Education

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Zambia’s education curriculum is rigid- Education PS

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Africa/ Zambia/ 26.08.2019/ Source: www.lusakatimes.com.

 

General Education Permanent Secretary Jobbicks Kalumba says the country’s current education curriculum is rigid and not favorable to the career needs of Zambians.

Dr. Kalumba said most subjects offered are not compatible with what the pupils want to do in future.He said there is urgent need to transform the curriculum to ensure it becomes relevant to career paths of children.

Dr. Kalumba said the educational reforms being implemented are meant to improve education standards and that the PF government has pro poor policies. He stated that reduction in school fees will ensure all Zambians have access to education.

Source of the notice: https://www.lusakatimes.com/2019/08/18/zambias-education-curriculum-is-rigid-education-ps/

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Australia must fix school inequity to create a top education system

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Oceania/Australia/ 20.08.2019/ Source: www.abc.net.au.

About a year ago my life turned upside down, literally.

My wife and I, with our two school-aged children, moved to Sydney from Helsinki.

We soon realised that Australians do not walk upside down. But there were some things that we were not prepared for.

Ever since we arrived in our new hometown, people were curious to know how we chose a school for our sons.

For us it was no-brainer — the neighbourhood public school.

But most parents in our shoes, we’ve been told, would explore the vast school market in Sydney to find the best available school, and the best value for money, for their children.

Education is a human right

Where to find the best school for your children sounded like a strange question to us.

Back in our old home, just like most other Nordic countries, the best school for our children and everyone else’s is the local public school.

This privilege is not a lucky coincidence but the result of deliberate public policies that view education as a human right rather than a commodity.

Interestingly, in some countries parents can be quite confident that any public school is a good school. At the same time, in some other places finding a school for your child can be a major headache.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

It all starts from an understanding that the importance of education to a society can be judged not just by how much is spent on education but by how public money is invested to serve everyone’s individual needs and desires in as fair way as possible.

Rich countries vary greatly regarding how much of their national wealth is invested in schools.

Nordic countries typically cover about 99 per cent of their total education expenditure from taxpayers compared with 81 per cent in Australia.

Furthermore, in OECD countries, on average, four out of five children attend public schools.

In Australia it is three out of five children.

The relationship between funding and excellence

Again, this is not by accident. It is a result of the public view about the importance of education as a common good.

During my work for and with a number of senior politicians, I have learnt that a government’s budget is not just a financial document, it is also a moral one.

What policy-makers need to understand better is this: How schools are funded is a fundamental question for those wishing to achieve educational excellence in schools. Here is why.

About a decade ago the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) discovered that the most successful school systems are those that combine excellence and equity in their education priorities.

Equity in education, as defined by David Gonski’s Review panel, is to «ensure that differences in educational outcomes are not the result of differences in wealth, income, power or possessions».

The OECD’s data from its PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) studies since 2000 suggested that, indeed, those education systems that had established systematic mechanisms to finance schools based on schools’ socio-economic makeup and children’s educational needs tend to do better overall.

The OECD went even further in its policy advice to governments.

In its 2012 publication titled Quality and Equity in Education: Supporting disadvantaged students and schools, it stated:

«School choice advocates often argue that the introduction of market mechanisms in education allows equal access to high-quality schooling for all. Expanding school choice opportunities, it is said, would allow all students — including disadvantaged ones and the ones attending low performing schools — to opt for higher quality schools, as the introduction of choice in education can foster efficiency, spur innovation and raise quality overall. However, evidence does not support these perceptions, as choice and associated market mechanisms can enhance segregation.» (p64)

Instead of increasing school choice, the OECD suggests that governments should invest more systematically in equity in education.

For many OECD countries that has meant a faster, smarter, and fairer way to achieve educational excellence.

The OECD suggests that school choice should be managed to balance parental choice while limiting its negative impact on equity.

Competition between schools delivers bad outcomes

In this subject Australia has not been a very good pupil in the class of OECD countries.

And we should know better.

Parental choice is an idea that became commonly known as a consequence of Milton Friedman’s economic theories in the 1950s. Friedman stated that parents must be given the freedom to choose their children’s education and encourage competition among schools to better serve families’ diverse needs.

Friedman’s school choice theory has been tested in large- and small-scale settings around the world since then.

