Miss Jacinta Papp

Participant

Postgraduate Diploma in Peace Studies, Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong, India

How to Educate Peace in Primary and Secondary SchoolsSome examples from North-East India and the methodology made out of them

September, 2010.

Shillong, India

Table of Content

Introduction 2

Some information about North East India 3

The need of Peace Education 4

Three peace programs in two villages 5

Pongtung 5

The first Peace Program in Pongtung – teaching peace in classroom setting 5

Detailed curriculum for the classes 6

Presentation and feed-back from the teachers 10

The second Peace Education program in Pongtung - Promoting Peace Education and Gandhian Ideals 11

The third Peace Program – Peace Day in Thul village 12

Some words on the peace-related movies shown to the students 15

Methodology of Peace Education 17

The methods of education 17

The methods of peace education 18

Conclusion 20

List of pictures 20

1

Introduction

The present study is written to give a short introduction on Peace Education in the context of North-

Eastern region of India. The study is introductional, not including much information on the history and the

present culture and situation of the region, neither detailed methodology of Peace Education, but giving a short

example of it. In the other hand, the study is not a short article, rather a detailed presentation of three peace

programs in the region providing a practical example for further programs and giving ideas to peace educators

all over the World.

The study is written not by a professional teacher or educator, but a social worker who studies Peace Studies

and tries to imply it. The present study is the base for a more detailed dissertation which I plan to write soon .

This will include much more studies of the region, of education, of the nature of conflict and peace and lot more

field work experiences. The present study is just an introduction for people similar to me – amateurs at the area

of education but having much passion about peace making and Peace Education.

I have mentioned the names of the co-ordinator of the Peace Studies course and of my fellow participants . They

have given their permission for this. We have done this project hand in hand.

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Some information about North - East India

Studying social work, having an interest in peace making and doing a short-term volunteer work in the

North-Eastern region of India made me decide to join the Postgraduate Diploma in Peace Studies course on

Martin Luther Christian University in Shillong, India.

Shillong is the educational capital of North-East India, which includes seven states of the great country, India:

Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. These states are inhabited

mainly by tribal population – having more than 200 different tribes, with different customs, languages and

history. These tribes have lots of conflicts among themselves, with each other and with the mainstream Indian

population for decades or even centuries now.

This region, with its high hills and mountains, has been a completely isolated area for a long period of the

history. The region was made up of small territorial `empires` of different tribes. They had minor conflicts among

each other. The bigger problems and conflicts started after the interaction of the British Rule and the later by

the mainstream Indian population. The area, that traditionally was separated into several minor tribal areas,

now organized into seven states, the borders were not made by the tribals themselves and the states are under

the Indian government now, have their own local leadership, which is not based on their traditional way of

governing. The `tribal land` as such is removed, land can be only owned by individuals. This rule and so many

more, made a complete mess in the region. Sad to mention, but the central government and the neighbour

mainstream Indian population not only governed, rather militarized the whole area, practicing a very harsh and

unacceptable way of showing power and colonizing the local territories. The memory of these recent

happenings are still in the memory of the elder generation of the region, stiring the anger and the desire for

revenge in them day by day. Small incidents among the tribes or among tribals and mainstream people, specially

the military, can create major conflict therefore. These are only some of the reasons that create conflict in the

area and which shows the need of peace and therefore peace education in this part of the world.

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The need of Peace Education

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall

have to begin with the children . ” – taught us Mahatma Gandhi. Because “peace is not something you wish for;

it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away . ” (Robert

Fulghum ) . When learning Peace Studies, besides studying about peace, wishing for peace and trying to make

peace around us, we need to educate peace as well. The younger generation, who are the students of today will

be the leaders of tomorrow. When thinking about peace in the future, educating children is the best investment.

Peace Education is needed all over the world, either for prevention or already for solution of conflicts. Some

areas of our world has a long history of conflicts, i .e. Europe, where I come from. Right now we don’t have any

major conflicts. Some conflicts have been solved wisely and carefully and most probably won`t create problems

anymore. But other problems, conflicts are raising now. These problems have to be solved in a peaceful,

dialogical way. Other part of the World, for example the North-East region of India is still a very conflicted area.

