in ethnicized conflicts as well as those that are. The studies were carried out in 1997-98.

The guiding question for this work was when, why, and how does education affect ethnic conflict– positively and negatively. For the purpose of this Study, education was broadly defined as an impor-tant medium for imparting not only pedagogic instruction but attitudes, values and behaviours (Black,1996). It transmits language, culture, moral values and social organization, leading to a particular iden-tity and often has a strong political role. It is understood to rest on two distinct foundations: ● the formal structures of schooling (a teacher who teaches and a student who learns) ● the informal and non-formal structures of learning – involving the acquisition of ideas, values, beliefs and

opinions outside educational institutions, whether in streets, fields, religious settings or the home.Informal education is learning that occurs without being specifically planned and structured.

Examples might be socialization, learning how to behave in a family or learning a trade from a parent.Non-formal education is planned and organized, offering specific learning environments and opportu-nities. These are usually more flexible and open than the formal education typified by schooling.

The project began with the observation that formal education is often viewed as a neutral or tech-nical process of information dissemination set within a given societal context. It found that this start-ing point inhibited consideration of the role of education in the creation of a “constructed” – ratherthan a “given” – societal context. The broadening of the analytical focus reveals that implicitly and

TOWARDS A PEACEBUILDING EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN ix

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explicitly, intentionally and unintentionally, education inevitably has a societal impact – for good or forill. As the author and critic Neil Postman has said,

“… public education does not serve a public. It creates a public. The question is, what kindof public does it create? A conglomerate of self-indulgent consumers? Angry, soulless, direction-less masses? Indifferent, confused citizens? Or a public imbued with confidence, a sense of pur-pose, a respect for learning and tolerance?” (Postman 1996, p.18).The approach adopted in this Study is interdisciplinary. It attempts to integrate contributions from

different communities and to establish a set of common understandings that might help to focus ana-lytical and policy efforts. This makes sense both conceptually and practically: complex and multi-dimensional problems must be matched with multifaceted responses.

The study draws a clear distinction between violent and non-violent conflict. It does not see thelatter as a necessarily negative or destructive phenomenon. Development, for example, is inevitablyconflictual, destabilizing, or subversive because it challenges the established power structures that pre-vent individuals and groups from reaching their full potential. While the study focuses more on violent,than on non-violent conflict, it has a special interest in those moments when a conflict tips over theedge into actual violence. At such moments, the presence or absence of conflict-mediating mechanismsand institutions may determine whether a conflict crosses that threshold. These may include repre-sentative political systems, a transparent and fair judicial system, or an equitable social system.

While the study has a particular interest in education systems, it attempts to understand these with-in the broader political, economic, and social institutional context. Some have argued that violent con-flict is the ultimate expression of the breakdown of a society’s governance system, and that recon-struction therefore rests primarily upon the renegotiation and refashioning of new systems ofgovernance at the community, sub-national and national level. Thus, ‘reconstruction’ requires strate-gies and interventions to promote institutional arrangements that can facilitate and sustain the transi-tion from violent conflict to sustainable development, and build ‘fire walls’ that prevent societal con-flict spiralling into societal violence. An appealing feature of the study’s broad approach is the wayanalysis of the problems is tied to an understanding of solutions.

This study should be considered as a first attempt to explore a set of highly complex and contro-versial issues. Its potential contribution is twofold: a focused and critical examination of the peace-building and peace-destroying role of education; and the placement of children on the mainstream peace-building and reconstruction agenda in a way that goes beyond their necessary but narrow inclusion aschild soldiers.

x THE TWO FACES OF EDUCATION IN ETHNIC CONFLICT

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1.1 A REVIEW OF PERSPECTIVESON ETHNICITY

As ethnicity has re-emerged as a key dimen-sion in public affairs within and betweenStates, we have seen a rise in awareness of theimportance of ethnic issues within social theo-ry. While social theorists in the 19th and early20th centuries were interested in conflict insociety, the theoretical flavour of the mid-20th

century tended to neglect conflict in favour ofa unitary notion of society and culture. Thisapproach emphasized social integrationthrough common values. Conflict was seen aspathological and dysfunctional to the normaloperations of society. More recently, non-vio-lent social conflict has been seen to contain thepotential for a positive role in producing theprocesses and structures of group cohesion bycreating a sense of unity that cross-cuts indi-vidual identity (Darby, 1991).

In another area of social theory, social strat-ification, there has been a recent recognition ofthe need to incorporate ethnic stratificationalongside the more traditional dimensions ofinvestigation such as gender and socio-eco-nomic stratification (Parkin, 1979). In a keytext in the literature on ethnicity, Glazer andMoynihan (1975) reversed a long traditionwithin social theory to argue that ethnicity hadbecome the fundamental basis of social strati-fication in contemporary society, with propertynow appearing to be derivative. By the early1990s the literature on ethnic issues and eth-nicity had grown considerably. A key feature ofthis literature has been a break with the ‘mod-ernization’ paradigm, which had predicted thatthe processes of urbanization, secularizationand industrialization would minimize social

differences, while nation-building woulddevelop modern homogeneous culture centredaround patriotic loyalty to the state, rather thanto ethnically based loyalties such as national-ism. The supposed promise of the moderniza-tion paradigm was that “ascriptive group loyal-ties would be superseded and would no longerbe functional in modern societies”, but thispromise proved illusory (Bacal, 1991).

The renewed attention to ethnicity can beseen across academic disciplines. Socialanthropologists were among the first social sci-entists to address issues of ethnicity in studiesof isolated and distant cultures (Rex, 1986).Social psychologists have long been interestedin the dynamics of prejudice and discrimina-tion, but for the present purposes what is per-haps even more significant is the shift, overthe last 20 years, in European social psycholo-gy towards intergroup research and theory, anda focus on the processes of social identity(Tajfel, 1984). There is a further point of con-tact between historical, sociological and psy-chological research on genocide and ethnocide(Baumann, 1989; Chalk and Jonassohn, 1990;Staub, 1989).

Political scientists have offered ideas onthe role of electoral and governmental systemsin plural societies (De Guchtenere et al, 1991),while the discipline of international relationshas made an important contribution to issuesof governance at national and internationallevels, and to conflict resolution through medi-ation (Groom, 1991). More specifically, therehave been some outstanding contributions tothe politics of ethnicity that have analyzed,among other issues: the nature and origins ofethnic affiliations; the material sources of iden-tity-based conflict; ethnicity and party politics;

1. THE CONTEMPORARY IMPORTANCEOF ETHNICITY

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kinship, which may be (but usually is not)based on biological fact. Stavenhagen definesethnic groups as collectivities that have bothobjective and subjective characteristics. Theirmembers acknowledge sharing common traitssuch as language, culture or religion, as well asa sense of belonging.

Ethnic identity may be based also onassumed national origins, or on shared pheno-typic characteristics such as skin colour. Ineither case, the basis for ethnic affiliation estab-lishes a particular community as distinctive andbounded in some way or other. This distinc-tiveness should not be seen as unalterable orimmutable. The multiplicity of available iden-tities only becomes of social and political rele-vance when a particular basis for identity isinvested with social meaning and significance.This implies that ethnicity, and the notion of anethnic group, does not exist in any abstractsense, but is always linked to a particular placeand a particular time. At a theoretical and con-ceptual level, therefore, ethnic boundaries aresocially constructed and hence malleable, eventhough in particular contexts they may be treat-ed as timeless and unalterable. The labelling ofmembers of ethnic groups along stereotypicallines, for example, is usually linked to themaintenance of a power imbalance between theminority (or minorities) and an ethnic majority.

It is, however, important to recognize andemphasize the positive, integrating force ofethnicity in contemporary societies. Whilemost, if not all, societies are ethnically plural,not all suffer violent internal conflict betweenethnic communities. There is value in assess-ing social policy and practice in societies thathave flourished through the celebration of plu-ralism and diversity.

1.2 CHILDREN’S ETHNIC SOCIALIZATION

The processes and structures that influenceand shape ethnic attitudes in children are stillnot agreed upon despite considerable research.

ethnicized military structures; and inter-ethnicaccommodation – in short, the logic and struc-ture of ethnic conflict and on measures toabate it (Horowitz 1985; Esman 1994;Montville 1989; Brass 1991; Connor 1994).

Educationalists have long been interestedin ethnic and racial issues, in terms of the par-ticipation of ethnic minorities in educationalsystems, the potential role of education inameliorating discrimination (Coulby et al.,1997; Pluralism in Education, 1996) and theimportance of these issues for teacher training(Craft, 1996; Martinez, 1994). While theseissues have been most extensively addressedin Western states, there has been a broader,comparative interest in education and humanrights (Grant, 1988; Kymlicka, 1996; Tarrow,1987; Modgil et al, 1986). The area of humanrights and minority rights has inspired a hugeliterature with a strong focus on the interna-tional legal framework (Davies, 1988).

The key point arising from this review ofthe literature is that the study of ethnicity andconflict is not the exclusive purview of any sin-gle academic discipline or school. Rather, thestudy of ethnicity marks a point of intersectionthat has attracted the attention of manyschools of thought.

Drawing on this vast literature, this studyunderstands ethnicity to be a form of culturaldistinctiveness. This implies that the idea of anethnic group only makes sense in the contextof ethnic pluralism. Ethnic identity may evolvegradually, or be imposed – or some combinationof the two. At a voluntaristic level, an ethnicgroup is a community of people who engage inshared social practices that reinforce their senseof identity: examples would include religious,linguistic and cultural communities. A usefulpoint of departure is the definition by the aca-demic Paul Brass: “ethnicity is the subjective,symbolic, or emblematic use by a group of peo-ple of any aspect of culture in order to createinternal cohesion and differentiate themselvesfrom other groups.”2 This understanding ofethnicity recognizes that the internal and exter-nal functions of group identity are cohesion anddifferentiation. Central to this sense of identityis a shared belief in common descent, birth or

2 THE TWO FACES OF EDUCATION IN ETHNIC CONFLICT

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2 - Paul Brass, Ethnicity and Nationalism: Theory and Com-parison (New Delhi: Sage, 1991), p. 19.

However, within the context of ethnic conflict,the importance of developing a better under-standing of this dynamic is underscored by thefinding by Padilla, Ruiz and Brand (1974) thatethnic attitudes are formed early, and that oncepositive or negative prejudices are formed,they tend to increase with time. Early social-ization experiences are, therefore, critical inthe formation of ethnic attitudes. There aremany components that make up these experi-ences for each child. In the broadest sense,Riegel (1976) argues that socio-cultural atti-tudes and identities are a function of the inter-action of historical socio-cultural milieu, indi-vidual factors and the physical environment.Together, these are understood to form uniquepatterns of development for each generation,each ethnic group and each individual. Whilethe generalization of this finding limits its usein understanding the specific instances andcases of ethnic socialization and conflict, thereare a number of avenues of inquiry that aremore directly applicable to the current study.

Researchers within the psychoanalytic tra-dition tend to focus on personality types. Theysee negative attitudes as being determined by

early childhood experience, especially parent-child relationships. This suggests that educa-tion will have to target both children and par-ents if it is to play a constructive role ininter-ethnic relations. It also suggests that theimpact of formal schooling programmes will betempered by the influence of extra-curricularinputs. In other words, the boundary betweenschool and society is permeable – particularlyin the area of ethnic socialization.

Children do not come to the classroom asblank slates. They bring with them the atti-tudes, values and behaviour of their societiesbeyond the classroom walls. In this context,even the early research in contemporary socialsciences indicates that children who show lessacceptance of other groups tend to be moreconstricted, cynical, suspicious and less securethan children who are more tolerant (Adorno,Frenkel-Brunswick, Levinson and Sanford1950). Prejudiced children are more likely tobe moralistic, to dichotomize the world, toexternalize conflict, and to have a high needfor definiteness (Allport 1954). Under condi-tions of inter-ethnic tension and conflict, suchcharacteristics unavoidably find their way into

TOWARDS A PEACEBUILDING EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN 3

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Altering the rules of ethnic interactionA central question for the current study is thedegree to which, and the conditions under which,education can play a constructive role – not nec-essarily in altering the content of group identitiesbut in altering the rules of ethnic interaction.

In this way, formal schooling and training, aswell as non-formal education, can play an essen-tial role in conflict transformation, whether tosensitize a society to inequities in a system; tofoster tolerance and inter-group understanding; topromote healing and reconciliation; or to nurturethe idea and capacities for peace. These are chal-lenges currently being addressed in a number ofplaces including Mozambique, Northern Irelandand South Africa.

When social psychologists shift the analyticalfocus to group processes that influence and shapeprejudicial attitudes and cross-ethnic attitudes, avariety of factors emerge, including proximity, fre-

quency of contact, ethnic balance, density, hetero-geneity of the population and the degree of verticalmobility within society (Le Vine and Campbell1972). Only gradually through direct contact, andincreasingly via the media, do children learn thatsome of their behaviour, which to them is the onlyway to behave in a given situation, is, in fact, ‘eth-nic’. While children may become aware of themore obvious ethnic clues, such as language andskin colour, at a very early age, they may not real-ize that they think and behave differently in certainsituations to individuals from other ethnic groupsuntil adulthood (if then). In integrated school set-tings, children may be exposed to other groups andtheir different characteristics. This awareness of dif-ference opens the door to conscious choice: toemphasize one’s own distinctive patterns, to adoptthe patterns of the other group, or to fashion a mid-dle ground of inter-cultural accommodation.

contained, many have intensified, includingthose in the countries of the former Yugoslavia,Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kurdish regions ofEastern Turkey, the Horn of Africa, Rwanda,Lebanon, in Sri Lanka and a number of flash-points in the Indian sub-continent. Many haveassumed international dimensions. Indeed,few ethnic minorities are confined to a single

State. Ethnic identity oftenignores national borders.There are Serbs in Croatiaand Bosnia, Russians withinmany of the successor statesof the USSR, and Kurds andChinese in many Asian coun-tries. It is not surprising,

therefore, that ethnic minority groups oftenlook to neighbouring countries for protectionor occasionally make irredentist claims.

1.4 NATURE AND DYNAMICS OF VIOLENT ETHNIC CONFLICT

Contemporary violent conflicts – especiallyethnic conflicts – are increasingly dirty. FromAlgeria to Omagh to Sri Lanka, the principalweapon of war is terror. Not only do warriorstarget civilians, and especially children, sys-tematically,4 but they employ control throughthe creation and manipulation of fear.5 Theirstrategies include scorched earth tactics tostarve populations and destroy infrastructures,sexual torture and mass rape, ethnic and socialcleansing, and even genocide.