School voucher systems in Chile and Sweden, charter schools in the US, and academies in England, are examples of mechanisms to advance parental choice and private schools.

Results over the past half a century have not been what Friedman expected.

In 2013 the Grattan Institute in Australia concluded:

«By increasing competition, government policies have increased the effectiveness of many sectors of the economy. But school education is not one of them.» (p35)

Instead of asking schools to race against one another for better outcomes, state and federal strategies should introduce incentives that would encourage collaboration between schools and guarantee that all schools have sufficient resources to cope with inequalities that children bring with them to school every day.

So what do I think of Australian schools?

Now, after almost a year here, friends overseas ask my opinion about Australian schools.

I tell them that based on what I have seen here, we have one of the best education systems anywhere. World class.

Then, I pause and say: But only for some children.

I believe I am right.

Some of the most interesting and innovative schools I have ever visited are right here, throughout this magnificent land.

Teachers and principals are advanced professionals akin to their peers in Finland, Singapore, or any other country.

But, as I have noticed, and what was well reported in recent ABC reportage, this world-class educational excellence is very unevenly distributed around this country and its communities.

Frankly speaking, «Rich school, poor school: Australia’s great education divide» is a depressing read.

Having world-class schools is not the same as having a high-performing school system.

David Gonski’s Review Panel in its 2011 report got it to the point:

«Funding for schooling must not be seen simply as a financial matter. Rather, it is about investing to strengthen and secure Australia’s future. Investment and high expectations must go hand in hand. Every school must be appropriately resourced to support every child and every teacher must expect the most from every child.»

In other words, we need to fix current inequalities in and out of schools before educational excellence can truly be achieved.

It is that simple. The evidence is clear and so should be the road ahead.

Source of the notice: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-14/australia-must-fix-school-inequity-for-top-education-system/11412438

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India orders schools to reopen, but Kashmiri parents keep kids at home: ‘Education is less important than our children’s lives’

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Asia/ India/ 20.08.2019/ Source: www.independent.co.uk.

Authorities criticised for move as situation remains volatile in disputed region

Parents across Kashmir kept their children at home, despite an order from Indian authorities for schools to reopen, fearing the youngsters could get caught in clashes between civilian protesters and armed personnel.

Authorities closed schools and colleges on 5 August after India revoked the special status of Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in entirety by both.

Kashmiris have criticised the authorities for reopening the schools when the situation remains volatile and clashes continue.

The ongoing internet and communications blockade also contributed to the fears of parents who had no means of contacting the school authorities.

“If normality has returned to that extent that schools can be reopened, then why don’t authorities lift the ban on phone connectivity and public movement?” said Showkat Nabi, whose son is in nursery at Tyndale Biscoe School, a Christian missionary institution in Srinagar.

“The kids are too young to understand what has happened… If we send them to schools, they will go – but we fear for their safety,” he continued.

At Burn Hall School, one of the oldest Christian missionary educational institutions in Srinagar, gates have been locked for the past two weeks.

The security personnel guarding the school told The Independent no student attended today’s classes and few teachers had turned up.

“Who would risk sending a 5-year-old kid to school in the present situation in Kashmir?” said the guard, who asked to be identified as Sagar.

Mohammad Younis Malik, director of school education in Kashmir, said 166 of Srinagar’s 196 primary schools were open, but admitted that 72 of them had “thin” attendance.

Tariq Aziz, whose son studies at a private school in Srinagar, argued that not sending children to school was a form of protest by the parents.

“I want my son to know that India is trying to grab our land. Our future is at risk in Kashmir now. I want to make him conscious that he has to fight for it in future,” Mr Aziz said.

“Education is less important than the lives and safety of our children. We have seen the closure of schools for months in the past and if it continues our teachers will volunteer to open community schools,” he said.

Government employees were also ordered to attend their offices today, but it is unclear how many exactly followed the order.

Sehrish Asghar, an official spokesperson of the government, described the numbers of those heading back to work as “encouraging”.

“It is difficult to reach the office amid strict restrictions on public movement, but we have to take a risk to save our jobs,” engineer Aftab Ahmad told The Independent.

Across Kashmir, most shops and businesses remained closed, and the streets remained largely deserted.

But in a several locations, small-scale protests were seen as people clashed with the heavy contingents of armed forces deployed across towns and villages of the disputed region

Deputy Inspector General VK Birdi, who briefed media about the situation in Kashmir, said there was no major law-and-order incident reported in the region.

