All education programmes attempt at developing children through the provision and facilitation of certain learning experiences. The plan of the programmes is what you call the curriculum. Tanner and Tanner (1975) define curriculum as the planned and guided learning experiences and intended learning outcomes, formulated through the systematic reconstruction of knowledge and experience under the auspices of the schools for the learner's continuous and wilful growth in personal and social competence. A programme begins by identification of goals. Then learning experiences have to be selected which enable children to develop to the intended outcome. In a peace education programme your primary objective is to help the child grow into a peaceful person. You have to identify the basic characteristics you expect out of the person. Then select learning experiences, which will develop the child towards that expected level.

In this manner you have to develop a clear vision and model for an effective programme. This Guide proposes the following model for peace education curriculum.

The model consists of ten basic themes, which can accommodate many peace values and concepts most meaningful in the present global context. It gives the basic characteristics of a peaceful person that we wish to see developing in children. This handbook is based on the thematic model. Each theme will be discussed separately. But let's have a quick run.

To begin with Think Positive, the theme aims at developing a positive mindset in children. Positive thinking is the first characteristic of a peaceful person. It involves building a positive self-concept in oneself. Having a positive outlook helps the child to not only value himself but also to value life in all forms. It also builds attitudes towards accepting others with respect, and appreciating them honestly. This is a self-empowering concept that helps children to develop positive attitudes towards themselves as individuals and their country and humanity.

The second theme Be Compassionate and Do No Harm tries to inculcate empathetic qualities such as love, kindness, friendliness and so on. These qualities are primarily important to respond to the violence in society.

Discover Inner Peace as a theme is concerned with resolution of one's own psychological conflicts and problems and discovering the peace of mind. Under this theme ways of understanding self and the process of thought, controlling emotions such as anger, art of soothing the mind could be discussed. It also addresses children's spiritual needs and provides experiences of inner peace. Learning to Live Together is so important today in a world where there is so much polarization of human beings on the increase. Children need to learn to work harmoniously in groups with others. The theme can accommodate such subtopics as sharing, mutual help, trust building, taking group responsibility, leading and following. Learning co-operation reduces egoistic competitive tendencies in children.

The next theme Respect Human Dignity is based on the concepts of Human Rights, Duties and Justice. It attempts to develop a consciousness that recognizes, respects one's own and others' rights.

The concept in the theme Be Your True Self, means the strength of the character to be honest and direct in expressing one's needs, feelings and thoughts without letting others down. The skills in such behaviour are necessary for resolving conflicts and effective social interaction.

Developing Critical Thinking is an essential intellectual skill helpful to problem- solving. It also includes decision-making skills. Critical thinking on the part of the citizens is a necessary feature of a democratic society. It involves analysis, syntheses, looking at the other sides of an issue, searching for alternatives and logical thinking. Resolve Conflict Non-Violently encompasses such skills necessary for conflict resolution as conflict analyses, negotiation, active listening, mediation, creative problem-solving and alternative solution seeking. It is a basic component of peace education.

Build Peace in Community as a theme provides an opportunity for children to be exposed to social realities and understand people's problems and work with them. School can organize various peace-building projects in the community. Attitudes towards the Cwingfor the Plunet is a global educational need not only for children but for the masses as well. The health of the planet has direct and immediate influence on the destiny of mankind. Under this theme several interesting activities, projects and assignments could be organized in school. The above thematic framework provides a comprehensive content area for peace education. The themes could be developed from grade to grade in-depth and width spirally. For instance, the first theme, i.e. positive thinking could be developed in the following manner.

The above model is simple and easy for curriculum developers to use as a guide to select peace concepts. Having such a model helps teachers to identify peace concepts in the curriculum. Through inservice training teachers can be equipped with the necessary knowledge, methods of teaching to diversify the curriculum effectively in the above areas. A large number of interesting and game like learning activities are available for this purpose.

However, some curriculum developers can argue that their curricula have these concepts already and why they should ever bother about peace education as such. Of course many curricula deal with the above concepts. Here it is very important to bear in mind that peace education is not another subject. It performs two important functions in a curriculum. Firstly, it unities all the other subjects under the holistic vision of peace. In the absence of such a holistic view the learning done in subject compartments tends to be fragmentary and remains superficial. Secondly, peace education humanizes education. As said before it is a humanistic approach to education rather than a subject. Any lesson, in any subject could be presented through the peace approach with full justice to the subject contents and the objectives It is also interesting to see that good teachers even without any formal knowledge, use the peace education approach in their lessons and classroom management. This shows the fact that such an approach is integral in good education. However, theoretical and practical knowledge can improve their present classroom practices.

The proceeding chapters develop further the core concepts given above with suitable classroom practices, hints for peace culture-building and learning activities.

Concluding Thoughts

In designing a peace programme, a school or an education system needs a clear vision and a model to ensure the integrity and the consistency of the effort. A model is how you organize your thinking and effort to achieve a goal. The concept of peace being so wide the absence of a model leads to piecemeal work, sometimes resulting in contradiction. In such conditions as having too many unrelated views, values, and concepts distorts the essential message. Once a model is developed, especially in the curriculum it can be developed spirally in depth and width from grade to grade

Things To Do

1. Identify a set of core values that are mostly relevant to your country and develop a meaningful model of peace education for your school.

2. What are the features a good value education model should have? Analyse the above given model in the light of the features identified.

3. What do you mean by a core peace value? Give examples.