Once violence becomes fuelled by hyper-politicized identity, an insidious logic kicks in

the classroom and must thus be taken intoaccount if the peace-destroying impact of edu-cation is to be minimized. In Sri Lanka, forexample, the ethnic chauvinism and stereotyp-ing that are rampant outside the classroom findtheir way into the classroom through textbooksused in social studies classes (within bothmajority and minority communities). Thisexacerbates an inter-con-nected and socially corro-sive dynamic inside andoutside school walls.However, if the borderbetween schooling andsociety is indeed perme-able, this opens up thepossibility that students may carry non-con-frontational and tolerant attitudes from theclassroom into the broader community. Just asteachers may be role models to the studentsthey teach, so students may play an active rolein shaping the attitudinal and perceptual envi-ronment beyond the walls of the school.

1.3 THE NEW MATH OF ETHNIC VIOLENCE

Statistics sketch a general picture of the chang-ing situation. In the late 1970s, 18 states hadsignificant internal linguistic conflicts and 19had significant internal religious conflicts. In1983, 76 States had active opposition groupsorganized around minority grievances, while afurther 38 had evidence of minority griev-ances, but no organized opposition groups. Inas many as 41 States, minority oppositiongroups used violent methods to press theirclaims (Kidron and Segal, 1984). More recentdata serve to reinforce this picture. In 1996Darby (1997) estimated that there were 74active violent political conflicts, 19 of whichhad resulted in more than 1,000 deaths in thatsingle year. The annual yearbooks of theStockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)suggest that, throughout the 1990s, there wereabout 30 active major armed conflicts, only oneof which was interstate. The rest took placewithin States, between factions split along eth-nic, religious or cultural lines.3

While some internal conflicts have been


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3 - UN, 1996a, op. cit.4 - Some analysts have estimated that the civilian casualtyrate in today’s conflicts are around 90% compared with 50%in World War I and 66% in World War II. Christer Ahlstrom,Casualties of Conflict: Report for the World Campaign for the Vic-tims of War. Department of Peace and Conflict Research,1991.5 - For clear discussions of the use of terror as a weaponof dirty war, see: Carolyn Nordstrom, Backyard Front, inNordstrom and JoAnn Martin, eds., The Paths to Domina-tion, Resistence and Terror. University of California Press,1992; and Juan E. Corradi, Patricia Weiss Fagen andManuel Antonio Garreton, eds., Fear at the Edge: State Ter-ror and Resistance in Latin America (University of Califor-nia Press, 1992).

In Bosnia, when buses filled with women in thefinal months of pregnancy from rape were sentback across enemy lines covered with viciousgraffiti about the children about to be born,there could be no doubt that the violence wasintended to be both individual and collective.

that raises the stakes beyond the more nego-tiable issues such as territorial control or theredistribution of political and materialresources. In identity-based conflicts, the veryexistence of a community is thought to beunder threat. An opposing identity group islabelled as the source of the threat and the bat-tlefield expands to include homes and play-grounds. An individual comes to be targetedbecause of his or her membership in a particularcommunity. The physical, psychological andmoral violence inflicted on individuals ismeant to affect the community as a whole –specifically, the identity group of which thatindividual is a member.

However abhorrent contemporary mani-festations of ethnicized violence may be, theirsystematic and institutionalized character sug-gests an underpinning instrumentalist logic –whether it is territorial control through ethniccleansing, or direct attacks on the morale andcultural fabric of a community through massrape. The element ofspectacle becomes essen-tial for meeting strategicmilitary and politicalobjectives and the verybodies of individualsbecome a public battle-ground. In Bosnia, whenbuses filled with womenin the final months of pregnancy from rapewere sent back across enemy lines coveredwith vicious graffiti about the children about tobe born, there could be no doubt that the vio-lence was intended to be both individual andcollective. As intended, these women continueto be victimized after their return by beingostracized by their communities – a furtherfragmentation of a community.

A kill-or-be-killed logic requires, and justi-fies, war against both immediate and futurethreats. When the language of future threats iscombined with dehumanization, demoniza-tion, and zero-sum logic, then children andwomen become threats to be eliminated –from the gas chambers of Nazi Germany, to thekilling fields of Pol Pot’s Cambodia, to theditches and villages of post-1994 Rwanda. Asgroups are mobilized on the basis of identity,

such traits as ethnicity, religion, language andcaste become organizational resources in thepolitical and economic arenas.6 This mobiliza-tional process is facilitated by the permeativecharacter of ethnic identity, which is describedby the foremost scholar of ethnic politics Don-ald Horowitz as having a tendency to ‘seep-age’.7 The ethnicization of social, political andeconomic life coincides with the politicizationof ethnicity, which together serve to crank upthe tensions between identity and conflict,and raise the stakes sharply in all confronta-tions. It adds volatility to every social, politicaland economic interaction across identityboundaries.

1.5 A CAVEAT: DOUBLEMINORITY COMPLEXES

A straight demographic definition of a majorityand minority group is sometimes problematic.Identity groups also need to be put into

regional and socio-psycho-logical contexts. This is evi-dent for example in both SriLanka and Northern Ireland.The fact that the Sinhala lan-guage and culture have nocentre outside Sri Lanka hasbeen used by political entre-preneurs to create both a

siege mentality and a regional minority com-plex among the Sinhalese. Although the Sin-halese are a majority within Sri Lanka, manyperceive themselves to be a minority in relationto the 50 million Tamils of southern India.Thus, the categorization of groups into minori-ty Tamils and majority Sinhalese masks a phe-nomenon that could be termed a “doubleminority complex”. This exercises consider-able influence on the perceptions and behav-iour of both the Sinhalese and Tamil parties tothe conflict, in particular by intensifying theirsense of threat, raising the stakes of inter-group


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6 - See for example: Milton Esman, Ethnic Politics; D.L.Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict; Paul R. Brass, Ethnici-ty and Nationalism: Theory and Comparison; and KennethD. Bush, Cracking Open the Ethnic Billiard Ball: Bringing inthe Intra-Group Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict Studies, 1996.7 - Horowitz, ibid.

When the language of future threats is com-bined with dehumanization, demonization,and zero-sum logic, then children and womenbecome threats to be eliminated – from the gaschambers of Nazi Germany, to the killing fieldsof Pol Pot’s Cambodia, to the ditches and vil-lages of post-1994 Rwanda.

curriculum (both hidden and explicit).In other words, the “naturalization” of citi-

zens is a process that may be either integrativeor disintegrative. In a liberal view of the world,the end result is a society based on toleranceand respect for difference. However, this sameprocess may also generate the opposite out-come: intolerance, jingoism, and a fear andrejection of difference.

Through the liberal lens, the principal taskof public schooling, properly organized anddelivered, has traditionally been to create “har-mony” within a nation of divergent peoples.Public schooling is viewed as an investment ina social contract the benefits of which arebelieved to accrue not only to the individualwho experiences schooling but also, and per-haps more importantly, to the wider society.

But the current challenge of education inmany countries, especially newly establishedones intent on forging a national identity, is tomaintain peace within their own borders, whilefostering tolerance of their often very divergentneighbours.

It is possible to identify historical examplesof these processes. The development of masseducation systems towards the end of the 19thcentury played a role in unifying nations at atime when the democratic franchise was beingextended. This was as true of “old” societies,such as Britain, where the schools could promul-gate tradition and history, and “new” societiessuch as the United States where schools wereexpected to act as part of the “melting-pot” tofuse a multitude of migrant communities intoAmerican citizens. Towards a somewhat differ-ent purpose, but following essentially similarprocesses, the nascent USSR education servedas a mechanism for constructing “Soviet man”(Bowen, 1981). In contrast to the melting potmodel of the United States, schooling in Canadaused the metaphor of a multicultural “mosaic”in which differences were recognized and high-lighted, rather than overlooked and blended.The results of these models were mixed, butsufficient to dampen widespread violence –though this generalization should not obscure orminimize the violence inflicted on the aborigi-nal peoples of Canadians in the residentialschool system.8

competition and subsidizing intransigence. Asenior diplomat in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colom-bo, summed it up well: “there are three minori-ties in this country: the Tamils, the Muslimsand the Sinhalese”. To the extent that this con-dition affects behaviour within the Sinhalesecommunity, the demographically definedminority and majority categories within SriLanka are inverted. Similarly in Northern Ire-land, the Protestant community (the majoritycommunity in Northern Ireland) perceivesitself as a minority from an all-Ireland perspec-tive, while the Catholic community sees itselfas a minority in a narrower Northern Irelandperspective. These examples should remindus of the variations in the perceptions andinterpretations of such empirical “facts.”

1.6 ETHNICITY, EDUCATION AND NATION-BUILDING

Ethnicity continues to be a central point of ref-erence in relations between different groups ofpeople, and most, if not all countries are hometo a range of minority groups. There is a greatdeal of ethnic heterogeneity within contempo-rary states, despite the implicit claims to homo-geneity of culture and identity. Traditionally,education systems have played a key role inmaintaining this fictive image of cultural homo-geneity. Coulby (1997) highlights some of theways in which education has been used in theservice of cultural homogenization, includingthe invention and use of a canon of “nationalliterature” and the promulgation of a commonnational language – two essential componentsin what has been called the “naturalization” ofcitizens. Churchill (1996) goes further to sug-gest that the traditional notion of the stateembodied a set of assumptions that simultane-ously claim and construct linguistic, culturaland political homogeneity. Schooling may con-tribute to this process by constructing andimposing a common culture, founded on acommon language, a shared sense of historyand destiny, and more broadly, a common set ofexpectations and behaviours rooted in a sense ofcivic loyalty. Whether the end result is assimila-tion or integration depends on both the wayschooling is structured and the content of the


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A further case is illustrated in the conflictsbetween Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo. Tocounteract Albanian attempts to affirm theirminority national identity, the Serbian govern-ment adopted a policy of assimilation, eliminat-ing teaching programmes in the Albanian lan-guage and introducing a unified curriculum andstandardized textbooks across the country, mea-sures that many blame for the ensuing strife. Inits report to the Committee on the Rights of theChild in 1994, the Yugoslav government admit-ted that it was encountering major problems inthe education of Albanian children in theprovinces of Kosovo and Metohijo. Parentsrefused to send their children to schools workingaccording to the “legitimate programme of theRepublic of Serbia”. Instead, Albanian childrenattended non-accredited parallel schools, treat-ed by the Government as illegal. In an alterna-tive report submitted to the Committee, a non-governmental organization points out that a

number of important institutions in the educa-tional system were shut down in 1994, includingthe Institute for Albanology and the Academy of


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Two SnapshotsThe Central Asian Republics of the former USSRprovide two interesting snap shots of nation-build-ing at two points in time under very different sets ofcircumstances (Akiner, 1997).Snap Shot One: When these territories came underSoviet control they were carved up into separateRepublics. A range of strategies were employed tobuild national identities, and education was one ofthe tools. Some of the larger communities wereaccorded privileges, such as access to key positionsin society and politics. Other communities wereaccorded certain rights, including educational andlinguistic rights. Smaller communities were, at vari-ous times, subsumed within larger groups or“reclassified” bureaucratically out of existence (withmany resurfacing following the exit of the Sovietregime). Other efforts to create common “national”identities included the creation of national lan-guages and the compilation of national histories thatwere selective and presented within the wider Sovi-et framework. In particular, while the Republic wasdescribed as providing the national identity, theSoviet Union provided the identity of citizenship –which created political tensions that reverberateinto the present. Clearly, there was a more explicit-

ly coercive aspect to the process as seen in the sup-pression of Islam. Snap Shot Two: With the implosion of the SovietUnion, the Republics gained independence. Thenewly opened political and social space allowedthe creation of very different ideas on nationhood.Not surprisingly, this was a two-fold process basedon the rejection of the Soviet-imposed conceptionsof identity, and the search for “indigenous” sourcesof collective identity and community. In this secondwave of nation-building, there is, therefore, a resur-gence of national cultures (some previouslyrepressed), and a rewriting of national histories.Some republics are experiencing a resurgence ofIslamic schools and the teaching and use of Arabic.All are occurring in an environment in which newhistories contest the old, challenging the estab-lished European/Russian superiority. Consequently,the nation is being rapidly reinvented, or simplyinvented. This is not to deny the legitimacy of thenewly independent States, but to see the processesthat all States go through. Furthermore, many ofthese processes can be addressed through the edu-cation system and many are addressed most effi-ciently in this way.

8 - The best and most recent source of information on theresidential school system in Canada may be found in thewealth of research commissioned for the Royal CanadianCommission on Aboriginal Peoples. People to People,Nation to Nation, Report of the Royal Commission onAboriginal Peoples (Hull, Quebec: Canada Communica-tions Group-Publishing, 1996). See especially Volume 1:Looking Back, Looking Forward which addresses how“Church and government leaders had come to the con-clusion that the problem (as they saw it) of Aboriginalindependence and ‘savagery’ could be solved by takingchildren from their families at an early age and instillingthe ways of the dominant society during eight or nineyears of residential schooling far from home. Attendancewas compulsory. Aboriginal languages, customs andhabits of mind were suppressed. The bonds betweenmany hundreds of Aboriginal children and their familiesand nations were bent and broken, with disastrousresults.” The rampant physical and sexual abuse of abo-riginal children is receiving increasing public attention aspast victims are confronting their abusers in highly publi-cized legal cases.

fying zenith in 1999. The point to be empha-sized here is that the systematic ethnic cleans-ing undertaken by the Serbian military forcesin late 1999 was in no way a spontaneousevent. The precursor to abuse on such a mas-sive scale is the systematic dismantling of thesocial, political and economic institutions thatprovide order and stability for a community.This was certainly the case in Nazi Germany,and in Cambodia under Pol Pot.

Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. Educational andprofessional activities in the Albanian languagewere no longer allocated government funds,teaching aids in Albanian were not publishedand the major Albanian publishing house,Rilindja, was closed down. The curriculum andthe approach of teachers in the official schoolswere highly politicized.