“Some minor incidents of stone pelting were reported at some localities and were dealt with as per norm. The culprits were dispersed,” Mr Birdi said.

He said authorities are closely monitoring the situation, which is “slowly returning to normality”.

Source of the notice: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kashmir-schools-open-india-pakistan-crisis-a9070431.html

 

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170,536 hawkers, almajiri get free education in Oyo

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Africa/ Nigeria/ 20.08.2019/ Source: guardian.ng.

 

Oho State Government has expressed its readiness to deploy the World Bank-assisted Better Education Service Delivery (BESDA) takeoff grant in educating about 170, 536 out-of-school children in 23 councils of the state and ensure their retention in schools.

Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Nureni Adeniran, said this yesterday after a two-day interactive session in Ibadan on the implementation of the project.

Adeniran reiterated the state government’s resolve to rid the streets of all out-of-school children and put them in public schools, saying the programme would cater for even hawkers and the almajiri in the state.

Source of the notice: https://guardian.ng/news/nigeria/170536-hawkers-almajiri-get-free-education-in-oyo/

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Learning education from Japan

Naazir Mahmood

By: Naazir Mahmood.

One of the reasons for Japan’s rapid progress in the 20th century was its education system. Today we discuss some of the salient features of Japanese education and how it has facilitated the creation of one of the most civilized nations on the globe. Here being ‘civilized’ does not mean their achievements in science and technology alone, it also means a nation of people who are caring, considerate, honest, and responsible citizens. This can be seen while travelling across Japan, and even while walking on the streets in cities from Tokyo to Nagasaki.

On a recent visit to Japan, this writer availed himself of the opportunity to review the elementary and secondary education system in Japan and also visited a couple of universities. Ms Yumioka Haruna from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MECSST – normally written as MEXT) was kind enough to give a detailed briefing about the Japanese education system. With her impeccable English proficiency, she explained the intricacies of their system and the challenges they have faced and overcome. She started with the constitutional provisions for education in her country.

Article 26 of the Japanese constitution says, “All people shall have the right to receive an equal education corresponding to their ability, as provided by law. The people shall be obligated to have all boys and girls under their protection receive ordinary education as provided by law. Such compulsory education shall be free.” Before moving forward, I would like to make two comments here: first, please have a look at the name of the ministry once again. It is one ministry that takes care of culture, education, science, sports, and technology.

If you compare this with the countries in South Asia, most have separate ministries for all of the above. In Pakistan, even almost a decade after the 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed in 2010, we have overlapping ministries at the federal and provincial levels. In Japan, MEXT combines all related departments such as culture, education, and sports together; and also puts science and technology (S&T) under the same umbrella. If one of the purposes of education is to nurture citizens who are cultured and civilized, you cannot separate culture from education. Being cultured means being caring, considerate, honest, and responsible.

The second comment is regarding Article 26 of the Japanese constitution and its provisions. Its stress on ‘equal education’ deserves attention as in Japan the state provides almost equal opportunities to all its citizens. As opposed to South Asian countries where the states have miserably failed to offer ‘equal education’, Japan has been successful in doing so, mainly thanks to its appropriate allocations to education. If we look at the Basic Act of Education of Japan, its Article 5 reads:

“The objective of general education, given in the form of compulsory education, shall be to cultivate the foundation for an independent life within society while developing the abilities of each individual, and to foster the basic qualities necessary for those who form our state and society.”

Please note that there is no mention of any national, patriotic, or religious responsibilities; neither is there any rhetoric about defending or preserving any ‘Japanese culture’ or any ‘Buddhist or Shinto’ heritage. Yes, there is emphasis on cultivating “the foundation of an independent life” and “developing the abilities of each individual”. This is the spirit and the approach for an effective education system. If you compare this with our myriad education policies, we find them full of platitudes about our nationalistic and patriotic pride, and cultural heritage and religious identity, and Pakistani faith, unity, and discipline.

Now some more specifics. The costs of municipal elementary, junior, and high schools are borne by the government. The national government is merely responsible for establishing a framework and setting of national standards. It also secures funding sources for preparation of education conditions. That means the national government provides guidance, advice and assistance without interfering into the curriculum and syllabus matters, as long as certain national standards are followed. There are two tiers or boards of education (BoE): prefectural and municipal. Prefectural is like the provincial board that establishes and operates high schools and special-needs schools.