According to some sociologists of the area, more people die because of conflict here, in the North-East, than in

the well-known Middle East. The conflicts have deep roots, and revenge is still one of the major motives of the

local people when it comes to problems. Smaller and bigger conflicts rise up on territorial, economical and

ethnical levels every day. Peace Education in this area, therefore, is a very essential and necessary subject . To

educate peace and to integrate the peace-idea in different subject – such as history or social studies, is a very

good preventive method for changing the future of the region. The conflicts of the present can be solved in the

future by changing the attitude and the ideology of the present young generation.

The basics of the methods of Peace Education can be the same all over the world, but it certainly needs

specialization for each region of it. The understanding of conflict, war and even peace can be different in all

regions, the causes of the conflicts surely differ from each other wherever we go and the solution should be a

little bit different as well. This is the reason why I started to study the educational system in the region, the past

and the present of the conflicts here and the lifestyle, attitude and studying way of the children. Going through

all this, living in the region for almost a year now, interacting with people of all generation and much of the

tribes, gave me a basic idea for starting to work on designing the peace education curriculum of North-East

India. My fellow participants of Postgraduate Diploma in Peace Studies, Martin Luther Christian University,

Shillong, India were a great help and motivation for me.

Here, in this study, I`d like to introduce three peace education programs in the local schools, the methodology I

have made so far and my present conclusions and further study and practice plans in the region.

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Three Peace Programs in Two Villages

Second batch, Peace Studies Department, Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU), Shillong, India is

working on designing the peace education curriculum specifically for North-East India. A simple curriculum was

designed in the month of April, 2010 and experimented in a secondary school, Pongtung, East Khasi Hills,

Meghalaya. Evaluation, redesigning are some of the simple methodologies made after the first program and

another program followed it in the same village in the beginning of May, 2010. After hearing from the students

and the teachers, we designed an even more adequate program which we presented in a secondary school Thul,

Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya. Let me present all these three programs therefore.

Pongtung

Pongtung, situated 63 km from Shillong, a village on the border of Meghalaya state of India and

Bangladesh is in a special need for peace education due to the frequent conflict situations arising between the

two countries. The village is dominated by the Khasi tribe of India, but other Indian tribes as well as Bengali

people can also be found here. Their number keeps on increasing day by day on the pretext of business, and

they come and live as refugees and migrants in the region. The constant conflict on the border affects the village

indirectly. Most of the villagers developed an opposing attitude towards the Bengali people.

The first Peace Education program in Pongtung – teaching peace in classroom setting

The first time I visited the village, I was asked to speak in the Pongtung Presbyterian Secondary School. I

decided I will take classes and teach the students in smaller groups. Due to the low number of students in the

classes, we joined 2-2 classes. This way I was able to teach all the 6 classes in the school – from class V till class X.

My main goal teaching about peace was to make the children think, give them a concern about peace making,

give them practical ideas how to work on peace, how to be peace makers themselves – in their families,

neighbourhood, class, in the village, in the region and in the whole society. Knowing the fact that we all (and

specially the children) remember more what we can see not only hear, and even more, what we can participate

in, I designed the curriculum of my teaching very interactive and exciting. Besides the short speeches I have

given them, I have added interesting information; I asked questions to make them think themselves, played

peace-related games with them and made them work on some peace-related practical presentation in teams. I

have done everything in English – for that`s the language I speak, but asked one of the teachers to translate for

me when needed. Class IX-X could more or less understand what I said, but the lower classes needed full

translation. I wanted to make sure they understand the point.

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Detailed curriculum for the classes

Class V-VI.

a) `Ice breaker` - An activity, game or special item at the beginning of a group meeting is called

`ice breaker`. The purpose of giving time to an `ice breaker` is to make the participants

interested and involved in the items followed by this point. An `ice breaker` is useful in the

class as well, were the students know each other, but are not used to interact at the classes,

specially when a new teacher comes. I wanted the students not only to listen to what I was

about to tell them, but to interact actively, so the message about peace will not only reach

their mind, but their heart and will as well.

The `ice breaker` I used for Class V-VI was a simple game teaching them how equal we all

are. This way this game was not only an `ice breaker`, but also an introduction to the topic

discussed later. I have made the children break into two groups according to where they

think they belong to. The categories I have given them were very simple. They could all

decide for themselves where they belong to - personally.

- Do you like the colour purple or orange?

