Learning for Lasting Peace

Introduction

    The concept of peace has not recently emerged; it is one of the oldest concepts embraced by leaders across past epochs and advocated by esteemed philosophers since the 3rd century BC. The desire for security or peace is an enduring dream of human beings due to their survival nature. Accordingly, humans exert relentless endeavors to discover secure pathways for life.

   The report “Learning: The Treasure Within” issued by International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, includes four pillars of education. One of these pillars is “Learning to Live” which emphasizes learning to live with others, to avoid violence and to compete instead of conflict. The world we prepare for future generations will rely on our ability to reject violent and unsound approaches. Therefore, education for peace has been a fundamental pillar to enhance human relationships within families, schools, workplaces, and across nations and borders.

   The United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for People, Planet, and Prosperity, featuring an interconnected set of 17 goals presented for review at the Summit on Sustainable Development Goals in September. The theme of the summit was on peace, citizenship, and shared human values. Prioritizing education is crucial to accelerating progress towards all Sustainable Development Goals amid global economic recession, conflicts, growing inequality, and the climate crisis. Building on the global momentum generated by the UN Summit for Education Transformation in September 2022, this year’s International Day of Education calls for sustaining strong political commitment to education and blueprinting the course to translate global commitments and initiatives into action for lasting peace.

    In recognition of the vital significance and inherited right to education, The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education to emphasize the great role of education in peacemaking and society building and development. In addition, Education is a key goal of SDGs aiming at ensuring accessible, inclusive and equitable quality education by 2030. Moreover, the International Day of Education is a great opportunity to shed light on the status of children’s education around the world, and to emphasize the necessity of providing them with a good level of education.

The summit marked the largest gathering for education in recent decades, resulting in commitments from 133 nations to recover learning losses caused by the pandemic. It aimed to transform education to be more readable, inclusive and relevant, having the ability to be resilient in the face of future challenges. The international community mobilized around six calls to action, each possessing the potential to accelerate changes. These global initiatives, led by partnerships and alliances, cover crucial areas: foundational learning, green and digital transformations, gender equality, education in crises, financing, and efforts towards achieving peace and well-being.

Youth engagement is present in the summit and supports the national commitments and calls to action. Youth declaration emphasizes that “if we are to survive and thrive in planetary peace and righteous equality, then education is our primary source of hope and resolution”. The declaration asserts the interconnection between education, climate justice, gender equality, inclusion, jobs and sustainable development. Three global conferences, organized by UNESCO in 2022 on early childhood care and education, adult education and higher education, identified a common vision and commitments to drive progress in the next decade. Only lifelong education that begins in the first years of life can break the cycle of poverty, improve health outcomes, prepare people for appropriate jobs with opportunities to improve skills, acquire new skills, mitigate the climate crisis and promote behaviors of citizenship and shared human values.

The positive feeling among people in connection to common humanity, is an indicator of global citizenship and common human values and underlines that challenges we all face are interrelated. This leads to the significance of political, economic, social and cultural interconnectedness. (Riyadh Declaration On Global Citizenship Education and Common Human Values: From Theory to Practice)
Requisites this concept, emotionally, intellectually, and practically, include the following:
–    A sense of belonging to the broader community and humanity, emphasizing the economic, social and cultural interconnectedness, besides the interconnection between the local, national, and global levels.
–    The awareness of global issues such as peace, conflicts, globalization, poverty, sustainable development, understanding global governance systems and institutions; Recognizing interactions and interrelations between local and global levels, understanding the system of rights and responsibilities of peoples according to international laws and documents; having a profound grasp of civic engagement culture at both local and global levels, and approaching these issues with critical mindset essentially aims at thinking about improving human living conditions rather than merely coexisting and adapting to the status quo.
–    Respect for diversity, appreciate cultures and beliefs of others, have pride in human identity and belonging to humanity as much as the pride in national identity and national belonging. This entails acting responsibly towards humans and the environment, defending them against any infringement on human rights and environmental safety. It is necessary to embrace this responsibility in all endeavors targeting preserving the values of peace, justice, sustainable development, and moral commitment.

Based on the foregoing, prioritizing education for lasting peace is a crucial necessity of our time, particularly in a rapidly changing world. This aims to activate values and principles of education to be a fundamental driver for behaviors, practices, and peaceful coexistence.

We need a solidarity pact to move forward towards translating commitments into actions, enhancing the capabilities of policymakers, educators, and learners. This involves ensuring an inclusive, safe, and healthy educational environment, empowering teachers, harnessing the digital revolution for educational benefit, and investing more justly and efficiently. The goal is to make education transformative for peace.

To enhance the aspired roles of the quality and excellence of education systems in the Arab countries, the UNESCO Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education, in cooperation with several national, regional and international institutions and organizations, celebrates the International Day of Education. The purpose is to confirm the importance of education for achieving lasting peace.

Objective

• Foster widespread collaboration on the role of education for lasting peace.
• Enhance the role of policy and decision makers in formulating a positive and transformative vision framework for achieving lasting peace.

Topics

1. The role of education for sustainable peace
2. Ideas and solutions to formulate a positive and transformative vision framework for peace.

Participants

• The symposium will be attended in person and virtually (via ZOOM) by several educational decision makers, youth, experts, researchers, academics, teachers, school directors and representatives of ministries of education, schools and universities at the regional level to celebrate the International Day of Education.

Forum strategy

The symposium will be held virtually via Zoom including qualitative discussions and interventions. Participants will have the opportunity to communicate and share best practices. Participation is open for specialists, experts, and interested individuals in education quality and excellence.

Forum language

The working language of the workshop will be Arabic. English interpretation will be provided via Zoom application.

Outcomes

Final statement including main recommendations to support rethinking for achieving lasting peace.

Organization

UNESCO Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education in cooperation with Ministry of Education Libya.