Education for Peace: Transforming the Culture of Violence

The paper narrates the conceptual framework of ‘Education for Peace’ and its need especially in regions, which have seen ethnic conflicts. In Education for Peace, the educator and the educand are seen as transformative agents and not mere passive recipients. Their role is not restricted to the close precincts of the classroom and the ‘schooled’ world but to the larger community and the lived experiences of the educand and the educator. Its importance in the curriculum of school education is widely felt as well. In conflict prone or post conflict regions where collective memories of the past conflict and collective hopes of the future are contested, understanding the views and collective hopes of the ‘other’ becomes imperative. In this context, I would like to explain the concept of ‘Education for Peace’, its approaches and prerequisites and locate the contesting spaces, structure, content, images, processes in school education by reviewing empirical and theoretical studies on ‘Education for Peace’. It further delves into ethnicity and ethnic conflicts and probes how it makes different meaning in different contexts. The paper leaves scope for exploring educator-educand relationship, identity construction rather reinforcement though school education for transforming violence of culture in regions which is facing identity crisis and conflict.