Prefectural BoEs also hire teachers and make payments to elementary and junior high school teachers’ salaries. Municipal BoEs get advice, assistance and guidance from prefectural BoEs, but they establish and operate their own municipal schools. Interestingly, BoEs are established in all prefectures and municipalities as administrative committees, but they are totally independent of the prefectural or municipal head of government. BoEs decide the basic policy and important matters regarding the administration of education. Each BoE has five members: one full-time superintendent with a three-year term; and four part-time lay members who can be reappointed after four years.

The relevant local assemblies approve the appointment of the head of prefectural or municipal BoE. The BoE ensures political neutrality – meaning the contents of education must be neutral, fair and free from personal value judgments. The BoE also ensures sustainability and stability of compulsory education throughout the learning period. That means absenteeism and dropouts are controlled and minimized. There is a strong provision for pre-primary education (PPE) which starts at the age of three and ends at the age of six when children start elementary schools. For PPE there are integrated centres for early childhood education and care (ECEC) established and run by the kindergarten department.

The elementary department establishes and runs elementary schools that provide primary education for six years till the age of 12. The last phase of compulsory education is managed by the lower secondary department which runs lower secondary schools offering three years of schooling till the age of 15. MEXT, which is a large ministry, has multiple departments for each level of education. Again, if you compare it with public education in South Asia, here perhaps the most neglected area is PPE or kindergartens. Lack of facilities and resources, and absence of committed and qualified ECEC professionals render early childhood education meaningless in countries such as Pakistan.

After the age of 15, Japanese boys and girls can do part-time courses, join upper secondary schools, or get into specialized training colleges to do upper secondary courses run by the upper secondary department. They may also get admitted to colleges of technology run by the higher education department. At age 18, when they complete 12 years of education, they may get into junior colleges or specialized training colleges where they can enroll into one-year or two-year courses. They have an exit option after every year and may also continue for four years doing multiple courses if they want.

This model is quite contrary to the HEC model in Pakistan which has enforced a four-year bachelor’s programme without introducing exit options after two years. The provincial HECs in Pakistan should introduce two-year associate degrees in all disciplines and in all degree colleges or universities so that students who face family problems or financial issues may exit after two years and join the workforce. Here we have a lot to learn from the Japanese model of higher education which offers six years of higher education till the age of 24 but also has multiple exit options on the way, without forcing students to quit midway without a degree or certificate.

But perhaps the best aspect of Japanese education system is its stress on the three components of education – intellectual, moral and physical. That’s how they take a holistic approach, and teachers in Japan are trained not only to teach but also to engage in extracurricular activities to develop competencies and provide guidance. Lastly, meal provision in schools makes a lot of difference, where children themselves serve food provided by the school and are encouraged to clean up after themselves.

Source of the article: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/514098-learning-education-from-japan

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Culture-based education — a path to healing for Native youth?

Katrina Boone

By: Katrina Boone.

Reframing learning objectives and outcomes in the geographical, historical and local context of indigenous groups

The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox.

On a sweltering summer day, students run back and forth on a grassy field. Frequently erupting in laughter, they playfully dodge one another.

On the ground, two balls about the size of tennis balls are connected by a leather strap, and the children race to lift the balls from the ground with long sticks.

These Native American children are learning to play double ball, a traditional indigenous game, or at least that seems to be the focus of their activity. But at the summer camp these students are attending, Native teachers and leaders are leveraging culture-based activities like double ball to engage students more deeply in exploring their Native identities and wellness goals.

The National Indian Education Association (a current client of Bellwether Education Partners) organized the Journey to Discovery and Wellness summer camp, which took place at Riverside Indian School in Oklahoma, to provide an opportunity for Native students to learn about physical, social and emotional wellness through the lens of cultural identity.

An abundance of research indicates that culture-based education, an approach at the heart of the camp, positively affects Native students’ college aspirations, sense of belonging in school and connection to community. Culture-based education not only has the potential to support students’ academic success, but also to foster the development of traits that transcend academic contexts, like resilience and confidence.

Despite this research, data suggest that some schools and districts are anything but interested in investing in the wellness or success of Native students. For example, a school district in Montana is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education for systematically discriminating against and mistreating Native students.