There can be no doubt that the schism ineducation in Kosovo was a major contributor tothe upsurge of violence that reached its horri-


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2.1 NEGATIVE

Education is often used as a panacea for a broadspectrum of social ills, from racism to misogyny.While the impact of such initiatives has beenmixed, their starting premise is the same: thatformal education can shape the understand-ings, attitudes, and ultimately, the behaviour ofindividuals. If it is true that education can havea socially constructive impact on intergrouprelations, then it is equally evident that it canhave a socially destructive impact. Becausemore energy tends to be expended on theexamination of the positive face, rather thanthe negative face of education, it is useful tobegin by considering some of the ways inwhich education has exacerbated intergrouphostility under conditions of ethnic tension.

2.1.1 The uneven distribution of education

Innumerable historical cases can be identifiedwhere ethnic groups – and more broadly, socialgroups – have been denied access to educa-tional resources and, therefore, excluded fromfull participation in the economic and social lifeof a country. Such obstacles have both animmediate and longer-term impact on thesocio-economic status of the “affected groups.”Because education has increasingly become ahighly valued commodity, its unequal alloca-tion has been a serious source of friction thathas frequently led to confrontation. It alsoshows how the powers of the state can become“ethnicized,” that is, used to advance the inter-ests of one group at the expense of others, ashappened when the Serbian authoritiesreduced the number of places in secondaryschools reserved for Albanians in Kosovo.

The discrimination evident in policies andpractices that deny access to educationalopportunity is, typically, only the tip of the ice-berg. It may, for example, coincide with theimplementation of quotas to restrict publicemployment. Or it may coincide with a crack-down on student political organizations.

Restricted access to education should beviewed as an indicator of deteriorating rela-tions between groups. As such, it should beviewed as a warning signal that should prodthe international community to initiate whatthe World Bank would call a “watching brief”so that it might anticipate and respond to fur-ther deteriorations before it is too late.

In ethnically stratified societies, privilegedethnic groups usually attain higher averageeducational levels than members of subordi-nate ethnic groups. Several factors underlie thispattern. First, educational attainment isenhanced by a privileged background, and stu-dents from advantaged ethnic origins benefitfrom the educational, occupational and eco-nomic attainments of their parents. Second,dominant social groups use the educational sys-tem to secure their privilege across generations.Because of their cultural and political domina-tion, educational selection is based on criteriathat favour their offspring. Third, dominantethnic groups may control the political process-es by which school systems are funded andstructured and are able to promote thoseschools attended by their children or their owneducational districts. As a result of these fac-tors, students from advantaged social origins dobetter in school and obtain more schoolingwhich, in turn, enables them to obtain moredesirable occupations (Shavit Yossi, 1990).

During the colonial era, European powers

2. THE TWO FACES OF EDUCATION

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of restrictions placed on the admission of Hutuchildren to secondary schools, “by 1988 only atiny fraction of the Hutu population had therequisite skills for employment in the modernsectors of the economy” (Stavenhagen, 1996).

2.1.2 Education as a weapon in cultural repression

Taken to an extreme, such repression can betermed `ethnocide’. This can be defined as“the process whereby a culturally distinct peo-ple loses its identity as a result of policiesdesigned to erode its land and resource base,the use of its language, its own social and polit-ical institutions, as well as its traditions, artforms, religious practices and cultural values”(Stavenhagen, 1990).

Newly independent governments in Africaoften attributed great strategic importance toeducation as a means of maintaining politicalcommand and control. After independence, mis-

sionary schools in southernSudan were taken over by thestate and, from 1964, all for-eign missionaries wereexpelled. Schools becametotally Arabized. Staff fromnorthern Sudan were recruitedfor every school supervisorypost in the south and every

secondary school was removed to the north. TheSouthern intelligentsia opposed to such Arabiza-tion was forced to flee to Uganda and Zaire or tothe bush where they established counter move-ments (Stavenhagen, 1996). In extreme, and notuncommon cases of violent conflict, schools havebeen used as sites for press-ganging child sol-diers and attacking teachers.

In many post-colonial societies, the cur-riculum remains strongly Euro-centric andcompletely ignores the local culture. Onlyinfrequently is there an “acknowledgementthat the colonized people should be heardfrom, their ideas known” (Graham-Brown,1994, quoting Jagdish Gunadara). New gener-ations thus become estranged from their owncultures. According to one analysis, manyschoolchildren attending missionary schools inRwanda in the 1950s were not even aware ofthe existence of the mwami; a glaring knowl-

often employed the standard divide-and-ruletactic of giving certain minority groups accessto education so that they could act as localfunctionaries. At independence, such groupspossessed the professional and administrativeskills needed to manage the affairs of state – aswas the case in many former British coloniessuch as Sri Lanka, India and Sudan.

In Rwanda, for example, Catholic mission-ary schools openly favoured the Tutsi minorityand actively discriminated against the Hutufrom the late 1800s. During the 1920s, thechurch set up `special schools’ to educate Tutsias the future leaders of the country and stateschools were also established to train Tutsi assupport staff for the colonial government. Thispreferential treatment continued throughoutthe 1930s and 1940s. One government-fundedschool in Nyanza, the Group Scolaire, even had aminimum height requirement for admission,which, of course, worked to the disadvantage ofthe Hutu, who tend to beshorter (Newberry, 1988).The Tutsi were almostexclusively admitted tothe École Astrida, the onlyexisting secondary school,where they were taught toregard themselves as anaristocratic class destinedto rule (Chrétien, 1992). While the Hutureceived only enough education to enable themto carry out menial jobs, the Tutsi gained apolitical, administrative, cultural and economicmonopoly on power (El Pais, 1997).

Stereotyping in textbooks and by teachershas also been an issue. Textbooks of the Ger-man and Belgian colonial periods emphasizedthe physical differences between the Hutuand the Tutsi, linking physical appearance andintellectual capacity according to prevailingracist doctrines. Such books praised the intel-lectual capacities of the Tutsi and classified theHutu as unintelligent, meek and suitable formanual work (El Pais, 1997).

Similarly in Burundi, as a result of decadesof discrimination in the educational system, a`social pyramid’ was created with the Tutsimonopolizing the most important positionswithin and outside the government. Because


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First grade math text book in Bulgaria:Count how many words there are in this sen-tence: “I am grateful to the party for it leadsmy country to beautiful radiant life and vigi-lantly protects us from war.”Library of Congress, Country Studies - Bul-garia, June 1992.

edge gap as he was theirking (Linden, 1977).

Language is an essen-tial element in the main-tenance of ethnic and cultural identity andmay be, in some cases, the only test for theexistence of an indigenous people. “Throughits language, a given group expresses its ownculture, its own societal identity; languages arerelated to thought processes and to the way themembers of a certain linguistic group perceivenature, the universe and society” (Staven-hagen, 1996). In many cases, the imposition ofa dominant language on ethnic groups (bothinside and outside the formal school system) isa repressive act, both in intention and outcome– for example the resistance to Afrikaansschooling during the apartheid era. In suchcases, groups have sometimes taken up arms toprotect their cultural and linguistic rights. Itwould, however, be a grave mistake to seeevery effort to impose a common language on alinguistically diverse population as an aggres-sive cultural act. In Senegal, as described laterin this study, it has had a unifying impact. Acritical factor in determining whether it unifiesor divides is the manner in which other lan-guages are treated. To the extent that they areacknowledged formally and informally to be animportant part of the collective national identi-ty, potential tensions may be diffused.

A similar dynamic is evident in the conflictbetween the Turkish State and the Kurdishminority in eastern Turkey. Kurds are notallowed to use their language in schools andhave been subjected to corporal punishmentfor doing so. Teachers themselves have beendismissed for permitting Kurdish to be spokenin their classrooms. Kurdish children are dis-criminated against in schools, and often arbi-trarily given poor grades. Kurdish publicationshave been officially banned and professors atuniversity have been imprisoned for conduct-ing research on Kurdish issues (Graham-Brown, 1994).

The existence of a national language cansometimes ease inter-ethnic relations and helpeliminate the preconceptions one group has ofanother (Nsibambi in UNICEF, 1992). How-ever, carrying out an assimilist policy through

coercion against the will of anethnic group will obviouslyprovoke dissent (Staven-hagen, 1996).

2.1.3 Denial of educationas a weapon of war

Once relations between ethnic groups havedeteriorated to the point of violent conflict,the closure and destruction of schools is usedas a weapon of war to erode civilian supportprocesses and to punish insurgents in waysthat will compromise irremediably the futureof their families and their ethnic groups. Thiskind of intellectual starvation tactic is a viola-tion of basic human rights.

During the conflict in Mozambique 45 percent of the primary schools were destroyed, andin Rwanda 66 per cent of the teachers fled orwere killed. During and after the Intifada, Israelforced the closure of schools for Palestinian chil-dren in Occupied Territories, in some cases fortwo years or longer. And for those children whoparticipate voluntarily or forcibly in armed con-flicts, schooling is virtually non-existent.According to one study in Peru for example, ofthe 107 children in the Sendero Luminoso’sSello de Oro base camp who took advantage ofthe Repentance Law, only two could speakSpanish, and none could read or write.9

Informal education may also be disrupted bymilitarized conflict, as the fabric of society isstretched and torn. As a community is forced intoa survival mode, and as basic social and culturalinstitutions are challenged, the normal transmis-sion of skills and knowledge from parents andcommunity to children is often interrupted.

2.1.4 Manipulating history for political purposes

Graham-Brown points out that the control of agovernment by an ethnic group often leads to“the construction of a version of history ...which heightens the role of that group at theexpense of the others ... Suppression of eventsor cultural ideas ... viewed as subversive or divi-sive is also common”(Graham-Brown, 1994).


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9 - From World Vision International, The Effects of ArmedConflicts on Girls, p. 16.

“History is a pack of lies about events that neverhappened told by people who weren’t there”.

It is important to emphasize that the dis-tortion of history takes place intentionally andunintentionally both through acts of commis-sion as well as omission. If Nazi Germany is acase of an intentional act of manipulation anddistortion then the invisibility of pre-colonialAfrica from mainstream history is a primeexample of distortion through omission. Thesame can be seen in the historical exclusion by

dominant African groups ofnon-dominant African com-munities, as well as subjugat-ed groups like the Dalits ortribal peoples in India whoare seen as having no great

past or history. Indeed, the ‘great men’ of his-tory have been heroes of war, rather than theheroes of peace. Each of these features ofmainstream study of history has a profoundeffect on our understanding of the present andthe future as well as the past.

The study of geography, as well as history,has been drawn into ethnic politics. In 1992,for example, Vidya Bharati prepared a new setof history textbooks that were to be used inschools in Indian states controlled by the BJP,the principal extremist political party. It wasnoted that in BJP-sponsored textbooks:

“The revivalists depict the Mughals asforeigners and oppressors, and interpretIndians’ achievement of freedom fromEnglish rule as but the latest episode in along ongoing struggle to free India fromforeign influences. Muslims are, by thisinterpretation, the contemporary incarna-tion of the Mughal pattern of domi-nance.” (Vidya Bharati, 1992)

Military conquest and changes in politicalcontrol have led to the imposition of newnames for old places by the new occupiers. InIsrael for example, old Palestinian villagenames are replaced by Hebrew names. In theAegean, Turks and Greeks clash over namechanges in Cyprus and other contested islands.In the Balkans, the ethnic cleansing of villagenames followed the ethnic cleansing of vil-lages. Geography texts and classes can serve tolegitimize such conquests through the use ofpoliticized nomenclature.

But what do we mean when we say that his-tory is ‘constructed’? As the critical thinkerGeorge Santayana put it, “History is a pack oflies about events that never happened told bypeople who weren’t there.” In other words, ‘his-tory’ is a process by which certain stories andevents are highlighted while others are mini-mized or ignored. One particular set of facts (or‘lies’) is agreed upon tacitly and given socialsanction and the politicalseal of approval. It isimportant to stress that acritical analysis of historydoes not simply superim-pose one set of ‘facts andevents’ for another set. A critical historiographyrecognizes that there are competing sets of factsand multiple interpretations of events. Howev-er, not all histories are equally valid or legiti-mate. An obvious example is the effort by thosewho would have us believe that the mass mur-der of approximately six million Jews by theNazis either never occurred or is exaggerated.Even a cursory critical assessment of such anargument reveals the political motivations of itscontemporary advocates. In some senses, theirsis an ‘anti-history’ which attempts explicitly toerase empirically verifiable events for basepolitical interests.

It is appropriate here to continue with theNazi example to highlight one way in which theschooling system and other public institutionswere used by the Nazi regime to ‘normalize’internal oppression and unthinkable systematicviolence. Ordinary Germans and those whoworked in state institutions eventually internal-ized rules of exclusion, thereby alienating suchgroups as Jews, gypsies and homosexuals. It wasthen a small step from exclusion to dehuman-ization to ‘extermination’. Education systemslegitimized the most appalling events and ideas– from eugenics to an ‘Aryan’ state. Althoughmany ordinary people came to accept suchauthoritarian rules, real control came not fromacceptance, but from the failure of individualsto reject them. The role of the educational sys-tem in legitimizing such actions cannot be over-estimated. Authoritarian regimes do not justbypass the critical functions of the educationsystem, they subvert them to their own ends.


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…the distortion of history takes place inten-tionally and unintentionally both through actsof commission as well as omission.

Under conditions of inter-ethnic tension,national elites often force teachers to follow cur-ricula or use textbooks that either homogenizediversity and difference or worse, present it as athreat to be feared and eliminated. The historyof inter-group relations is often cast as an unbro-ken and unvarying process of conflict. In thehands of capable ethnic manipulators, pastevents (factual and fictional) are used to illus-trate historical wrongs, humiliation and exploita-tion. The single objective of such individuals isthe mobilization of tribal support for theirrespective political projects. Past histories andcurrent instances of intergroup cooperation andintermarriage are frequently expunged frompublic memory, as the hostilities of the present(again factual and fictional) are projected ontothe past. Heterogeneity is presented as a threatto the coherence and unity of the political enti-ty. Yet, the real danger is that the centralizationand homogenization of educational policies, his-torical pasts and institutions can lead to greaterlevels of disintegrative tendencies. Obviouslythe situation varies from case to case. But edu-cators and political actors have an obligation torecognize and address suchissues in a more concertedand systematic mannerthan has been the case inthe past.

2.1.5 Manipulating textbooksEthnic intolerance makes its appearance in theclassroom in many ways. One issue gainingincreasing attention in many parts of the worldis the militaristic nature of much of the historytaught in schools and the relative neglect ofthe gains civilizations have made in peacetime.Wars frequently occupy a prominent place inhistory curricula and are sometimes the centraltheme of the literature studied as well. Thisemphasis can lead to violence being acceptedas a legitimate expression of political power.This strong focus on historical bloodshed doeslittle to foster a climate of tolerance.