- Do you like the fruit pineapple or banana?

- Do you prefer reading or writing?

- Do you prefer the subject English or Science?

- Are you a boy or a girl?

- Do you like rice or chapatti more?

After the game I raised some questions – checking their understanding of the game and

moreover of the principle, message of the game.

- Is the person loving purple more valuable than the one liking orange?

- Shall we reject those who are good in Science and don`t like English?

- Is a girl any better than a boy – or reverse?

The questions were provoking in order to make them realize the basic principle for peace:

We might differ in various areas of life, but we all worth the same, we are all meant to be

equal.

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b) Short teaching – The second item was a short introduction of peace and peace making in

micro level. I started with the teaching of the Bible on peace and equality. (Being in a

Christian community, in a church-supported school, I found it to teach from the Bible as a

solid starting point.)

I started with raising some questions. What caused the conflict between the following

individuals: Adam, Eve and God; Adam and Eve; Cain and Abel; David and Saul?

Disobedience, blaming, violence and jealousy are still the root causes of present days`

conflicts. The conflicts are caused by our bad attitude to each other. The Bible teaches us to

live in peace and harmony with each other. It teaches to treat each other the way we want

them to treat us, and always look for the benefit of others. Jesus gave a great example to us.

The way he treated the people the society rejected, showed His attitude and belief in

equality. He had dinner with cheating tax collectors, cared about the unclean lepers and

other sick people, gave chance to the pagan Samaritan woman… We have to learn from

both the teaching and the example of Christ.

c) Song – An action song is one of the best ways to make small children remember the

message we are teaching. This song is from my own country, Hungary. I translated it into

English and taught the students to sing – with a simple choreography. The lyrics are as

below.

Short and fat, slim and tall

Curly hairy, bold headed

As many people as many kind

All have mistakes

All have talents

As many people as many kind

One God has created

All of them

Some with glasses

Or big-big moustache

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Baseball cap, leather hat

d) Activity – The purpose of the last item of the program, an activity, is to make them think

more about peace. I asked them to draw what peace means to them.

Class VII-VIII.

a) Ice breaker – For the higher classes I have chosen a more complicated game, where they had

to answer some peace-related questions. The questions had different levels of difficulty. So

they were worthed different scores. I divided the two class into two groups. They could

chose questions by the number of the questions. If they could answer the question, they got

one point, if they could not, the other group got a chance to answer and get the point.

Some of the questions were:

- List the tribes of North-East India.

- Who is the Father of the Indian Nation?

- List three things that causes conflict among students, young people.

- Who is called the `Prince of Peace` in the Bible?

b) Short teaching – I asked them what is their guess on the topic of the lesson (after the ice

breaker questions). After a few guess they said `peace`. So I asked them how they would

define peace. I didn`t get any real answer, so I explained my understanding on peace –

telling them in the level of their understanding. I raised the questions about the reasons of

conflicts between Biblical characters (same I did for the lower classes). I gave them some

idea how to make peace and how to keep peace – in their family, class and village . I tried to

make them realize that it mostly depends on their attitude and that they all have a role of

making peace and keeping it – no matter how young they are...

c) Activity – Four groups were made. They were all given an A3 size white chart paper sheet

and were required to do the following things:

- Cut the word `peace` out of newspapers given to them and stick on top of the sheet.

- Choose, cut and stick a picture they think is related to our topic, peace.

- Mention three things that helps to create peace.

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- Copy Matthew 5:9 `Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of

God` under the picture.

All the groups did great job. The things they mentioned makes peace were the

following: love, kindness, joy, happiness, patience, obedience, sharing.

Class IX-X.

a) Ice breaker – I have written `peace` in several languages – Arabic, Hindi, Latin and in

Hungarian. They had to figure out what those words mean. Then I showed them in Khasi,

their own language, too. I divided the class into two groups – girls and boys, as they sat. I

asked them to define `peace` with their own words and write it on the blackboard.

The two definitions they gave were:

- `Peace comes when we have love with one by one, with our parents, brothers, sisters

and all who are around us. When we have unity with others, that also brings peace into

our lives.`

- `Peace is love of each other in the society and all over the world.`

b) Short teaching – I asked them some more questions in order to make them think and

pronounce the most important things themselves.