Native American parents at Havasupai Elementary School in Arizona are suing the federal government and the Bureau of Indian Education for failing to educate their children, practicing excessive exclusionary discipline, violently restraining students and denying the community’s federally protected right to participate in school decision-making.

In general, Native students in K-12 public schools in the United States experience higher-than-average rates of suspension, expulsion and school-related arrests.

Culture-based education provides a path to healing. While Native American cultural values and ways of knowing vary widely from tribe to tribe, there are shared values among indigenous groups, including a focus on community, a sense of relationality, a sense of responsibility to self and others, a rootedness in place and the responsible use of power.

Paying attention to these shared values, and building a curriculum around them, provides an opportunity to diverge from the deficits-based framework through which Native students are often viewed, and instead come to understand the assets and strengths that define many Native students’ cultures.

Culture-based education also creates space to reframe learning objectives and outcomes in the geographical, historical and local context of indigenous groups. Most importantly, it provides a path to Native cultural vitality and sustainability, a path that helps Native students understand their positioning between the cultural knowledge, language and beliefs of the past and the application of that culture today and in the future.

At the Journey to Discovery and Wellness Camp, a camp mentor described how playing double ball provided an opportunity for exercise, but also for cooperation and teamwork, as well as considering what it means to be Native:

The students are wanting to play. As Native people, we were always like that. Like, playing double ball — that’s a traditional game. We were all outside learning to play it, and running and exercising and having fun and building a team. [The game] fuses all of these things together. And that’s revitalizing, to get to think about who you are.

An educational approach rooted in indigenous thought and philosophy doesn’t have to work in contrast to the educational values of the dominant culture that generally drive education in public schools. As indigenous author and educator Marie Battiste explains, “Indigenous knowledge fills the ethical and knowledge gaps” in mainstream education.

In this way, culture-based education provides a path to healing and responsible citizenship for all of us. It helps students become aware of and comfortable with other belief and value systems. It furthers the goals of democracy and leads students of all ethnicities and races to think more deeply about their own cultural identities while also broadening their understanding of the experiences and perspectives of others.

Finally, the fruits of culture-based education can help us understand this country’s moral debts and how to pay them. Native Americans have for too long lived in a country controlled by men who, for nearly 300 years, have consistently “elevated armed robbery to a governing principle.” Through forced removal, boarding schools and relocation, our government stole and erased Native Americans’ languages and cultural knowledge. An investment in recovering, restoring and revitalizing lost and stolen indigenous cultural knowledge could guide us in understanding this country’s bloody history and place us on a path toward reconciliation and equity.

Our country has a long history of racial oppression, and education has too often been a weapon against the oppressed. But culture-based education can be a tool of equity and liberation. Wound tightly within the coils of a culture-based education’s framework is an emancipatory potential, one that can provide space and structure for all students to learn about themselves and the culture and history that comprise their inheritance.

Source of the article: https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-culture-based-education-a-path-to-healing-for-native-youth/

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Learning for empathy: A world effort to build peace through education

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Asia/ Japan/ 19.08.2019/ Source: www.japantimes.co.jp.

In a classroom on a recent Saturday, junior high school students were gathered in small groups discussing death, specifically whether they would consent for their organs to be harvested after they passed away. “I am willing to donate my organs because at that time I will no longer care what happens to my body,” one student told the class. “I will be glad if my body can be useful to others in need after my death.” Many students shared similar viewpoints.

The topic came up during moral education classes in mid-July during an open day at Funabashi Kibou Junior High School in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, where parents had been invited to observe special classes addressing life values. Moral education classes are not meant to judge if students’ opinions are right or wrong, or instruct them how they should think. Instead, the classes aim to encourage reflection and listening to others’ viewpoints to promote critical thinking and empathy — the ability to understand other people’s feelings and the basis for living together in peace.

“To survive in the world peacefully, we must show empathy to others. We must understand feelings of others,” said Mamtaz Jahan, an assistant English teacher from Tejgaon Government Girls High School in Dhaka, who observed the classes with a group of teachers, school leaders and officials from Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan. After the session, parents were also invited to speak with teachers about morals and ethics in daily life and how to address these topics with children.