Textbooks have often been shown to con-tain negative ethnic stereotypes, as in the caseof Rwanda.10 Similarly, in Hitler’s Germany,textbooks incorporated a racist doctrine, legit-imizing the exclusion of groups such as Jewsand the Roma.

UNESCO has recently concluded that thetendency of history textbooks to exalt nation-alism and address territorial disputes correlateswith the xenophobia and violence found inmany countries today. What is taught in histo-ry class and how it is taught is highly politicaland can foster either animosity or peace.11 Areview of the textbooks used in the segregatedschools of Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 1980s,for example, found Sinhalese textbooks scat-tered with images of Tamils as the historicalenemies of the Sinhalese, while celebratingethnic heroes who had vanquished Tamils inethnic wars.12 Ignoring historical fact, thesetextbooks tended to portray Sinhalese Bud-dhists as the only true Sri Lankans, withTamils, Muslims and Christians seen as non-indigenous and extraneous to Sri Lankan his-tory. This version of national history, accordingto one commentator, has been deeply divisivein the context of the wider state.13

Arabs are accorded a small place in Israelitextbooks in comparison to other historicalforces. Napoleon and the French Revolutionoccupy more pages than Arabs in history text-

books. Quantity does have aquality value, as it dictatesthe number of class hoursdedicated to the teaching of

the topic. Israeli history textbooks, like theteaching materials of most other nations, striveto enhance patriotism among new generations.One way they do this is to emphasize Jewish-Zionist narrative, which centres on the Jewishheroes who fought and overcame the localPalestinians and survived despite the hard-ships of the land and the strength of foreignregimes.

This emphasis, as Professor Ruth Firer ofthe Truman Institute at the Hebrew Universityof Jerusalem points out, does little to decreasethe enmity between the people involved (Firer,1998). Some new history textbooks in theHebrew language offer a revisionist way oflooking at the formal history. These texts, writ-ten by a group of historians who are called ‘Post-


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10 - El Pais, 1997.11 - UNESCO, 1998.12 - E. Nissan, 1996.13 - Ibid.

In the Balkans, the ethnic cleansing of villagenames followed the ethnic cleansing of villages.

child’s sense of self-worth and his or her sus-ceptibility to manipulation. An inability tomake reasoned judgements leaves childrenvulnerable to exploitation, whether as childsoldiers, or the next generation of ethnic mobi-lizers. In a masterful study on the origins ofgenocide and other forms of mass group vio-lence, Irvin Staub addresses, among otherissues, the linkages between low self-esteemand scapegoating.

“Blaming others, scapegoating, dimin-ishes our own responsibility. By pointingto a cause of the problems, it offersunderstanding, which, although false,has great psychological usefulness. Itpromises a solution to problems byaction against the scapegoat. Devalua-tion of a sub-group helps to raise self-esteem. Adopting an ideology provides anew world view and a vision of a bettersociety that gives hope. Joining a groupenables people to give up a burdensomeself, adopt a new social identity, and gaina connection to other people. Thisrequires action, but it is frequently notconstructive action.”14

Intolerance is also expressed in less tangi-ble ways. Teachers from the majority culturemay display negative attitudes towards minor-ity students, expect very little from them andfail to recognize and encourage their individ-ual talents. Testing, moreover, is often gearedto majority cultures, or is left to the discretionof individual teachers or schools. The lack ofcontrol over the process can result in grossinjustices. Girl pupils from minority groupsmust also contend with additional gender-based discrimination – if they have had thegood fortune to get to school in the first place.

2.1.7 Segregated education to ensureinequality, lowered esteem and stereotyping

In South Africa, the education system sus-tained and perpetuated the apartheid system.

Zionists’ and ‘the New Historians’, includefacts that have been excluded from the nation-al consensus, trying to look at the past and pre-sent from outside, rather than from inside theIsraeli Jewish community. Their revised versionof Zionist narrative is largely disputed by theIsraeli public, however, and their material isusually found in the appendices of textbooks,rather than in the main chapters.

2.1.6 Self-worth and hating others

One South African parent, in a survey con-ducted in Soweto, South Africa, stated thatapartheid education made blacks see them-selves as inferior: “You have to see yourself asthe poorest of the poor because, according tothe South African government, that is the wayGod has made you. Our education does notmake you question this pre-supposed status”(Graham-Brown, 1991). Similarly, an analysisof the method and contents of Soviet educa-tion, provided by Peeter Mehisto, Counsellorto the Ministry of Education of Estonia(UNICEF 1993) is also particularly revealing.Citing the “intellectual and moral poverty” ofSoviet education, he states that:

“Despite its rhetoric, Soviet-styleeducation denied personal responsibili-ty, subjugated the individual and servedbureaucratic and military interests. Itfavoured top-down, fact-based force-feeding which focused on the need forthe correct answers as opposed to theneed to teach skills for learning. Educa-tion was centred on the teacher, not thelearner. This stifled individual initiative.It gave no rewards for individuality, butinstead rewarded conformity and passiv-ity” (Graham-Brown, 1991).

This description of formal educationprocesses is probably accurate in relation tomany other settings – North, South, East andWest. How deeply this kind of instructionaffects the individual’s ability to make consid-ered judgments and to take responsibility forhis or her own actions is an important question.However, as a starting point, it is essential thatwe acknowledge the linkages between a


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14 - E. Staub, The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide andOther Group Violence.

According to the logic of the system, educationhad to be segregated because the level ofinstruction deemed “appropriate” for blackswas far lower than that required by white peo-ple. According to Graham-Brown, “because ofits pivotal role in sustaining the apartheid sys-tem, education has always been a central polit-ical issue, and is perceived by all parties to theconflict as a terrain over which political strug-gle occurs” (Graham-Brown 1991). Unequal,segregated education was both a reflection of,and a contribution to, the repressive apartheidsystem. The symbiotic relationship betweenapartheid schooling and apartheid politics,meant that all ameliorative efforts weredoomed to failure, unless they addressed bothsimultaneously.

Scholars have found that colonial educationpolicies in Rwanda introduced a more markedstratification between ethnic groups than hadexisted in the past. As stratification was inten-sified, ethnic distinctions were sharpened.These processes, moreover, helped to fosterthe emergence of a new and broader identitygroup (Hutu) based on the resentment of thedispossessed. (Newbury, 1988).

In countries in the North where there hasbeen ethnic strife, minority ethnic groups haveoften been limited to an inferior education inseparate (implicitly or explicitly) educationalsystems – as in the early days of conflict inNorthern Ireland, and the inner city areas ofFrance and the United States. As education isincreasingly seen as an important resource forsuccess in today’s technological world, itsunequal provision is increasingly likely to be acause for tension and conflict.

In Northern Ireland,15 segregation alongreligious lines was almost total until the 1980s.Some early commentators even blamed theTroubles on religiously segregated schoolingand argued for the development of integratedschools. Segregation, they said, emphasizeddifferences and encouraged mutual ignoranceand, perhaps more important, mutual suspi-cion. Catholic school-leavers in Northern Ire-land have been shown to have, on average,lower qualifications than their Protestantcounterparts and hence reduced job opportu-

nities. A government-sponsored study in 1973found that this stemmed, in good part, fromunequal funding arrangements. State schools,overwhelmingly attended by Protestants,received full state funding, whereas indepen-dent Catholic schools had to rely largely ontheir own resources. The exclusionary charac-ter of the political system and the correspond-ing state mechanisms were based on the main-tenance of the Protestant ascendency that hadtaken firm root over the four decades since thepartition of Ireland. The “social contract”between the state and the majority Protestantcommunity represented a collaboration tomaintain a particular social, political and eco-nomic order of exclusion. The prominent Irishhistorian Patrick Buckland described State-society relations as follows:

“Since parties and majorities requiretangible rewards and individual satisfac-tion as well as words and organization,the whole government machinerybecame geared to ensuring the content-ment and continued support of the dif-ferent sections of the party. Discrimina-tion became built in to the processes ofgovernment and administration, as thegovernment pandered to Protestant andUnionist whims large and small –whether they concerned the upkeep of aparticular piece of road, the educationalinterests of the Protestant Churches orthe local defence of Unionism.”16

While the situation varies from case to case,the results of the discrimination and humilia-tion suffered by the individual children of eth-nic minority groups include under-achievementand alienation. Minority children often leaveschool feeling inferior, or at least convinced thatthe majority groups in their society considerthem inferior. Equally dangerous, children ofthe majority groups learn to think of themselvesas being better than others. They are not taughtto respect the values and traditions of the


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15 - Discussion on Northern Ireland is drawn from Gal-lagher, 1998.16 - Patrick Buckland, A History of Northern Ireland.

States.17 Similarly, on the westcoast of the United States andelsewhere (e.g., Canada)bilingual education pro-grammes also appear to havehad a positive impact inincreasing inter-group under-

standing, and decreasing community tensions.

2.2.2 Nurturing and sustaining an ethnically tolerant climate

Catholics and Protestants in Northern Irelandwere educated in segregated schools until 1981.The Government has recognized the damagecaused by ethnically segregated school systemsand has progressively equalized the funding ofCatholic and Protestant schools. Considerableresources have been devoted to a number of‘bridge-building’ initiatives aiming to give chil-dren of each religion the opportunity to learnabout each other. Education for Mutual Under-standing (EMU) for example, is a compulsorypart of the school curriculum. According toTony Gallagher of Queens University, Belfast, itis clear that conciliatory educational policies inNorthern Ireland have contributed to mitigat-ing the conflict, although schools could be usedeven more efficiently to further communityrelations.18 Maintaining a focus on Northern Ire-land, the next section continues the discussionof the creation of an ethnically tolerant climatewith specific reference to the ‘desegregation ofthe mind’.

2.2.3 The de-segregation of the mind

Just as Frantz Fanon recognized the need todecolonialize the minds of formerly colonizedpeoples, so it is essential that we recognize theneed to de-segregate the minds of formerlysegregated peoples.19

Communities cannot desegregate until theidea of de-segregation has taken root – notnecessarily in every member of a community,but in enough individuals to develop a sustain-able critical mass of interest in fundamental

minorities with whom theylive. Minority childrenwho drop out of school areleft without the toolsneeded to realize their fullpotential in a world whereliteracy is becoming moreand more essential for survival. Many childrenleave school with a profound distrust of theinstitutions of the State in which they live and,because of the poor quality of education theyhave received, they are particularly susceptibleto the machinations of ethnic mobilizers. Theirlack of preparation also makes them vulnerableto being institutionalized or coming into con-flict with the law. On a societal level, the dis-crimination endured in schools can plant theseeds for ethnic divisions and conflict.

2.2 POSITIVE

2.2.1 Conflict-dampening impact of educational opportunity

In the United States, confronted by ethnic ten-sion in the late 1960s, the Government tried toestablish greater equality of provision, and setup bussing programmes, affirmative action pro-grammes (including Head Start for pre-schoolchildren) and later, the so-called magnet schoolsin inner-city areas; schools given extra fundingand equipment in the hope that their superioreducation would attract white students back tothese areas. Since the early 1990s, the UnitedStates has expanded school choice by allowingthe creation of charter schools; schools estab-lished by communities, parents and educatorsto accommodate their diverse requirements.These schools receive public funds and areaccountable for their results to public authori-ties, offering low-income families a degree ofeducational choice formerly unavailable tothem and eliciting a high degree of parental par-ticipation. While many inequities remain ineducational provision in the United States, andwhile not all educational policies adopted havebeen entirely successful, the clear demonstra-tion of political will to make changes has, nodoubt, contributed to preventing ethnic ten-sions escalating out of control in the United


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17 - A. Gallagher, 1998.18 - Ibid.19 - F. Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth.

Just as Frantz Fanon recognized the need todecolonialize the minds of formerly colonizedpeoples, so it is essential that we recognize theneed to de-segregate the minds of formerly seg-regated peoples.

change. As illustrated in the examples of North-ern Ireland and the United States, schools haveplayed a pivotal role in this process over theyears. This is possible because of the intimacyof the relationship between teaching and learn-ing. This creates the space within which thecharacter, or biography, of a student may beaffected (for good or for ill) in ways that arereflected in their relationship to and theirbehaviour in the world outside the walls of theclassroom. When school-ing exercises a positiveimpact on the processes ofde-segregation, it does sothrough that intimate con-nection between biogra-phy and geography.

The case of Northern Ireland provides auseful point of reference for assessing the roleand impact of de-segregated education on thedynamics of peace and conflict in ethnicizedsettings. In this case, we have seen educationplay a critical role in enabling members of themiddle class to transcend sectarian divisions.Since the Second World War, the Catholicmiddle classes have expanded and diversifiedas a result of improved educational opportuni-ties and the demands of new industries for pro-fessionally trained administrators and middlemanagers. An outward-looking, more liberalattitude in the economic realm coincided witha parallel process in the religious realm withthe liberalization of the Catholic church –exemplified during the period of Pope JohnXXIII (1958-63) and the changes promulgatedby the Second Vatican Council, includingencouragement of ecumenism. A perceivedliberalizing trend in the Catholic church, cou-pled with political and economic liberalization,allowed the rise of less sectarian, more techno-cratic leaders in Northern Ireland such as Ter-ence O’Neill, and in the Republic of Ireland,including Sean Lemass. Not surprisingly, theensuing fear of change was harnessed to theanti-liberal, anti-ecumenical programme ofprotest that allowed the rise of Ian Paisley.

Even within those areas of high sectarianconflict such as Belfast, middle class moder-ates are challenging the sectarianism of segre-

gated neighbourhoods by moving into inte-grated areas like Malone Road in South Belfastand parts of North Belfast. There appears tobe a steady migration from the staunchCatholic and republican neighborhoods inWest Belfast where many had sought protec-tion during the worst violence of the early1970s.20 Since then, there has been a movetoward integration in owner-occupied neigh-borhoods, particularly by the Catholic middle

class who are less afraid tomove into Protestant areas –that is, into middle and uppermiddle class Protestant areas

The gradual moves awayfrom segregated education,the inclusion of Education for

Mutual Understanding in the curriculum andother liberal trends within the school systemreinforced – and were reinforced by – liberaliz-ing trends in the political and economic spherein Northern Ireland, Ireland, and Europe morebroadly. When a conjuncture of such forcesexists, a mutually reinforcing positive dynamicsets in. Where such forces do not exist, the chal-lenge to is to nurture them individually to cre-ate a synergy in which the collective impact isgreater than the sum of the individual parts.

