HUMAN RIGHTS FRIENDLY SCHOOLSA GUIDE FOR TEACHERS

HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION

WHAT IS A HUMAN RIGHTS FRIENDLY SCHOOL?A human rights friendly school is a community that practices and promotes human rights values in all aspects of school life and beyond.

Human Rights Friendly Schools make a commitment to teaching

• ABOUT human rights – so that the school community understands what they are and why they are important;

• THROUGH human rights – so that the school becomes a model of excellence in human rights practice;

• FOR human rights – so that all members of the school community recognize their rights and learn to protect the rights of others.

Human Rights Friendly Schools take a whole school approach. This means that human rights are applied to four aspects of school life: governance, relationships, curriculum, and environment.

When human rights come into the classroom, onto the playground and into the hearts and minds of young people, attitudes and behaviours begin to change. Children, teachers and other school community members learn together how to live human rights and responsibilities.

Inclusion, tolerance and respect for diversity are central principles of human rights. When these principles start to direct the thoughts and actions of the school community, little room is left for bullying and discrimination. We begin to relate to each other not as rich or poor, dark or fair, passed or failed, but as human beings made equal by the rights we share. Members of human rights friendly school communities act, speak out and stand up for their rights. Importantly, they also recognize and practice their responsibilities for respecting the rights of others.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HUMAN RIGHTS FRIENDLY SCHOOLS?Human Rights Friendly Schools create a culture of human rights that gives students, teachers, and other members of the school community a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their lives.

Amnesty’s experience has shown that building a culture of human rights benefits schools by:

• Improving student attitudes toward learning;

• Enriching relationships among students and teachers;

• Encouraging all members of the school community to treat each other with respect;

• Empowering teachers to include important local issues in the curriculum;

• Teaching students how to participate in school and society as responsible citizens.

The Human Rights Friendly Schools approach opens up doors for teaching staff to give voice to their experience and insight, strengthen relationships with other educators, and develop new professional skills. Human Rights Friendly Schools, in other words, provide unique opportunities for teachers to become leaders in their field.

HOW CAN I SUPPORT MY SCHOOL TO BECOME HUMAN RIGHTS FRIENDLY?Teachers at human rights friendly schools cultivate the skills needed by the leaders of today and tomorrow.

You can get involved by:

• Participating in teacher training sessions to learn more about the HRFS approach;

• Looking through the Human Rights Friendly Schools Toolkit available online;

• Encouraging students to play an active and cooperative role in classroom learning;

• Supporting human rights campaigns and other activities led by your school;

• Asking your nearest Amnesty International office about how to get started at your school.

In addition, if you have any ideas about how your school can take action to become more human rights friendly, you are welcome to share your ideas. Contact the person listed on the back of this pamphlet to get started.

When human rights come into the classroom, onto the playground and into the hearts and minds of young people, attitudes and behaviours begin to change

AMNESTY CERTIFICATES EARNED ME A PROMOTIONcurriculum and co-curriculum activities and safety for all in schools with regard to sexual harassment, substance abuse, and other threats. I took panellists through the three-year journey – when we first started the human rights club, reviewed school rules and regulations in place for over two decades, started elections of student leaders as opposed to appointments by teachers, and organised student meetings to respond to challenges in the school. The panel was so surprised and encouraged by these stories; we had talked for over an hour and other teachers waiting outside to be interviewed had become anxious. To my surprise, the head of the panel asked if we could end the interview at that point.

The two yellow certificates courtesy of AI Kenya had earned me promotion to a senior teacher. Two months afterwards I moved again to the position of Deputy Principal. Since then, we have also spread the human rights club to eight other schools in Homabay County, Kenya and many other schools in the country.”

Mark Munialo is a teacher at Ober Boys Secondary School in the Homabay county of Kenya.

“In all my preparation leading up to the interview for a promotion to Graduate senior teacher, little did I know that I would be asked about “The Human Rights Clubs” in my school. The yellow certificates must have stood out and caught the eyes of the panellists. Amnesty International Kenya recognises the work of school patrons like me with certificates. I was honoured to get two; one for spearheading the creation and successful nurturing of my school’s Human Rights Club and another one for contributing to human rights education in secondary schools and participating at the symposium for human rights club patrons.

This was my sixth year waiting for a chance at promotion, and one thing every teacher in Kenya does not look forward to is the interview process. Come the interview day, however, the questions I was faced with were familiar ones: ‘Human rights, what is it in schools? How does the human rights club work? How have schools taken up the human rights clubs?’ My explanations elicited even more questions. I explained how the club advocates for inclusive school governance, nurturing relationships, participation in

HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE?Contact your school, or your nearest Amnesty International office.

You can find your local Amnesty office by searching for your country here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/

Regional Office contacts are here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/about-us/contact/

See also:https://www.amnesty.org/en/human-rights-education/human-rights-friendly-schools/