Peace Education in Schools as a Strategy of Preventing Prevalence of Organized Mass Violence: The Case of Zimbabwe

Abstract

Despite interventions taken to eradicate violence in most communities in the Global South, a culture of violence remains prevalent. The levels of violence range from personal and interpersonal to organized violence such as genocides and wars. A culture of violence is widespread, as citizens replicate memories of past incidents of violence. The nation of Zimbabwe achieved its independence through an armed struggle. A pattern of organised violence has been experienced by different communities since independence. This violence has been used to resolve social, economic and political conflicts. All these incidents of violence leave citizens with live memories of conflict and a longing for revenge. Teachers, by the nature of their work of transferring knowledge, have a capacity to contribute to developing and delivering a curriculum that can promote a culture of peace in schools. This chapter proposes the implementation of peace education, peaceful practices and memorization within the entire schooling curriculum with the hope that when children learn nonviolent ways of resolving conflicts, the skills will be adopted and used even as children grow up to make influential decisions in preventing mass violence in societies. As was the case in Cambodia and the Philippines, painful historical memories were clarified during peace education. Peace education became a form of memorization where students connected with previous hurtful incidents, making them yearn for a different future. The study proposes the need for empowering both educators and learners with peacebuilding skills which will deconstruct negative memories of violence and reconstruct perceptions of valuing human dignity embedded in each and every individual. The assurance towards the attainment of this vision is based on the UN Seville statement (UNESCO, 1986), which upholds that violent is a learnt behaviour, which can be unlearnt.