2.2.4 Linguistic tolerance

A sensitive handling of linguistic issues canalso contribute to the building and mainte-nance of peaceful relations within andbetween different ethnic groups. In Senegal,for example, where there are 15 different lin-guistic groups and where Islamic and Christianpopulations have long co-existed peacefully,no civil wars have occurred since indepen-dence from France in the 1960s (Stavenhagen,1996). One important factor in explaining therelative ‘ethnic peace’ of that case is that afterindependence French was made the official


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20 - John Morrow of Corrymeela estimates that previous-ly the composition of South Belfast had been approxi-mately 80 per cent Protestant and 20 per cent Catholic,whereas now it has been estimated to be evenly dividedbetween the two groups. Such dramatic changes were alsoevident in North Belfast (Kenneth Bush, personal inter-views, Belfast).

When schooling exercises a positive impact on theprocesses of de-segregation, it does so throughthat intimate connection between biography andgeography.

will help ethnic groups participate as citizensof the countries in which they live, presentingthem with the knowledge and means todefend their interests as well as revitalizingand strengthening their own cultures. If the-matic areas from the dominant culture are thenbrought into the education process in a non-conflictual and non-substitutive way, this canassist the process of understanding. Moreimportantly, in the context of majority/minori-ty; dominant/subordinate relations, it is themajority and the dominant that really requireunderstanding of the minority/subordinatecultures (Aikman, 1997).

The Committee on the Rights of the Childhas taken up the issue of languages on differentoccasions in its review of States’ initial or peri-odic reports. It stressed, for example, the needto allocate resources to translate school materi-als into minority languages in Myanmar (Myan-mar IRCO, Add.69, para. 39). It encouraged theUK Government to provide further support tothe teaching of the Irish language in schools inNorthern Ireland (UK IRCO, Add.34, para. 33).It has frequently encouraged States Parties totake steps to ensure that teachers capable ofworking with minority children are trained andtheir services made available in every region ofa given country. It has also acknowledged theneed for minority groups to learn the majoritylanguage to ensure access to secondary andhigher education on an equal footing (ChinaIRCO, Add.56, paras. 19 and 40).

There are costs involved, including devel-oping learning materials and training teachersin bilingual education approaches, and somecountries feel that bilingual education is sim-ply not ‘cost-effective’. But these costs shouldbe weighed against the price society pays forhigh dropout and repetition rates in schoolswhere such language programmes do not exist.In conflict-prone areas, insensitivity to the cul-tural and linguistic needs of ethnic minoritygroups has been shown to have a very highprice indeed.

2.2.5 Cultivating inclusive citizenship

There is an important positive role for intel-lectual leaders to play in developing new con-

language in a conscious effort to prevent lin-guistic conflict, while Diola, Malinke, Pular,Serer, Soninke and Wolof were declared to benational languages. Not only are these lan-guages a critical part of the curriculum, theyare also used in radio and television broadcastsand literacy campaigns. While Wolof couldhave been declared the country’s official lan-guage, given its predominance, this was neverattempted as it would have offended differentethnic groups.

Many other governments have now recog-nized the importance of making school a lessalien place for ethnic minority children. Onesolution is to use their mother tongue in theclassroom, at least in the early grades. As wellas improving their chances of learning, mother-tongue instruction helps children to be proudof the language they have used from birth andreinforces their self-esteem, sense of identityand sense of belonging. It also prevents lan-guage loss, which may have been a continualprocess since the dawn of civilization, but is akind of linguistic Darwinism, representing aloss of a unique perception of the world, a wayof life and a knowledge system. As such, itdiminishes our common humanity.

Mother tongue provides the child with thebest medium to learn at early stages; hence lit-eracy in their first language precedes literacy inthe second. Moreover, acquisition and develop-ment of the first language assists in the suc-cessful acquisition of the second (dominant,national or majority language), which meansthat first language enhances and does notdetract from the learning of a second language.

While teaching a national language inschools is part of nation-building, there is noevidence that teaching of minority languagesnecessarily diminishes a sense of politicalunity. In fact, compelling smaller groups toaccept the linguistic dominance of the majori-ty is a major cause of ethnic tensions and polit-ical instability, as has been seen in Kosovo.

The use of first language in schools helpsto develop an inclusive ethos. It is difficult tomarginalize children with different languages,cultures and histories if these are integral partsof the education process. Bilingual education


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cepts of the state, and its relationship to thecitizen. And there is a need to move away fromthe idea that a particular ethnic group, perhapsclaiming descent from a common ancestor, isthe only legitimate holder of state power andtoward ideas of nations as multi-cultural enti-ties, though with a distinctive cultural profile.The objective of this exercise is to create ashared understanding of, and connection to,the state through an expanding process ofinclusion rather than exclusion. By highlight-ing commonality and shared experiences andobjectives, the intention is to create the com-mon ground necessary for constructive andsupportive bonds to develop within andbetween civil society and the state.

The Council of Europe, aware that, in theinterests of regional stability, history teachingacross the former Soviet Union must bereformed, is supporting work on a new historytextbook for children of the Caucasus. Knownas the Tbilisi Initiative, the project bringstogether historians in Armenia, Azerbaijan,Georgia and Russia. Their task is to compile atextbook that is not “written in a triumphalist,polemical or even vindictive style,” but rather“neutral and realistic, and free of ideologicaland political stereotypes.” Military issues willbe dealt with, but not given undue promi-nence. The textbook is meant to replace thestandard textbook for the region, A History ofthe USSR, which had completely ignored thehistory of the Caucasian peoples.

There have been recent efforts on the partof the professional education community toestablish a set of international standards forcivics education. These standards go to theheart of the necessity for compromise. Insteadof attempting to establish the rights and privi-leges of minority populations, they attempt todelineate the obligations and responsibilitiesfor all populations, majority as well as minority.

The proposed international professionalguidelines include standards of many kinds.They include standards for curriculum content,for example, presenting different views of his-tory and different opinions on its contemporaryrelevance. They include a set of terms to iden-tify different levels of critical thinking – being

able to identify a concept; describe it; explainit; evaluate a position about it; take and/ordefend a position concerning it. They include aset of standards for participation in civics, beingable to manage a conflict, build a consensus,influence others by moderating someone else’sview, etc. Lastly there are standards proposedfor terminologies used in civics – civil society,constitutional rights, private opinion, citizen-ship obligations and so on. These componentsconstitute an international precedent, estab-lishing for the first time an international stan-dard for curriculum excellence in civics.

The purpose of establishing an internation-al professional standard is to actively establish aset of principles against which each country andeach local curriculum authority may measure itsown civics curriculum (Center for Civics Edu-cation, 1994; CIVITAS, 1995; Center for CivicsEducation, 1997; Heyneman, 1995a, 1995b). Ifthis effort proves successful, then nationalauthorities around the East and Central Asiaregion will have a professional benchmarkagainst which to judge local curriculum authori-ties. The opposite also pertains, and local andminority curriculum authorities will have aninternational benchmark by which they canmeasure the degree to which national curricularauthorities are fair and balanced in their viewsof history and civil rights and responsibilities.Of course, whether those in authority will agreeto impose such externally-created benchmarksis another matter entirely.

2.2.6 The disarming of history

One possible negative impact of education isthe manipulation of history for political ends.The opposite side of this same coin can beseen when education serves to disarm history.In this context, all children have a right toknow and to understand their own personalstory, that is, they have a right to know theirown place in a larger history. Not only doyoung people need access to these stories, butmore importantly, they must be able to readthem critically so that they can become activeparticipants in writing their own stories. Thisrequires the cultivation of skills that willenable them to analyze and assess those facts


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always have more than one identity by whichthey define themselves. This multiplicity ofidentities does not necessarily detract fromnational loyalty. In this context, we need toask: what is the role of education in legitimiz-ing notions of multiple identities as normal,not as a sign of disloyalty to the state? Educa-tionalists should explore ways of giving voiceto these heterogeneous identities.

2.2.7 Education for Peace Programmes

Graça Machel has suggested ‘Education forPeace Programmes’ as one kind of educationalinitiative that might have constructive peace-building impacts.24 Education for peace pro-grammes are being promoted by UNICEF andare reaching many thousands of children inwar-scarred countries, in Burundi, the Repub-lic of Congo, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hon-duras, Lebanon, Liberia, Mozambique,Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Sudan and formerYugoslavia. However, while such programmesare reaching thousands of school children, thenature or depth of their impact is less clear.Similarly, public media are sometimesinvolved in these processes, especially to reachout-of-school children and other sectors of thecommunity. It is hoped that an educationalapproach will contribute to the developmentof local peacebuilding capacities, since, asalready noted, any solution will be unsustain-able unless it is developed and supported bystate and non-state actors within the war-tornsocieties themselves. Such positive measurescould be implemented throughout an ethnicconflict-affected society, including the schools,the media, judicial system, the security sector,the unions and so on.

Although peace education and humanrights courses are essential for cultivatingbroader understandings of rights and possibleoptions, experience from some countries sug-gests that introducing them in a context of sys-tematic discrimination is but one ingredient in

and events that are presented to them as thefoundation of their historical selves. Too often,history is presented as a rigid concept and chil-dren are led to believe that their place in his-tory and their associated roles cannot be chal-lenged, let alone changed. For example, ifchildren are taught that they are members of abesieged community, the idea – let alone theopportunity – to develop neutral and interde-pendent relationships with outside communi-ties is very unlikely to arise.

Critical historiographic skills are essentialif young people are to be able to identify theintersection between their personal stories andlarger collective histories. Only when youngpeople realize that histories are constructedrather than given, can they even begin to con-template challenging and changing the behav-iour that poisons inter-group relations.21 Fur-ther, the Machel Report recommends thatnational teachers’ unions in areas where ethnicconflicts have occurred hold consultations onhow curricula can contain manifestations ofnationalism, anger and aggression. The curric-ula should try to help children and young peo-ple see the effects of war on themselves, theirfamilies and their communities:

“The contents and process of educa-tion should promote peace, social jus-tice, respect for human rights and theacceptance of responsibility. Childrenneed to learn the skills of negotiation,problem solving, critical thinking andcommunications that will enable themto resolve conflicts without resorting toviolence.”22

In addition, education systems should beencouraged to include instruction about thefallacies and perils of ethnic prejudice and theduty of individuals to be alert to their own ten-dencies to engage in ethnic stereotyping.23

Deeply rooted ideas and vested politicalinterests often make it difficult to address themanipulation of historical representations –especially in textbooks. This issue is particu-larly difficult when governments or dominantgroups stress singular national identities. Yet,as discussed in Section One, individuals


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21 - UN, 1996a, op. cit.22 - Ibid, para. 255.23 - Project on Ethnic Relations, Princeton 1994.24 - UN, 1996a, op. cit. (para 255-258).

the recipe for change. More broadly, schoolsystems themselves must become more equi-table and democratic, starting from the experi-ence children have in the classroom. Lessonscharacterized by rote learning and the absenceof open debate, where rules must be obeyedwithout question, undercut children’s confi-dence and inhibit their participation as activemembers of their societies. Similarly, childrencannot be expected to learn the real meaningof democratic principles when their familiesand communities have no way of making theirviews and feelings known to the school andstaff and no assurances that, if they do, thesewill be taken seriously. The process of educa-tion, teaching and learning, as well as the wayschools function as institutions, carry their ownpowerful messages. Democratic, participativeand inclusive schools are an important part ofchildren’s experiences.25 Unfortunately, how-ever, this is an ideal that is rarely present in theNorth, let alone the South. The fundamentalquestion is how can a critical education systembe nurtured within non-democratic, pseudo-democratic or transitionally democratic politi-cal systems?

2.2.8 Educational practice as an explicitresponse to state oppression

There are many lessons that can be drawnfrom the case of apartheid South Africa –lessons concerning what to do, as well as whatnot to do. In this case, we see an instancewhere Roman Catholic schools admitted blackpupils, and thereby defied the government’sprohibition on integrated education. One isstruck by a number of contrasts. First, Churchschools in different settings have been forcesfor progressive change as well as for the main-tenance of an unjust status quo. Second, wehave seen that governments often engage inthe self-interested manipulation and politi-cization of the institution of schooling.

But the South African case suggests anexample of how resistance to this process cansymbolize and galvanize forces for construc-tive change. This was possible because of thespace that existed between state and non-statesupported schooling systems. As the state con-

centrated its resources on the schooling of itswhite population, non-state actors steppedinto the breach to provide education to non-serviced areas (i.e. black, and to lesser degree,coloured areas). A similar situation developedin Sri Lanka as the formal mechanisms of statebecame increasingly ethnicized in favour ofthe Sinhalese majority. The neglect of theNorthern and Eastern Tamil regions createdthe space for church schools to enter the edu-cational fray. In these cases, we see that gov-ernmental neglect can create opportunitieswithin which alternatives to violence can bedeveloped and articulated.

To the extent that the schooling system isable to do so, it assumes a very important rolein the peacebuilding process – not necessarilyin the oppositional function it plays, but in itsability to maintain and articulate crediblealternative visions of the future; visions thatare inclusive, tolerant, liberal, democratic andjust. This is precisely why authoritarian statestend to target the school system as soon as theyacquire sufficient means.

Under these conditions, Northern actorsare sometimes in a difficult position when theyare required to choose between the construc-tive engagement approach of working througha repressive regime in an effort to initiatereforms, and the civil society approach ofworking for change from the bottom up.


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25 - J. Gundara, 1998.