- What caused the conflict between the Biblical characters I mentioned above? (Adam

and Eve, Cain and Abel....)

- How did God solve the problems with His people? Then I talked to them about the

covenants God has made with certain people throughout the history. God gave us an

incredible example making covenants with sinful, weak, disobedient and small people –

being the most powerful and strongest being in the World. Today we hardly ever see a

strong, powerful person or group, tribe, party make a covenant with a weaker one – and

keep it even though the other side is not faithful at all ... We have a lot to learn from the

Almighty Faithful God – and offer agreement to others, give up our rights, compromise

at times and be faithful even when the other side is not – in order to maintain peace

among us.

- Who do we need to have peace with individually? We need to be in peace with God first

of all, then with our own selves, then we can have peace with other people and with the

nature, the other creations, too.

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- What can create peace? What attitude do we need to show in order to create and keep

peace among us? We discussed over a few ideas of creating peace in conflicts.

c) Activity – I asked them to identify a conflict they saw or were part of recently and the reason

behind it. We wrote the problems and the reasons on the black board. At the next turn I

asked them to find the opposite of the reason behind their conflicts – the very thing that can

turn the situation, which can bring peace.

The causes of conflicts and the opposite of them were the following:

- Stealing Sharing

- Drinking Stop drinking

- Cheating Being honest

- Jealousy Loving

- Laziness Being diligent

- Some desires Being satisfied

- Hurting each other Respecting each other

The definitions, this list above and the `peace` words in other languages were copied to a

large chart paper.

Presentation and feed-back from the teachers

After the classes we all gathered at the yard of the school and I made the students of each classes

present what they learnt during the day. Some shared about their drawing, their posters, some quoted Matt 5:9,

some shared about how to create peace, and some about the causes of conflicts and the attitude we need to

have in order to bring peace. The teachers and the principle were pleased seeing what the students learned and

volunteered encouraging the children to create peace later on.

I asked the teachers of the school to write a short feed-back on my program. Few of them were present at all

the classes I had, so I asked them to write down what they were thinking about the program, what were the

weak points, what would they do differently and what did they like in my teaching . Instead of that I got only one

letter one of the teachers wrote in all of their names. Let me quote it.

`We, the teachers of Pongtung Presbyterian Secondary School, we express our gratitude to you, Miss Jacinta for

you have spared your valuable time to give us lecture about `Peace`.

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Miss, we have benefited a lot from your lecture about the value of Peace which teaches us how to work

together with love, patience among teachers, students and the society as a whole.

`Keep up the good work!`

Thank you so much`

After the first program, I conducted myself, my course coordinator and some more participants joined me for

the second time.

The second Peace Education program in Pongtung - Promoting Peace Education and Gandhian Ideals

A peaceful attitude can be learnt and developed especially during the childhood stage. If a child learns to

solve his small conflicts peacefully, he/she can become a peacemaker later on, - the participants of Peace

Department, Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU), Shillong, India believe. The principle Rev Dalington

Nongrumjang belonging to the Khasi- Jaintia Presbyterian church-supported secondary school being a peace

studies student himself extended the invitation to us, the participants of PG Diploma in Peace Studies, MLCU to

conduct a one-day peace-propagating program for the students – altogether about 250 children, plus the

teachers and interested villagers participated on the 6th of May, 2010. After facing some technical problems

generating electricity from the two hired generators, we started the program with some peace-related action

songs to get the attention of the students. Dr Leban Serto co-ordinator gave an introduction and the purpose of

the program. Sister Marline Pinto, an educator, shared about peaceful attitude and global peace movements

and her visit to Hiroshima Peace Museum. After that I talked about revenge - causing most of the big conflicts,

wars in the world and about being a peacemaker as a child. After hearing from Ms Hau, lecturer of MLCU, about

creating a safer environment, we watched `Paper Cranes` the special animation movie from Japan - about the

danger of nuclear bombs. This was followed by the movie on Mahatma Gandhi - a Force More Powerful,

produced by Steve York. This was followed by Sister Marline Pinto who asked the children some questions

checking how much they got of our presentations. Some of the children knew the full name of “Mohandas

Karamchand Gandhi”. After about three hours of a hectic schedule, I wined up the day by teaching an action

song about equality of all people.

Children from other neighbouring school also came to participate and it was a jam packed room full of children .

