Friday, August 31, 2007 GOs, NGOs talk peace education By Grace L. Plata
THE Mindanao Peace Education Forum (MinPEF), a consortium of government agencies and civil society organizations, is set to hold a conference to discuss mainstreaming peace education in Mindanao schools.
Dubbed as "Mindanao Peace Education Stakeholders' Conference", the meeting is aimed at clarifying frameworks on peace education used by various peace education actors. It will also serve to generate Mindanao inputs for the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of EO 570 or the "Institutionalization of Peace Education in Basic Education and Teacher Education" and to establish mechanisms for coordination among peace education actors in Mindanao.
The conference is also expected to strengthen working relationships among civil society organizations and government agencies in promoting peace education in Mindanao schools.
MinPEF convenors are the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Voluntary Services Overseas-Peace Enabling Actions for Community Empowerment in North Western Mindanao (VSO P.E.A.C.E Mindanao) Programme, Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao (AFRIM), Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM), Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCO), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) ACT for Peace Programme, and the Ateneo de Zamboanga Peace Institute.
For the convenors, schools are powerful platforms in nurturing and creating a culture of peace especially among children and youth.
"Through the years, various efforts on peace education in Mindanao have helped address the culture of violence through the building of the culture of peace and fostering intercultural understanding and appreciation both in schools and in communities," Venus Betita of AFRIM said.
The Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, government agencies tasked to implement the EO, along with various schools, colleges and universities, and civil society organizations in Mindanao will attend the conference which will be held on September 6-7, 2007 at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao.