3.1 AN INTRODUCTION TO PEACEBUILDINGEDUCATION

“Some thrash in agony on the ground,while others lie motionless. The capturedand wounded are punched, kicked anddragged through the dust. Some areblindfolded and guns are held to theirheads. I am watching this while standingagainst a crumbling concrete wall near aschool in Jabalia Camp (a Palestinianrefugee camp in the Gaza Strip). Thepeople before me are Palestinian children– the youngest perhaps four, the oldest nomore than 17. They are playing a gamethey call Arabs and Jews”. (Semeniuk,‘War Babies’, 1995)

As some of the negative impacts of educationhave already been dis-cussed and illustratedabove, this section placesmore emphasis on thetype of education thatwould self-consciouslyand systematically seek tohave a positive peace-building impact withinregions characterized byethnic tensions. Morespecifically, it introducesand sketches out the parameters of what it callspeacebuilding education. This is seen to be thenext step in the evolution of peace education,which has tended to use a rather narrow recipe-book approach that is heavily dependent onworkshop training in mediation and negotia-tion skills, conflict management, non-competi-

tive dialogue and so on. There is no doubt thatsuch skills can have an important dampeningimpact on specific episodes of confrontationand threatened violence. For this reason,peace education programmes should beencouraged. However, while they may helppeople to deal with the immediate and proxi-mate triggers of violence, they do not neces-sarily address the deeper, structural causes.The development of a peacebuilding educa-tion is based on the need to expand the scopeof our educational approaches in ways thatallow us to respond to both the manifestationof violence and its causes.

To move in this direction requires us tounderstand education in its broadest sense:formal, informal and non-formal; content andteaching methods; arts and sciences; child-centred and adult-centred. The point of

engaging the educationprocess in the task of peace-building is not to homoge-nize the curriculum or to cre-ate uniform students fromdifferent social or culturalgroups. Rather, it seeks toinitiate or support an educa-tional process that allows stu-dents to articulate, accommo-date and accept differencesbetween and within groups,

particularly (though not exclusively) in regionscharacterized by latent or manifest violence.This entails a distinct two-fold process thatnurtures and constructs positive inter-grouprelations while marginalizing and deconstruct-ing negative inter-group relations. As NeilPostman has put it, this requires the existence

3. TOWARDS A PEACEBUILDING EDUCATION

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Peacebuilding education – like peacebuildingitself – would be a bottom-up rather than topdown process driven by war-torn communitiesthemselves, founded on their experiences andcapacities. It would be firmly rooted in imme-diate realities, not in abstract ideas or theories.It would be applied, immediate, and relevant,which means that it cannot be restricted to theclassroom.

must try to read very hard because in yourfuture no one will try to help you, but you willhelp yourself, and us also.”26

Stable social institutions may not be childor woman-friendly. In these cases, challengingsuch stability may be both necessary and desir-able, as it creates the space for women andchildren to break out of confining traditions.Typically, the ability to encourage and affectsuch far-reaching societal and institutionalchange is reduced once a conflict comes to anend, and the space that allowed women to flextheir muscles is usually reclaimed. As we thinkabout the potential peacebuilding role of edu-cation in war-torn and war-threatened soci-eties, therefore, we should look for opportuni-ties as well as constraints. And reconstructionshould be seen as an opportunity to transformconventional education systems.

It is essential to recognize that there israrely a complete divide between ethnic com-munities. Even in the most extreme cases, theviolence is neither undifferentiated norimpenetrable. Based on years of studying con-flict and discord in the Middle East, EdwardAzar concludes:

“Conflictual and cooperative eventsflow together even in the most severe ofintense conflicts. Cooperative events aresometimes far more numerous than con-flictual ones even in the midst of intensesocial conflict situations. However, con-flictual events are clearly more absorb-ing and have more impact on determin-ing the consequent actions of groups andnations (and one might add, on deter-mining the outsider’s impression of theconflict). Cooperative events are not suf-ficient to abate protracted social con-flicts. Tension reduction measures maymake the conflict more bearable in theshort term, but conflict resolution

of shared narratives and the exclusion of narra-tives that lead to alienation and division. (Post-man 1996).

While this insight appears to apply acrosscases and cultures, Postman focuses largely onthe education systems of Western liberaldemocratic societies that possess educational,social, economic and political institutions thatare more robust than those found in mostregions characterized by identity conflict.Despite considerable obstacles to changingthe education systems in liberal democraticsocieties, there are at least the institutionalnetworks to translate societal desires intoaction – elected school boards, parent-teacherassociations, municipal elections, and so on.However, in ethnic conflicts where violencehas been protracted such institutional net-works are usually weakened, creating manymore challenges to the initiation and develop-ment of educational systems with sustainablepeacebuilding impacts. Most important is theneed to cultivate positive and mutually rein-forcing linkages between the formal educa-tional system and the sub-cultures or islands ofpeace within society.

3.2 THE CONTEXT

The specific impact of conflict on formal andinformal education depends on the nature anddynamics of violence. While ethnic conflict mayethnicize education (affecting curriculum con-tent and narrowing the diversity of the studentpopulation) the general disruption caused bywidespread militarized conflict may also have apositive impact by opening opportunities tochallenge restrictive ideas, practices, and roles.

From Somalia and Sri Lanka to Peru andPalestine, for example, women and girls arebreaking from restrictive societal expectationsto assume leadership roles in peace movements,NGOs and politics. The opening of the socialspace in conflict-prone areas within which girlsand women may challenge and overcome obsta-cles to their advancement is reflected in thisrecollection by a 16-year-old girl in Sudan:“Now my father tells me: ‘Rebecca my girl, you


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26 - World Vision, The Effects of Armed Conflict on Girls, Adiscussion paper prepared by World Vision for the UNStudy on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children(Geneva, Switzerland: World Vision International, July1996).

involves a far more complex processthan mere conflict management.”

(Azar, 1985).27

The point to be emphasized within thecontext of constructive educational initiativesis that even within severe conflicts there arespaces for peacebuilding; spaces that are oftendangerous, tenuous and fluid, but very muchin existence.28 The failure to search for thespaces within which cross-group linkages areformed is a missed opportunity.

The variability ofcross-community interac-tion in ethnicized settingshas been recognized bysome Northern Irishscholars who have pointedto what they call situation-al variation in relationships, and functionalintegration. Darby writes:

“Complete avoidance betweenCatholics and Protestants is impossiblein most parts of Northern Ireland. Mostpeople may ‘mingle with a conscience ofthe differences between them,’ but theydo mingle. In most places it is possiblefor members of the two groups to devel-op relationships without abandoningtheir separate basic allegiances. Theymay drink in the same pubs, use thesame shops, work together, and belongto the clubs... Even during periods oftension, it is possible for a Protestant anda Catholic, each of whom would regardthe other with suspicion if seen in hisdistrict at night, to suspend animositiesand continue to work at the same workbench during the day.”

(Darby 1991)

The degree of contact and mixing inNorthern Ireland often depends on the demo-graphic mix of a neighbourhood or the imme-diate setting. The advantage of such situation-al variations is that they allow changes toevolve at their own speed.

One of the most important features to

highlight from the case of Northern Ireland isthe variety of instruments within the educa-tional strategy adopted to address heightenedtensions and the polarization of communities.The response was not to attempt to desegre-gate the system in one fell swoop. In that case– and in most cases – this was neither possiblepolitically, nor would it have been effectivesocially. Recognizing that different communi-ties would have different levels of receptivityto change, we see a set of graduated or cali-

brated educational initia-tives beginning with theinitial efforts, introducedon a voluntary basis, tobuild themes related topositive community rela-tions into the curriculum.The second initiative,

contact programmes, moves from a school-spe-cific focus of curriculum development to onethat begins to work on the linkages betweenschool and society. And finally, the third initia-tive sought to develop integrated schools toserve both Protestant and Catholic students.

When it comes to educational initiativesthat are intended to have beneficial impact oninter-group relations, a useful starting point isthe recognition that one size never fits all. Insome, one size fits no one. Consequently, theeffectiveness of an educational initiativeincreases to the extent that it is flexible andresponsive. It is important to note that theinter-group contact that is facilitated through


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27 - For this reason, NGOs may do more than simplyencourage cooperation (or fund cooperative projects) in thehope that some kind of `demonstration effect’ or `trickle-down effect’ will ultimately lead to peace. They can alsoengage directly in the task of encouraging the transforma-tion of those structures and processes which condition social,political and economic interaction – so that the obstacles topeace and cooperation are removed.28 - These are precisely the spaces that catalyze the activi-ties of a variety of community groups in conflict situationsaround the world: citizens’ committees like the BatticaloaPeace Committee in Sri Lanka; `mothers’ groups campaign-ing for the end of disappearances like the Mothers of Acariin Brazil; inter-communal groups like PACE, Corrymeela,the Cornerstone Community, and the Peace People inNorthern Ireland; and many others. These are crucial pointsof intervention and islands of peace. They exist, but to fullyexploit them requires sensitivity, creativity and diplomacy.

When it comes to educational initiatives that areintended to have beneficial impact on inter-grouprelations, a useful starting point is the recognitionthat one size never fits all. In some cases, one sizefits no one.

forget, or selectively see the world, than to livewith the corrosive omnipresence of fear.

In such settings, the school system can be aforce for change by sustaining hope, courage, andimagination in the minds of students. However,for the large part, under the conditions described

above, the regime’s efforts tocontrol the population involvethe subordination of all pub-lic institutions – especiallyschools – to its political objec-tives. Both the content and theprocess of schooling become a

means through which the regime attempts toshape ideas and affect behaviour in ways that glo-rify its own project and inculcate obedience. Vio-lence or the threat of violence within the schoolbecomes an essential ingredient in this process.While dissent may remain in hidden forms with-in schools, the overarching form of response issilence.

3.4 DISTINGUISHINGPEACEBUILDING EDUCATION FROM PEACE EDUCATION

In any discussion of peacebuilding education,there is a clear need to go beyond approachesbased predominantly on academic study andtraining. First, academic study is too often tooremoved from the real world, application, andthe practical consideration of implications orimpact. Second, the idea of training smacks ofan approach premised on externally generatedand imposed solutions, that fails to recognizethe possibility that culturally and place-specif-ic peacebuilding capacities may well exist, andbe more appropriate and sustainable. It is sig-nificant to note that within the internationalcommunity the language of training (externalintervention with quick exit strategies) pre-

such programmes is a necessary but not a suf-ficient requirement for peacebuilding. Thechances of success for such efforts increase tothe extent that they are supported by parallelstructures that foster understanding and, moreimportantly, empathy between groups. Thiswould be reflected in boththe content and process ofschooling, but also in themutually supportive link-ages forged betweenthose inside and thoseoutside school walls.

3.3 CULTURES OF FEARAND COPING MECHANISMS

In a masterly study of state terror and resis-tance in Latin America, Juan Corradi and hiscolleagues have demonstrated how systematichuman rights abuse may create a culture offear that embeds political apathy and inactioninto the social fabric of society.29 This workpoints to mechanisms that inhibit civil societyin resisting violence. The inability to resistultimately subsidizes such oppressive mecha-nisms. State-sponsored and anti-state-spon-sored terror batters a population first into sub-mission, then into acquiescence. Social orderand control is achieved by instilling andmanipulating fear at profound human, politi-cal, and social cost and the mechanics of thisprocess are well-recognized and pervasive.The violence inscribed on the bodies of vic-tims becomes a message communicated tosociety as a whole.30 Civil societies have devel-oped a variety of mechanisms to cope with thevarious forms and levels of violence generatedby bad governance and human rights abuse.Such mechanisms are important for under-standing why and how one population maysuffer in relative silence, while another mayorganize, resist and rebel. The examination ofcultures of fear in Latin America in the 1980sreveals the cultural and anthropological com-ponents of coping. The fear to act because ofthe constant threat of punishment is trans-formed into a subconscious, cultural predispo-sition not to act. It becomes better to ignore,


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29 - Juan E. Corradi, Patricia Weiss Fagen and ManuelAntonio Garreton, editors, Fear at the Edge: State Terrorand Resistance in Latin America. See also Carolyn Nord-strom and JoAnn Martin, editors, The Paths to Domination,Resistance and Terror.30 - E. Scarry, The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmakingof the World.

The inability to resist ultimately subsidizes suchoppressive mechanisms. State-sponsored andanti-state-sponsored terror batters a populationfirst into submission, then into acquiescence.

dominates over the language of education(implying longer-term commitment).31

As a starting point, it is useful to note a num-ber of substantive differences between peaceeducation and peacebuilding education. Peace-building education would be driven by thoseaffected by militarized violence, not by the large-ly Northern, white, academic elite that droveefforts to get peace issues onto the academicagenda in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. Peacebuild-ing education – like peacebuilding itself – wouldbe a bottom-up rather than top down process dri-ven by war-torn communities themselves, found-ed on their experiences and capacities.

Like peace education, peacebuilding edu-cation might include facts and figures relatedto contemporary militarized violence. And itwould include the teaching of conflict man-agement techniques and critical reading skillsand the cultivation of the values of cultural tol-erance and non-violence. However, peace-building education would be firmly rooted inimmediate realities, not in abstract ideas ortheories. It would be applied, immediate andrelevant. This means that it cannot be restrict-ed to the classroom. It might include commu-nity projects involving children and adoles-cents from across ethnic borderlines orinter-ethnic economic development projects.For example, in Mozambique this mightinclude assistance in rebuilding schools wheredamage to the educational infrastructure lefttwo thirds of the primary school age childrenwithout access to education.32 The jointUNICEF/Government of Sri Lanka pro-gramme, Education for Conflict Resolution,provides another example of how the processand content of new curriculum packages mightdraw on and resonate with the cultural envi-ronment within which they are set – evenwhen the environment is bifurcated intoHindu and Buddhist.33

3.5 GUIDING PRINCIPLESAND THE ROLEOF EXTERNAL ACTORS

If education is to have a sustainable peace-building impact, then it will have to be drivenby those individuals and groups within war-

torn, war-born, and war-threatened societiesthemselves. This means that external actorsmust assume supporting and facilitating roles –roles with which they may not be comfortableor familiar. This does not suggest that externalactors should reduce their development assis-tance, rather that they should devolve deci-sion-making authority and, where necessary,support the development of the managerialcapacity needed for war-affected populationsto regain administrative control of both publicand private educational initiatives. The identi-fication, cultivation and support of nationaland local peacebuilding capacities require asustained commitment, as well as a willingnessto take risks, experiment, and learn from mis-takes. The same features that characterizepeacebuilding education must also character-ize the role of external donors, namely that it:

1. is a process rather than a product 2. is long-term rather than short-term 3. relies on local, rather than external, inputs

and resources 4. seeks to create opportunities rather than

impose solutions

If these are accepted as the guidingpremises of peacebuilding education, thenSouthern voices must drive the process at thefront end, not after the formulation of frame-works and approaches; and not only for theimplementation of someone else’s solutions.