The visit was part of the UNESCO project “Learning for Empathy: A teacher exchange and support programme,” sponsored by the Japanese government. The project targets teachers as key influencers in social transformation linked to the sustainable development goals, particularly SDG4.7 highlighting the appreciation of cultural diversity and promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence.

Teachers can have a direct impact on strengthening students’ resilience to discriminatory and violent narratives as well as model values of respect and trust. In many countries, school leaders and teachers share similar concerns and challenges in terms of the quality and relevance of learning in the 21st century, when societies are rapidly changing in terms of technology, human relationships and how we relate with the natural environment.

The empathy project offers education professionals from different countries opportunities to learn from each other, find inspiration and generate changes in mind-set. The group visited schools and community learning centers in Tokyo to learn what Japan does to make learning meaningful, motivating and empowering, and exchange ideas with Japanese teachers and students.

“We come here from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia to learn about how the education system is running in Japan,” Jahan said, adding that she wanted to know how Japan had incorporated SDGs in education, particularly SDG4.7 promoting a holistic view of learning based on the three pillars of cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioral dimensions.

The global indicator established for Target 4.7 measures the extent to which Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) are mainstreamed in national education policies, curricula, teacher education and student assessments. Japan has long-standing experiences in inclusive quality education with many schools, including those visited, promoting topics such as sustainable development and peace.

Omori Dairoku Junior High School in Ota Ward is one of the most active UNESCO Associated Schools in Japan, actively promoting ESD through a whole school approach. School teachers collaborated to develop the SDGs Calendar as part of the school curriculum, integrating learning of and for SDGs in all teaching subjects throughout the school year. For example, ninth grade social studies focused in April on protecting democracy (SDG17: Partnership for the Goals) and in May on protecting human rights (SDG17 and SDG10: Reduced Inequalities).

“Learning for empathy is a universal value, but nowadays I think we have to think more about how to integrate it into the field of education, not only in the school, but also at home and in the community,” said Gilang Asri Devianty, a teacher from State Junior High School 2 in Cileunyi, West Java.

Education, including learning for empathy, involves three levels of learners, teachers and the broader education community, which also covers parents and community members.

For example, in addition to the usual parent-teacher association, Hasune Daini Elementary School in Itabashi Ward runs learning-support sessions led by volunteers in the community, many of whom are parents, helping students who cannot keep up with classes.

“We cannot live by our own. We are social beings, so we have to work with the others. To do so, we have to know and understand the others so we can coordinate, cooperate and collaborate,” Gilang said. “I think the very basic thing as a teacher, when we try to educate the students to have empathy toward each other, is to teach them how to accept differences, meaning not judging.”

The world is experiencing a rise of intolerance and conflict despite growing interconnectedness and interdependency among people and nations. Education can help to prepare learners to be active and responsible contributors to sustainable development and world peace. In the Asia-Pacific, an immensely culturally and linguistically diverse region, this is a particularly vital role.

Part of that mission is deconstructing prejudices about “others,” help to instill healthy self-esteem, and raise awareness about basic human rights and values. Education has a role to play in creating a strong sense of belongingness for people who feel excluded or marginalized as well as give them opportunities to develop skills for non-violent expression, communication and action through collaboration.

“I think one of the immediate problems is clashes of identities,” said Muhammad Israr Madani, an Islamic scholar and madrassa teacher at the International Research Council for Religious Affairs in Pakistan. “There are a lot of conflicts between different identities based on their ethnicity, religion, sectarian[ism] and language. Sometimes, identity crisis can create extremism.”

During the visit, participants also went to Mita High School in Minato Ward, to talk with about 30 students who are members of the school’s UNESCO Committee. Each country and the UNESCO Committee made presentations and discussed how empathy was taught in their countries, including challenges and what young people are most passionate about.

Madani said he believed that Pakistan needed to participate in such exchange programs, which would help people with different identities understand each other better. “We need to promote empathy through teacher training,” he said, emphasizing the need for proper teacher training on peace-building and conflict-resolution skills.

The visit ended with participants presenting plans that they would implement respectively in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, taking into account challenges identified in their local contexts. Despite the differences in language, ethnicity and other factors, empathy — a key to learn to live together — is a thread that unites us all together.

Source of the notice: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2019/08/19/commentary/japan-commentary/learning-empathy-world-effort-build-peace-education/#.XVqVjugzbIV

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