Perhaps the message of Peace Education and the seeds of creating a society of a World without war has been

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finally shown amidst the mind and hearts of all present for the day in the Pongtung high school, East Khasi Hills,

Meghalaya, India.

Further plans are laid to regularly visit the school and experiment lesson plan on Peace Education and Gandhian

ideals and to develop further the teacher training modules, promote tolerance, co -existence, Peace Education

and human rights education.

The third Peace Education Program – Peace Day in Thul village

Thul village is situated in Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya state of India. Thul is close to the Assamese

and the Bangladeshi border in a pretty remote area. Thul is mostly a Christian inhabited area where most of the

people belong to the Catholic church, and the school we visited is administered and supported by the St . Mary

sisters of the Catholic church. Keeping in mind of their Christian background, we referred to the Bible and to the

teachings of Jesus in the program. Around 230 students, 10 teachers and some more villagers, which includes

children and adults joined the program.

The date of the program was chosen to be 6th of August 2010, the 65th anniversary of the atom bomb explosion

in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one of the peace days of the world today. The memory of the terrible day reminds us

to the serious effect of the wars on all the people. This bitter experience led us to focus our attention to ‘peace’

instead of ‘conflicts’. This is really an appropriate day for a peace program.

The program has started at 11 am and was divided to two parts. The first part was conducted by the co-

ordinator of Peace Studies Department, MLCU and was addressed to the whole audience – all the students,

teachers and visitors. This was followed by a short break. The second part was designed for only one class, to

present the method of peace teaching in classroom setting. Class IX was chosen to participate in this program.

This part was conducted by me, participant of Postgraduate Diploma in Peace Studies (PGDPS), MLCU.

The first part was officially opened by our contact person, Mr Leo Dhkar, teacher of the school who is also

participant of PGDPS, MLCU. After some greeting and introduction we were all honored by getting some

symbolic gift of shawls from the students of the school. A cake with ‘Peace 2010’ decorated on top of it was also

presented and cut at the beginning of the program. After the introduction from the school’s side, Dr Leban Serto

was given the time to inaugurate the peace program on behalf of the university . After sharing on the meaning

of the day choice, he read out the letter of the director of Hiroshima Peace Museum, Japan for this day.

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The inauguration was followed by the short peace educating cartoon film, Paper Cranes, which was introduced

by me. Paper Cranes is a peace educator anime from Japan about the effects of nuclear bomb, invented by

Peace Anime No Kai, Japan. This short anime was specially selected by the Ministry of Education for showing to

children. This was followed by another short movie, Mahatma Gandhi – A force more powerful (a century of

nonviolent conflict). It is a unique short movie on Gandhiji’s peaceful independence movement. It concludes

original shots and short videos which are not shown in most of the other Gandhi movies. Gandhi is a key figure

when we learn (or teach) about peace. After the movie, Dr Leban shared about what peace and peace education

means practically and how to learn from Gandhi, the father of our nation. He also shared about our plan of

designing a complete curriculum for the integration of peace education into the different subjects and as a

separate subject as well – for primary and secondary schools, a curriculum specifically for North-East India. At

the end of his teaching, he gave opportunity for the students to share or ask whatever came to their minds

during the program. A girl asked the reason of the nuclear bombing, two other students expressed their

appreciation for the program and what they learned. After Dr Leban explained the historical background of the

nuclear bombing and the present danger of the bombs, the director of the school closed the program by

expressing her opinion on peace.

After a short break, class IX students were requested to stay back for a class-setting peace education program.

This part was coordinated by me, participant, PGDPS, MLCU. 25 students and some teachers attended the

program. This lesson followed the standard setting of a peace education lesson established by our department :

ice breaker, short teaching and a short activity. Ice breaker activity is needed at the beginning of an interactive

lesson to open up and prepare the students for the teaching. This time the ice breaker was a quiz game. The

students were divided into three groups and were to compete with each other by answering some questions,

which were all connected to peace and to the local settings. They are:

Whose motto was `peace and truth`?

List three things causing conflicts between young people.

Who is called the `Prince of Peace` in the Bible?

List at least five tribes of North-East India.

List two things that causes conflict in the area, in your village.

Mention a symbol of peace.

Who is called the Father of Indian Nation?