3.6 THE GOALS OFPEACEBUILDING EDUCATION

Peacebuilding is an activity that is ultimatelydefined by its impact (Bush 1995, 1998). This iswhy such a broad range of development activi-


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31 - For a clear example, see Eileen F. Babbitt, ‘Contribu-tions of Training to International Conflict Resolution’, inZartman and Rasmussen, Peacemaking in International Con-flict, US Institute of Peace, Washington, 1997.32 - UNICEF, State of the World’s Children 1996.33 - Details of the Education for Confect Resolution Pro-gramme are provided in UNICEF’s State of the World’s Chil-dren 1996. What is not clear from the description is wherethe Muslim and Christian minorities fit into the curricu-lum, if it incorporates common Buddhist and Hindu prin-ciples. Nor is it clear how it addresses the intra-group ani-mosities, particularly caste-based, and regional tensions.

reconstruction project, the intention in the nextsection is to introduce what are seen to be thecentral points of reference for this crucial area ofaction. These should be expanded and refinedthrough engagement and input from those onthe front lines of education and conflict.

…demilitarization of the mind…One of the cental objectives of peacebuildingeducation is the demilitarization of the mind.The meaning of demilitarization is inextrica-bly connected to our understanding of milita-rization. As Thomas Hobbes pointed out cen-turies ago:

“Warre consistith not in battel onely,or the act of fighting, but in the tract oftime wherein the Will to contend byBattel is sufficiently known as the natureof foule weather, layeth not in a showeror two of rain; but in an inclinationthereto of many days together; so thenature of war, consisteth not in actuallfighting, but in the known dispositionthereto, there all times there is no assur-ance to the contrary.”36

Hobbes recognized that an understandingof militarization should not be restricted to theactual fighting, but the predisposition to fight.In the contemporary context then, the milita-rization of society refers not only to the increas-ing prevalence and influence of military/para-military actors, and the influx of weapons intothe streets and fields of a region. It also refers tothe tendency – or inclination in Hobbesianterms – for inter-group relations and conflict tobe defined narrowly in military terms. This typ-ically coincides with an increase in military-related expenditures, and a military crackdownon dissent within civil society and on botharmed and unarmed political opponents. More

ties can fall within the peacebuilding rubric.Just as not all development initiatives arepeacebuilding initiatives (indeed, some mayaggravate tensions), neither do all educationalinitiatives have a positive impact. As discussedabove, some educational initiatives have had anunqualified negative impact. The followinghypothetical example from Bush (1998) high-lights the need to clearly distinguish the devel-opmental impact from the peacebuildingimpact of education projects because it may bethat development failures may still have bene-ficial peacebuilding impacts.

An education project may fail to producestudents able to pass state-wide exams, butmay succeed in reducing tensions betweenparticular social groups by creating and institu-tionalizing a non-threatening and constructiveenvironment that increases neutral contact anddecreases misunderstanding by dispellingstereotypes and misconceptions.34 Unless thereis sensitivity to the peacebuilding and socialreconstruction achievements of this hypothet-ical project, then it would be cast as a failure.The converse also holds true. It is possible thata project may succeed according to pre-deter-mined developmental criteria but fail in termsof a beneficial impact on peace. To continuewith this hypothetical example, an educationproject may indeed succeed in increasing thenumber of students passing the state-wideexaminations. However, if the bulk of thosestudents are members of one particular socialgroup, then the project may exacerbate inter-group tensions by underscoring the perceptionthat one group is being privileged at theexpense of another.

Under the current rules of the developmentgame, the development success/peacebuildingfailure would get funding again, whereas thedevelopment failure/peacebuilding successwould not be funded again. This is a problem.Until we develop and apply the appropriatemeans to recognize such impact, our ability tounderstand (let alone reinforce) the positivelinkages between development initiatives andpeacebuilding will be hampered.35

Given the relative neglect of educationissues within the evolving peacebuilding and


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34 - In Northern Ireland, this is an objective of Educationfor Mutual Understanding (EMU) programs. The largertask is the incorporation of EMU objectives into all edu-cational programmes.35 - One effort to do this through the development ofPeace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA) may befound in Bush, A Measure of Peace: Peace and Conflict ImpactAssessment of Development Projects in Conflict Zones.36 - Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan.

generally, militarization is a phenomenon inwhich political problems come to be repre-sented as military problems, thus justifyingmilitary solutions.

The demilitarization impact of educationmay be direct – for example, through the dis-mantling of the cultural and socio-psychologi-cal predisposition of an individual to use vio-lence as a first, rather than last, resort. It may,however, be indirect, in the sense of alteringcollective views and responses of society thatmay be reflected in the decreased prominenceof military weapons in social, political, and eco-nomic life; the gradual delegitimization of agun culture; and the evolution of non-violentmodalities of conflict management

…problematization… Education is commonly understood to providethe means for the acquisition of appropriateknowledge, and thence for development.While this may be true, it is also a rather mech-anistic, building-block way to view the nexusof education, knowledge, and development.Education also has a critical role to play byencouraging individuals to question taken-for-granted understandings and facts. It can helpan individual recognize the need for change.This is an essential step before one can beginto contemplate – let alone formulate – alterna-tives. It might be understood as a process ofopening a world closed by the oppressiveimmediacy of militarized conflict. Educationmay serve to cultivate more positive, criticalorientations that explore the connectionsbetween taken-for-granted facts or understand-ings and the reinforcement of those structuresand processes that maintain and perpetuateunder-development and violent conflict. Thiscritical thrust of education opens possibilitiesfor thinking and acting in ways that both chal-lenge orthodoxies and struggle for transforma-tion and empowerment in the fullest sense.One of the roles of peacebuilding education isalso to challenge convention and thereby to ini-tiate alternative (sometimes opposing) thoughtprocesses in a domino dynamic. This objectivewill not necessarily produce tangible alterna-tives. As Postman explains:

“...despite some of the more debilitat-ing teachings of culture itself [ed. note: inthis particular, context a culture of vio-lence], something can be done in schoolthat will alter the lenses through whichone sees the world; which is to say thatnon-trivial schooling can provide a pointof view from which what is can be seenclearly, what was is a living present, andwhat will be as filled with possibility”. 37

…articulation of alternatives…The passage that opens this section – describ-ing Palestinian boys beating each other as theyplay Arabs and Jews – is a chilling example ofhow societal and political pathologies can hereflected, perpetuated and learned throughplay. The same types of pathologies may beconveyed in different forms within a classroom.The loss of childhood in militarized violencemeans that the gradual process of socialization,the development of confidence, and sense ofresponsibilities are short-circuited. The hardworld of violence violates the once-protectiveshell of childhood, as the child is thrust into thehorrors of war. They are shot at and shelled;they are kidnapped and forced to slave andfight for militarized groups; they are raped andgirls are forced to act as wives in rebel groups;children are forced by military groups to inflictatrocities on their family members and neigh-bours so that they will be ostracized and haveno where to go but that group.

Peacebuilding education (during and afterviolent conflicts), no less than peacetime edu-cation, must be a place that articulates anddemonstrates alternatives. Children take theircues from the legacies of hate and distrust thatpermeate a post-conflict setting. It would benaive to believe that the existence of a place oftolerance, dignity, and respect will meet anddefeat a militarized culture in a direct con-frontation. The fundamental objective is toshow children that alternatives exist, if choicesare made. While these choices might be hardand painful, they do exist. This, then, is a mes-sage of empowerment: you have a choice; you


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37 - Neil Postman, The End of Education, p. x.

this includes treating warlords or military com-manders as if they were legitimate representa-tives of terrorized populations (e.g., in Somaliaand Bosnia). At a micro-level, this includes theuse of militarized factions for the protection ordelivery of supplies. In the case of Somalia, thepower of the gun has displaced – but noterased – more traditional, and legitimate,forms of authority based on discussion andcompromise. The challenge for peacebuildingeducation is to delegitimize gun-based author-ity structures, and relegitimize traditional oralternative authority structures, while main-taining an ability to work on the ground.Peace-nurturing initiatives should be plannedand implemented in a manner that reinforcesconstructive local initiatives.39

3.7 THE IMPORTANCE OF RE-MEMBERING

The term ‘re-membering’ is used by CarolynNordstrom to describe a particular process bywhich a community reconstructs itself cultur-ally, physically and ontologically. She explains:

“The disruptions of war far exceed thephysical casualties and material destruc-tion. If the foundations of culture arejarred in a war turned dirty, ontology isthrown open to question and people’ssense of reality itself is rendered tenuous.

have the power to change your world in a waythat affects your place and role – past, presentand future.

…changing the rules of the game…As noted above, a central question for the cur-rent study is the degree to which educationcan play a constructive role – not in alteringthe content of group identities but in alteringthe rules of ethnic interaction. That is, peace-building education has a positive impact to theextent that it can alter the basic rules thatguide the interaction of identity groups in allspheres of life – social, commercial, political,and so on. It is not automatic that increasedcooperative contact in one sphere or realm willnecessarily spill over into other realms. Thus,peacebuilding education seeks to buildbridges between groups and communities thathave been separated and polarized by violentconflict. The guiding logic of interactionwould shift from intolerance, suspicion andhopelessness to tolerance, trust, and hope. Sotoo would it seek to re-humanize those whohave been de-humanized.

…delegitimization of violent force as a means of addressing problems…

Part of the challenge of demilitarizing themind is the delegitimization of the use of vio-lence as a means of addressing problems. Asviolence filters into more and more dimen-sions of an individual’s life, behaviour andexpectations adapt to accommodate it. In theface of the breakdown of other institutions thatonce provided security and meaning, recourseto violence for self-protection and advance-ment becomes increasingly tempting.

The demilitarization of war-torn societiescannot be separated from the need to demili-tarize the peacebuilding initiatives of theinternational community.38 To the extent thatinternational initiatives accept the violence-based political and military realities on theground in conflict zones, and to the extent thatthis induces the international community towork through the boys with guns, internation-al assistance may serve to subsidize the milita-rization of the environment. At a macro-level


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38 - For an excellent discussion of how to avoid or mini-mize the militarizing impact of humanitarian interven-tions see Gayle E. Smith, “Relief Operations and MilitaryStrategy,” in Thomas G. Weiss and Larry Minear, eds.,Humanitarianism Across Borders: Sustaining Civilians inTimes of War (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Pub-lishers, 1993). For a more recent critical assessment ofsome of the dilemmas confronting the international com-munity see Dylan Hendrickson, “Humanitarian Action inProtracted Crises: The New Relief Agenda and its Lim-its,” Relief and Rehabilitation Network (RRN) NetworkPaper #25, Overseas Development Institute, April 1998.39 - Two fascinating examples of the successful nurturingof an indigenous peace process may be found in Soma-liland. See Rakiya Omaar, Somaliland: One Thorn at aTime,= Current History, May, 1994, and the MennoniteCentral Committee of Canada (MCCC), Submission tothe Canadian Council for International Cooperation For-eign Policy Review: A Framework for our CommonFuture.

If we accept the premise that reality issocially constructed, then the disruptionof the basis of social relations and theshared epistemological truths on whichit rests necessarily imperils people’s abil-ity to continue to construct a significantreality... identity itself is then jeopar-dized.” 40

It is in this context that peacebuildingeducation should seek to re-member, orreassemble the ontological fabric of a society –a symbolic socio-political re-establishment ofboundaries, and an affirmation of bodies andidentities. Remembering can provide socio-conceptual coherency – the identification ofsomething rendered whole. The reverse sideof the process of re-membering should also berecognized: returning the limbs to the bodypolitic rests on the recognition of stories ofimmense cruelty against the bodies of averagepeople, a process capable of inculcating thevery terror it seeks to overturn. 40

…modalities of change…Some of the mechanics for reorganizing andrestructuring schooling systems to meet thespecial needs of children of ethnic minorities,immigrants and indigenous people, may alsoincrease the likelihood that the goals identi-fied here will result from the educationprocess. As discussed at an Innocenti GlobalSeminar in 1997, this might include curricu-lum adaptation; bilingual teaching; after-school or weekend classes; improvements inteacher training; and recruitment and trainingof teachers from all identity groups.42

The specifics of redeveloping educationsystems depend on the particularities of thecase. While the Innocenti Global Seminar sug-gested that educational structures be decen-tralized, this may not be efficacious in cases ofprotracted, militarized, identity-based con-flicts where there is a need to develop a senseof national community from a society frag-mented by violence. This is especially so incases where battle lines were drawn betweengeographically dispersed groups. Somehow abalance must be struck between the mainte-

nance of group difference and group solidarity.The suggestion that parents be involveddirectly in the schooling of their children is ofspecial importance in peacebuilding educationbecause it provides a channel both for drawingin community resources (which helps toensure sustainability and relevance) and forengaging the broader education in the peace-building process. This participatory element isessential. As Uphoff observed, more importantthan knowing how much participation is occur-ring is knowing who is or is not involved in dif-ferent kinds of participation. Which groups areless involved in different kinds of decisionmaking, or in different kinds of implementa-tion, or in different kinds of benefits, or in dif-ferent kinds of evaluation? Women? Youth?Ethnic minorities? Persons living in remotevillages? Insecure tenants? ... Is it being done:at the initiative of officials, an NGO or the vil-lagers themselves? With a monetary incentive,or voluntarily, or through coercion? In an orga-nized manner or on an individual basis?Directly or indirectly? On a regular or ad hocbasis? Is the process continuous, intermittent,or sporadic? With a degree of empowerment –how much? 43


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40 - C. Nordstrom, Back Yard Front.41 - Ibid.42 - See Maggie Black, Children and Families of EthnicMinorities, Immigrants and Indigenous Peoples.43 - Norman T. Uphoff, Monitoring and Evaluating Pop-ular Participation in World Bank-Assisted Projects.

This discussion does not lend itself to summa-ry in a tidy, compact package. This study willhave succeeded if it encourages a more criticalthinking about the place of formal and infor-mal education in environments racked by eth-nic conflict. As indicated at the outset, thestudy is only the first cut at an examination ofa set of issues that have tended to be relegatedto the margins of the analysis of ethnic conflict.To the extent that the negative face of educa-tion is acknowledged, thetendency has been to callbroadly and generally formore and “better” educa-tional practices. It is clearin this study, however,that the effectiveness ofthis “more and better” approach will be limit-ed unless it is complemented by an approachthat simultaneously dismantles destructiveeducational practices. To put it bluntly, the“add good education and stir” approach alonewill not produce the fundamental changes thatare necessary in ethnic conflict-affected soci-eties. This underscores the need to go beyondsolutions that are merely additive (add womenand stir, add children and stir, add environ-ment and stir) towards solutions that are trans-formative – solutions that change the underpin-ning logic and structures of behaviour.

