Student A is the son of a Maoist rebel who was killed by security personnel ten years ago. Orphaned and helpless, he imagines how wonderful life would be if his father were alive. Men in police and army uniforms scare him; he thinks they could be his father’s murderers. When someone asks him about his father, he breaks down.
Student B is the daughter of a Nepal Army soldier who was killed by the rebels. She does not know who killed her father, but she understands the murderer could be someone like Student A’s father, a former rebel. Even the mention of Maoists revolts her. At school, Student A is her bête noire. She thinks if her father were alive today, she would have had a brighter future.[break]
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Student C’s maternal uncle was killed in crossfire between Maoist rebels and state forces. Student D’s parents were displaced during the war. They have been living in a town with great hardship, even while they have plenty of land and property back in their village.
Although this is an imaginary scenario, it could actually be playing out in many places across the country. In some schools in some places of the country there could be thousands of such young victims living with bitterness and resentment. They still struggle to come to terms with their traumatic past. This dark side of the insurgency has not come to attention because politics has spared us no time to think about and debate this extremely sensitive and important issue with direct bearings on psychological growth of thousands of children.
Seven years have passed since Maoist insurgency came to an end. Many children who had to bear the brunt of the conflict must have come of age now and be gainfully employed. But there could still be thousands forced to live with painful memories. There is no official data on such children, but a rough calculation can be made. According to government statistics, 17,828 were killed during the war, 1,452 disappeared, 5,912 rendered disabled, while 14,438 lost their properties. Supposing that each war victim family had two children, the number of conflict affected children comes to around 80,000 who have to live with violent memories, bitterness and an abiding sense of resentment.
Besides, hundreds of others who were not directly affected by the conflict but were witness to deaths and displacement of the time are carrying the unpleasant memories of the past. How they will utilize these traumatic memories will determine their role in nation building.
Much has been written about how to address conflict-era cases. While some are pushing for prosecution of perpetrators of conflict-era crimes through legal channels, others have called for immediate formation of Truth and Reconciliation and Disappearance Commissions.
But what about the children who came of age during the conflict? It would be ideal for the state to identify children who are conflict victims and provide them special education. But no initiative was taken for this. Yet, there is still a chance to help the nation cope with the mental wounds inflicted by the war by introducing peace education in national education framework.
The subject might sound new to us, but it has been integrated in school curricula in conflict-ridden countries like South Africa, the Philippines and Armenia. Not that such education is valuable only for conflict-hit countries. It can be incorporated by all the nations, given its manifold advantages. Its goal is to inculcate students with values of peace, harmony, brotherhood, trust, non-violence and mutual cooperation. It makes learners aware of the dangers of conflict and instructs them on conflict avoidance, besides helping students develop skills to resolve conflicts through nonviolent and creative means. In the short term, it seeks to establish peace and stability. In the long run, it can work as a tool to establish social justice, cooperation and mutual respect, which in turn will help lay a solid foundation for development. It can be an effective means to restore lasting peace. Sadly, Nepal lags far behind in adopting this component in its school curriculum.
Efforts should have been made to integrate it into the curriculum right after the country embarked on the peace process. The state should have educated the youth about all the ramifications of violence at the social and national levels. But so far, there has been zero progress towards this goal. Our social studies curriculum informs students about the ten-year-long war, but none of social studies textbooks from grade one through ten includes peace education. The only exception is the revised edition of grade six social studies book, which contains two lessons on conflict management and sustainable peace. It was while working for the revised edition with a private book publisher that this scribe felt the need for peace education. Given the sorry state of public education in the country, there is room to doubt the effectiveness of peace education. Nepal’s education system has other serious problems to solve. Nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that the things learned during formative years shape a person’s perspectives on the country, history and nationalism for the rest of their life. Peace education will prepare young people to cope with the nation’s violent past and contribute to lasting peace in the future.
All is not lost. Some efforts in this direction are being made. UN recognizes peace education as a fundamental right. UN agencies like United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament (UNRCPD) in Nepal are reportedly collaborating with the Curriculum Development Center to devise a peace education syllabus to be integrated in lower secondary school curriculum. But this won’t be enough. The Ministry of Education needs to incorporate peace education in the national education policy, and implement the revised curriculum right across the country.
Of course the country has more pressing issues at hand. We need to hold polls for new CA to break the political logjam and guide the country towards lasting stability. We need to lay a foundation for equitable and inclusive society. But peace education can be implemented even amid this volatile time. It will help us achieve these goals in one way or the other.
mbpoudyal@yahoo.com
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