Mention a recent conflict in the country.

Who said `I give you peace, not as the world gives`?

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Most of the theoretical questions were easily answered by the students, but they didn’t know the facts – what

other tribes are there besides them, what kind of conflicts generally take place around them and the causes of

conflict in their own village.

The teaching included the following points:

the connection between conflict and peace

the conflict between Biblical characters and what we can learn from those stories

what makes a community peaceful

how to live peacefully

God`s solution for conflicts – covenant

Jesus` example – treating all as equal

how to be peacemakers

The teaching was theoretical as well as practical. Class IX students can understand principles but they also need

some practical guidelines to know how to be peacemakers themselves. Special emphasis was placed on God’s

solution for conflict, which is a covenant. God, who is the supreme Almighty being, who could destroy all of us in

a second, decided to make a covenant with us; weak, sinful, rebellious human beings. He not only offered a

covenant but He is also faithful to it, even when we are not. This is the very example given for us by God himself,

how to treat those weaker, poorer than us. Offering a covenant and our help to others and not expecting

anything from them is what creates peace.

Another special part of the teaching was the illustration that I have shown to the children about inner peace .

`We all start our lives clean – just as a glass of clear water. As we get some hurt, some trouble, some conflict,

some sin, it makes it dirty – just as some dirt, sand and dry grass can make the water in the glass . Who wants to

drink from this cup now? Why? If I really try, can I pour clean water off this glass? Why? I really want. It`s not

clean any more. Same way we can’t pour love, peace, caring out of our lives if we are full of hurt, bitterness and

anger. How can we remove all these dirty things from the cup? Only by pouring out all the water from the glass

and then washing it properly. Same thing we have to do with our lives – pour out everything we have inside, in

front of God. If we direct it on some other people, we surely hurt them deeply, even though our anger and

disappointment was not related to them at all. But if we pour it out in front of God, the loving Heavenly Father,

He will understand it. He will wash us, heal our hearts and fill us up with His pure love and peace again . This way

we will be able to pour love, peace, caring to other people – even when they hurt us, don’t treat us well or do

anything bad to us. As we all know, we can create peace only when we have peace within. The source of real

peace cannot come from outside, not even from our own self, true peace can only come from Jesus, who

promised us: “Peace I leave with you. I give my peace to you. Not as the world gives. Do not let your heart be

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troubled.” (Gospel of John 14:27) When we pour out our dirty hearts in front of Jesus and let Him fill us up with

His peace, which is above all, then we will be able to be at peace and be peacemakers.`

After the teaching, an activity was done with the students, in order to let them remember and apply what they

have just learnt. The whole group was divided into three teams again and they got the following tasks to finish:

make up a definition of peace

search for a picture that is connected to peace (and explain how) from the newspapers given

write `peace` in two different languages (which were given on a separate sheet)

All these things they had to write and glue it to chart papers, which were then hung on the wall of the

community hall of the school.

Some words on peace-related the movies shown to students

Paper Cranes – a peace educator anime from Japan about the effects of nuclear bomb, to be shown for

children, produced by Peace Anime No Kai, Japan. This short anime was specially selected by the Ministry of

Education for showing to children. As it is mentioned at the beginning of the anime, the video has been

produced for the purpose of promoting a nuclear-free world and world peace. The producers of these animated

cartoons strongly wish that you join in their efforts to promote peace.

The anime is based on the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese girl stricken with leukemia after the

bombing of Hiroshima. Tomoko, a student girl is given the task by her teacher to visit the Hiroshima Peace

Memorial Museum. After being terrified and confused seeing the leftover pieces of people and houses in the

museum, she enters the memorial garden and finds the statue of Sadako. The figure of a young girl holding a

huge paper crane comes alive in her dreams, when taking rest on a bench in the garden. Sadako shows Tomoko

what happened on the 6th of August, 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sadako was only two years old that time

and after a few years of healthy life, some strange pots appeared on her skin and a fast growing leukemia made

her very weak within a few weeks. Her sickness was caused by the radiation of the bomb. Sadako was told by

one of her friends, that if she folds 1000 paper cranes, the gods will grant her wish and she will be well again . So

she started to fold origami cranes out of everything around her, but she could not finish the task before her

death…

The anime short movie gives a deeper understanding about nuclear bombs, their effects and the stories behind

for children. As the two little girl flies around the Earth on the wings of a huge white crane, a lot more white

birds joins them from all over the World, promoting peace, children are encouraged to live for and proclaim

peace themselves.