The principal difficulty that we face in thiscontext is this: it is easier to add new educa-tional initiatives than to change old ones.Why? Because the change of educational prac-tice is a fundamentally political threat in thesense that it challenges structures of authority,dominance and control – in the North no lessthan the South.

One of the clearest implications of this

observation is that the transformation of theconditions of ethnic violence will be extreme-ly slow and painful unless efforts include polit-ical resources as well as pedagogical and edu-cational resources. The interdisciplinaryapproach of this study is just a first step inestablishing a set of common understandings,mobilizing the necessary range of resources,and breaking away from compartmentalizedapproaches towards those that are complemen-

tary, systematic and sus-tained. This makes senseboth conceptually and practi-cally: complex and multidi-mensional problems must bematched with multifacetedresponses.

The task before us is to fashion a concreteplan of action. The contribution of this study isthat it examines the dynamics of the positiveand negative impacts of education and identi-fies some broad guidelines and principles formoving ahead constructively. It is this variabil-ity of impact that prompts a number of obser-vations that may help to orient our thinkingabout education and violent conflict.● Most obviously: in many conflicts around

the world, education is part of the problemnot the solution, because it serves to divideand antagonize groups both intentionallyand unintentionally.

● Initiatives that focus exclusively on eitherthe informal or formal dimensions of educa-tion are doomed to failure because of thepotential influence or veto one dimensionhas over the other.

● While content of curriculum matters (e.g.,the misrepresentation of history does havenegative impacts whether in Quebec or in

4. CONCLUSION

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To put it bluntly, the “add good education andstir” approach alone will not produce the fun-damental changes which are necessary in ethnicconflict-affected societies.

● nurturing and sustaining an ethnically toler-ant climate

● education and the desegregation of the mind● linguistic tolerance● cultivation of inclusive conceptions of citi-

zenship● the disarming of history● education for peace programmes● educational practice as an explicit response

to state oppression.

4.3 GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR PEACEBUILDING EDUCATION

Peacebuilding education:● is a process rather than a product ● is long-term rather than short-term ● relies on local, rather than external, inputs

and resources ● seeks to create opportunities rather than

impose solutions.

4.4 THE GOALS OF PEACEBUILDING EDUCATION

● demilitarization of the mind● problematization● articulation of alternatives● changing the rules of the game● delegitimation of violent force as a means of

addressing problems● re-membering and re-weaving the social and

anthropological fabric● nurturing non-violent, sustainable modali-

ties of change.

The requirements for turning away frominter-ethnic violence are deceptively complex.Basically, this process boils down to the follow-ing questions:● Do shared values exist – in the margins, if

not in the mainstream – that would enablecommunities to live together in peace?

● If they do, are they a sufficient basis formobilizing inter-group support for the rejec-tion of violence as the principal means ofresolving disputes?

● Can they foster behaviour that is participato-

Sri Lanka) so does process. Curriculumpackages that espouse tolerance and egali-tarianism, but that are delivered within edu-cational structures that are fundamentallyintolerant and inegalitarian cancel out muchof the potential positive impact.

● This discussion of identity, education andconflict applies to both North and South.Many of the educational institutions in theNorth are segregrationalist (especially alongthe lines of class and colour). The most sig-nificant difference between North and Southis that in the former case, political, social andeconomic institutions exist to accommodateor defuse dissent and inequity.

It is useful to conclude with an outline ofthe study.

4.1 THE NEGATIVE FACE OF EDUCATION

The study has examined the following peace-destroying conflict-maintaining impacts ofeducation within specific examples of identi-ty-based conflicts (and non-conflicts!):● the uneven distribution of education as a

means of creating or preserving positions ofeconomic, social and political privilege

● education as a weapon in cultural repression● denial of education as a weapon of war● education as a means of manipulating histo-

ry for political purposes● education serving to diminish self-worth and

encourage hate● segregated education as a means of ensuring

inequality, inferiority, and stereotypes● the role of textbooks in impoverishing the

imagination of children and thereby inhibit-ing them from dealing with conflict con-structively.

4.2 THE POSITIVE FACE OF EDUCATION

In contrast, some peacebuilding and conflict-limiting impacts of education were identifiedas follows:● conflict-dampening impact of educational

opportunity


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ry and complementary instead of aggressiveand competitive?

If the answers to such questions are affir-mative, then conditions are ripe for inter-eth-nic reconciliation through the nurturing ofbonds of solidarity and cooperation. If theanswers to such questions are negative, thenthe challenge is to create the conditions thatwould allow for such shared values to develop.It is possible that the existence and properfunctioning of supranational bodies of arbitra-tion might be a necessary precondition for thisto become a reality.

The Mandate of the United Nations isimbued with the hope of achieving these val-ues and lays down ways and means to achievetheir universal application. It might wellappear that the ideal of peace is a bit high-flown, if not downright unrealistic. Yet, even inthe face of the ethnicized and militarizedslaughter that characterized much of the earlypost-Cold War period, peace has become morethan an aspiration or utopian endpoint.

Paradoxically, we have seen the struggleto create and sustain a culture of peace in

places where we would least expect it: withinthose ‘neighbourhoods’ of violence scatteredthroughout the world. This is particularly evi-dent in efforts undertaken by groups andleaders within civil society, such as the Moth-ers of the Disappeared in Plaza del Maya andthe Nobel Peace Prize laureate ‘Peace Peo-ple’ in Northern Ireland. These are cultures –perhaps more accurately, subcultures ornascent cultures – according to whichhumankind can organize itself. However, thisis only possible if there are commonly sharedvalues.

By looking at both faces of education, wedevelop a clearer understanding of the positiveand negative impacts of education in areasprone to ethnic violence. There are very dif-ferent operational and policy implications ofthis two-faceted optic. On the one hand, it sug-gests that by identifying which initiatives doharm we might be better able to ‘stop doingthe wrong thing’. In contrast, by developing abetter understanding of positive impacts ofeducational initiatives, we can continue to nur-ture and ‘do the right thing’.


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The United Nations Convention on theRights of the Child (CRC) – ratified by everycountry in the world but two (Somalia and theUnited States) – provides the overall frame-work for any discussion of ethnicity, educationand conflict. The CRC and other instruments(see box below) obligate ratifying States to:

● actively prevent discrimination, includingon grounds of ethnicity, against children andtheir families, with additional specific pro-tections for children of minorities andindigenous peoples;

● ensure a right to education without discrim-ination;

● ensure that education is directed to encour-aging respect for human rights, peace, toler-ance, non-discrimination and non-violence;

● ensure protection of the child’s right to free-dom of religion;

● ensure the child’s right to diverse informa-tion and encourage the positive involvementof the mass media;

● protect children from all forms of physicaland mental violence (with specific provi-sions protecting the child from various formsof violence and exploitation, and protectionof the child affected by armed conflict).

Confronted with countries scarred by civilconflicts and racial tensions, and with the risein xenophobic and racist attitudes in severalcountries, the Committee on the Rights of theChild, the treaty body responsible for monitor-ing the CRC, has on several occasions urgedStates Parties to modify educational systems toconform to the provisions of the CRC. Inreviewing the Initial Report of the FederalRepublic of Yugoslavia, for example, it statedthat, “School curricula materials should bedeveloped, if they do not already exist, whichaim at educating children in the spirit of toler-ance of and respect for different civilizations.”(IRCO, Add.49, para 30). It recommended thatthe Government of Nigeria “incorporate edu-cation on the rights of the child in the school

Annex - The International Legal Framework

The main international instruments relevant tothis study are:● Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)● Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection

of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949) –Article 24

● UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959)● Convention against Discrimination in Educa-

tion (1962) – Articles 1, 2 and 5● International Convention on the Elimination of

All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1969) –Articles 4, 5(d)(v) and 7

● International Covenant on Economic, Socialand Cultural Rights – Article 13

● International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights (1976) – Articles 18.4, 20, 26 and 27

● Declaration on Fundamental Principles con-cerning the Contribution of the Mass Media toStrengthening Peace and International Under-

standing, to the Promotion of Human Rightsand to Countering Racialism, Apartheid andIncitement to War (1978) – Article IV

● Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Dis-crimination against Women (1981) – Article 10

● Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms ofIntolerance and of Discrimination based onReligion or Belief (1981) – Article 5

● Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) –Articles 2, 17, 19, 28, 29 and 30

● Declaration on the Rights of Persons belongingto National or Ethnic, Religious and LinguisticMinorities (1992) – Articles 2.1, 4.3 and 4.4

● UN Universal Declaration of the Rights ofIndigenous Peoples (1993)

● UNESCO Recommendation Concerning Educa-tion for International Understanding, Coopera-tion and Peace and Education relating toHuman Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

International instruments relating to ethnic conflicts and education


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society) in the curricula of all schools,not only on a voluntary basis but as animportant obligation of the differentcountries’ educational systems.”

As part of the UN Decade for HumanRights Education, 1995-2004, established underGeneral Assembly Resolutions 48/127, 49/184and 50/177, governments and non-governmentaleducational agencies are being urged to estab-lish programmes of human rights education.

In 1995, the United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)endorsed a Declaration and Integrated Frame-work of Action on Education for Peace, HumanRights and Democracy (see box below). TheFramework sets out policies, objectives andaction strategies to combat discrimination, vio-

curricula, paying special attention to promot-ing tolerance among all peoples and groups.”(Nigeria IRCO, Add.6.1, para. 38. See alsoCroatia IRCO, Add.5.2, para. 19 andGuatemala IRCO, Add.5.8, para. 30).

The United Nations Special Rapporteur toformer Yugoslavia explicitly recognized theconnection between violent ethnic conflictand education in a 1996 report (UnitedNations, 1996b):

“[The] young generation must devel-op different approaches to human valuesthan those the world has witnessed …during the last five years. There is,therefore, great urgency in includinghuman rights education (i.e. an appreci-ation for tolerance and a multicultural

Declaration and Integrated Framework of Actionon Education for Peace, Human Rights andDemocracy, 44th session of the International Con-ference on Education (Geneva 1994), endorsedby the General Conference of UNESCO at its 28th

session (Paris 1995) – Article 2We, the Ministers of Education meeting at the

44th session of the International Conference onEducation… strive resolutely:1. To base education on principles and methods

that contribute to the development of the per-sonality of pupils, students and adults who arerespectful of their fellow human beings anddetermined to promote peace, human rightsand democracy;

2. To take suitable steps to establish in educa-tional institutions an atmosphere contributingto the success of education for internationalunderstanding, so that they become idealplaces for the exercise of tolerance, respect forhuman rights, the practice of democracy andlearning about the diversity and wealth of cul-tural identities;

3. To take action to eliminate all direct and indi-rect discrimination against girls and women ineducation systems and to take specific measuresto ensure that they achieve their full potential;

4. To pay special attention to improving curricula,

the content of textbooks, and other education-al materials including new technologies, with aview to educating caring and responsible citi-zens, open to other cultures, able to appreciatethe value of freedom, respectful of human dig-nity and differences and able to prevent con-flicts or resolve them by non-violent means;

5. To adopt measures to enhance the role and sta-tus of educators in formal and non-formal edu-cation and to give priority to pre-service andin-service training as well as the retraining ofeducational personnel, including planners andmanagers, oriented notably towards profes-sional ethics, civic and moral education, cul-tural diversity, national codes and internation-ally recognised standards of human rights andfundamental freedoms;

6. To encourage the development of innovativestrategies adapted to the new challenges ofeducating responsible citizens committed topeace, human rights, democracy and sustain-able development, and to apply appropriatemeasures of evaluation and assessment ofthese strategies;

7. To prepare, as quickly as possible, and takinginto account the constitutional structures ofeach State, programmes of action for theimplementation of this Declaration.

lence and xenophobia, and to develop students’self-esteem, stressing the last as “essential tosocial integration…The reduction of failuremust be a priority.”

The Committee on the Rights of the Childhas urged many States Parties to make chil-dren’s rights principles widely known, includ-ing by translating the Convention into all thelanguages spoken by minorities. They havealso suggested that school curricula materialsbe developed, if they do not already exist, thataim at educating children in the spirit of toler-ance of and regard for different civilizations.(United Nations, 1996c). Some of the newStates in Central and Eastern Europe havetaken steps in this direction.

So sensitive have the inter-ethnic problemsbecome in Europe and Central Asia thatNATO is increasingly concerned that inter-eth-nic tensions expressed through educationcould well constitute a risk to peace in the

region. The Organization for Security andCooperation in Europe (OSCE) has estab-lished a High Commissioner on NationalMinorities, based in the Hague (Foundation onInter-Ethnic Relations, 1997). The High Com-missioner has issued recommendations pertain-ing to the education of the Greek minority pop-ulation in Albania, the Albanian population inthe Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,the Slovak population in Hungary, the Hungar-ian Population in Slovakia and the Hungarianpopulation in Romania. In 1996, the HighCommissioner requested assistance from theFoundation on Inter-Ethnic Relations to workon a possible set of guidelines governing theeducation rights of national minorities. Theseguidelines, known as the Hague Recommenda-tions, were published in 1997 and can be addedto the many other international conventionsand regulations that attempt to identify and toprotect the educational rights of children andvarious sub-populations.


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THE TWO FACES OF EDUCATIONIN ETHNIC CONFLICT

The Two Faces of Education in Ethnic Conflict challenges awidely-held assumption – that education is inevitably a forcefor good. While stressing the many stabilizing aspects ofgood quality education, editors Kenneth Bush and DianaSaltarelli show how education can be manipulated to drive awedge between people, rather than drawing them closertogether. After analyzing the increasing importance of eth-nicity in contemporary conflicts, this Innocenti Insight out-lines the negative and positive faces of education in situationsof tension or violence, including the denial of education as aweapon of war (negative) and the cultivation of inclusive cit-izenship (positive). It emphasizes the need for peacebuildingeducation that goes further than the ‘add good education andstir’ approach, aiming to transform the very foundations ofintolerance.

UNICEF Innocenti Research CentrePiazza SS. Annunziata, 1250122 Florence, Italy

Tel.: +39 055 203 30Fax: +39 055 244 817E-mail (general information): [email protected] (publication orders): [email protected]

Website: www.unicef-icdc.org

ISBN: 88-85401-67-8

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