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I find this short, cute anime a very practical and useful tool in Peace Education, for children learn are very much

after cartoons and movies these days. The producers did a great job designing the anime the way children catch

the message of it easily. This anime, about nuclear bombs is very relevant in North-East India, where the issue of

the uranium mines is an actuality these days.

Mahatma Gandhi – A force more powerful (A century of nonviolent conflict) – is a unique short movie on

Gandhi Ji`s peaceful independence movement. It concludes original shots and short videos which are not shown

in most of the other Gandhi movies. Gandhi is a key figure when we learn (or teach) about peace. He said: `a

non-violent refusal to cooperate with injustice is the way to defeat it` . He saw the injustice the British role

meant for India, but he also realized that to get rid of a foreign rule and be independent depends on Indians

itself. He once said in his speech: `the control of India depends on Indian cooperation, not British co version `

and `we must not hate the British, they have not taken India from us, we have given it to them` . His weapon of

mass civil disobedience and boycott of British products has not only set the road to Indian independence, but

changed the 20th century, setting an example of nonviolent fighting. He was the very first Indian meeting the

British ruler for negation as an equal. He said: `My technique of nonviolent struggle is in the same stage as it was

the electricity at Edison`s time – to be refined`. He is an example for us, peace makers.

This movie inspires all to fight for our rights in a different sense, in a nonviolent but powerful way . This movie

can be well-used to give an idea of peaceful fighting for children as well. I advice to show it to elder students

only, though, starting from class 9-10 only, those who understand English very well, and a discussion on the

movie after watching it is also suggested. Questions shall be given to the students to answer in groups, and

students must be encouraged to ask questions themselves and to apply the message of Gandhi to their own

personal, communal and national circumstances, cases.

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Methodology of Peace Education

The methods of education

When it comes to peace education methodology, we have to start at education methodology. Teaching

has its own methods, how to make students not only hear what we teach, but understand, think about it, learn

it. The followings are the basic education methods:

Questioning – both making the children think for themselves (instead of just telling them the facts) and

also checking how much the children understood at the end of what we taught them.

Explaining – making the children understand the topic, telling them about it at the level according to

their age, knowledge, understanding.

Demonstrating – modeling, illustrating , giving examples of the general facts, values, messages we teach.

This includes stories, showing pictures, videos, presentations

Collaboration – having students work in groups, it allows students to talk amongst each other and listen

to all points of view in the discussion.

Learning by teaching – as we, teachers learn the most when we prepare for our own lectures, it is the

same with children. When they have to make even of sentences presentable and they have to teach it to

the others, they will give their best preparing and they will never forget about it.

Active participation – we all learn most by the things that we experience, we take part in . Acting out the

message, making students part of our teaching, not only listeners of it, will make them remember the

message even more.

Learning by playing – not only small children, but we all like to play. Using games teaching facts, values

or messages by playing works very well for all.

Teaching by example - `What you do shouts much louder than what you say.` - all educators must show

an example by their words, acts and behaviors, not only in the classroom but in their whole life .

Students watch their teachers more than teachers think they do.

Learning by singing – even Einstein learnt to speak after he learnt singing. Songs, specially action songs

are very creative ways of teaching important messages to children.

Homework or individual work - when students have to solve problems or learn things on their own

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The methods of peace education

When we teach peace, we have to be able to use all of these methods . Combination of the methods

makes the lectures even more interesting, understandable and unforgettable. When we teach an English or a

Maths lesson, we only want the students to learn facts and understand the relationship between them . But

when teaching peace, we don’t only concentrate on facts, on information, but more on character building . This

way peace education requires special methods. Methods can differ according to the age group of the students,

the place, the duration of the lesson (or course) and the regularity of it, and of course of the circumstances and

what is available at that place, that time, that teacher who teaches. Peace education can happen on regular

classes in school, can be a course of a weekend or a week, can be a part of a camp or conference, can happen

even only once or occasionally, and its target group can be from nursery children to old people . We can`t start it

too early and it`s never too late…

Let me list a few ideas that can make peace education special that can make it more than a lecture about

multiplying for example. Peace education has to be personal, active and character changing. When we teach

peace we have to develop skills, attitude and pass on knowledge. Special peace lesson items can be:

Personality tests (for example the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Model test)

Situation games (when they have to act out a conflict situation and solve the conflict)

Story analyzes (when we read out, or watch a conflicted story and analyze what the problem was and

how could we solve it if we were the characters)

Art and craft (when students make some things that is connected to peace and take it home or even for

an exhibition to remember it)

Movies or short clips about conflicted or peaceful situations, places, groups (for example: Microcosmos,

Mahatma Gandhi – Force More Powerful, Paper cranes, Nelson Mandela, The Life of Jesus Christ etc.)

Character building games and activities (where they learn how to listen, how to compromise, how to

articulate their points peacefully and understandable, how to remain calm, how to support each other,

how to react peacefully etc.)

Value study

Argument making activities (where students are made to present the views of different groups and

make up arguments peacefully and just)

Biographies, stories of peace makers

Exhibition or show to talk to a larger audience (which can be conducted by peace students)

Activities about the equality of all people (games, action songs, dramas etc.)

Learning quotes of famous people about peace, peaceful character

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Games and activities teaching unity, agreement, working together (for example team works)

Data collection (when students are given the task to collect information about some great people,

situations or anything connected to conflict or peace. They can do it individually or in groups)

`Alternatives` games (when they develop alternative reactions to conflicted situations)

Cultural events (where students learn about other cultures, ethnic or religious group by tasking their

food, experience their practices, sing their songs, wear their dresses etc.)

Combining nature studies, social studies and peace studies can give a special and more applicable and

unforgettable lesson to the students

Environment saving practise (for example collecting garbage, planning trees etc.)

These are only few ideas how to make peace lectures more fun, relevant, interesting and unforgettable . Every

teacher has some memories of events, classes that they remember very well, because of the way of the teaching

or maybe because of the character of the teacher. Applying the methods of the teachers we remember well

actually makes us more creative. We must learn from life and teach simple but interesting and character

changing way.

Peace lessons can be conducted not only in class rooms but in the nature, on the street, at our own home, in

museums or any other place where students tend to listen and pay attention even more than in the usual class

room setting. Peace education doesn’t necessary requires expensive tools or ingredients, it rather requires our

creativity of turning the available things into teaching tools and using everything around us to communicate our

message.

Peace teaching can be done by one teach, but can be conducted by a couple or a group as well . They can share

the responsibilities, together they can make up short dramas to present stories in a more interesting way and

they can pay attention to students one by one instead of just giving a lesson for the big group only.

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Conclusion

As I mentioned in the introduction, the present study was written to give an example and idea for

amateur peace educators like me. Peace can be taught by all – anyone who has peace within himself. As I

pointed out in the last section, peace can taught first of all, by action, by example. We, educators, have to live in

peace with our relatives, friends, neighbours and even with our students . When our students see how we solve

small problems in a peaceful way, how we avoid fights and useless arguments, how we are just to all and don’t

show any favoritism, they will accept our teaching about the equality and peace. Peace education is need

everywhere and indeed to all generations, but children are always the most open and the ones we can plant

idea of peace deep into their hearts and minds. We can teach peace, even without mentioning it, even without

purposely designing a special curriculum for it, but when we do it purposely and planned, we can reach all of the

students and teach peace surely in the right way. We need discussions about what we mean when mentioning

peace and also what is our goal with educating peace. Here, in North-East India, we, the Peace Department of

Martin Luther Christian University are taking initiative in creating awareness for peace and spreading the idea of

Peace Education.

My wish is, that all reading this short study, will take the same initiative, find the ways of their own culture,

nation and region for creating and educating peace, and study further on the topic.

Jacinta Papp

List of pictures :

1 – drawing of a student from Class V – about peace

2 – drawing of a student from Class VI – about peace and love

3 – poster of students from Class VII-VIII – what we need to create peace

4 – banner of our program, 6th May, 2010.

5 – me, teaching an action song to the students about the equality of all

6 – map of Meghalaya state of India

7 – me, teaching in Class V-VI.

8 – students of class VII-VIII working on their poster

9 – students and teachers of the school with me

10 – students and teachers of all the local schools, listening to our program

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