**6. Education as a humanitarian response**

Globally, experiences indicate that education systems face various exceptional challenges before, during and after times of violent conflict. While during conflict international humanitarian laws have particular importance, there are no laws to guide education systems before and during violent conflicts. However, the Geneva Conventions make specific references to protections related to education at times of war or violent conflicts. These include that:


A noticeable limitation of the above provisions which has received some critiques from both academia and practitioners, is that the Geneva Conventions were developed and adjusted after the Second World War when state and ultimatums of wars had been declared among nations and alliances. It was recently that UN declarations, resolutions and protocols have tried to update and accept rules of engagements during conflicts and wars to accommodate the increasingly more complex nature of modern conflicts. Close observations of this matter seem to suggest that it is challenging to implement the Geneva Convention resolutions in the current situation in which armed-conflicts are often waged by groups within countries. In most cases these within countries armed groups have no sense of accountability to international authority. This results into more complex problem of disregarding the values and norms represented by the Geneva Conventions [27].

### **7. Impacts of conflicts and wars on education**

Scholars began to pay serious attention on the impact of violent conflicts and wars on children during the 1990s. It was first comprehensively documented in a study commissioned by the UN Secretary-General [28]. The report identified a number of important implications for the education sector, including arrangements for the education of refugees and displaced persons [29], strategies to prevent the

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tion in emergencies' [31].

collaboration [33].

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(1948) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1981).

use of child soldiers, protection for girls against sex crimes, landmine education and trauma counseling. This report provided the basis for a number of initiatives and interventions which shaped later aid policies and practices. Most of the issues identified by the report have become specialized areas of international development. It was from this report that arguments had been developed and made that education should be an integral part of humanitarian responses to any calamity including wars and violent conflicts [29, 30]. This argument is rooted on the fact that education is a fundamental right as articulated in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights

A well-established fact is that children should not lose this fundamental right to education simply because they are caught in the midst of a conflict or war-torn areas. Further, during violent conflict or after the war, education is regarded as an integral part in the physical, psychosocial and cognitive protection of children. Some of the benefits of education include provision of a sense of normalcy and stability, lessening the psycho-social impact of violent conflict or traumatic experiences of war. Experiences has consistently shown that a safe learning environment may shield children from the everyday physical violence of a conflict, protect them from being recruited as child-soldiers. Further, education is an important channel in conveying life-saving information on how to protect oneself from danger. In the GLR, these dangers include sexual attack, child recruitment as combatants, and child-labor in landmines. It further provides cognitive protection by supporting intellectual development through the teaching of literacy and numeracy and, in some cases, conflict resolution and peace-building skills. However, given the severity and notoriety of the warring factions in the GLR, there remains considerable and of course very fierce debate among educational stakeholders about the necessity to include education in frontline humanitarian aid responses in war-torn areas. A significant and notable danger is related to a fragmented and highly uncoordinated immediate responses and efforts from longer-term development plans for the education sector in the GLR. In most cases, the international agencies involved in immediate responses are different from those involved in longer-term planning of the development aid for education. Further, the disturbing fact is that sometimes education sector personnel and experts with experiences and understanding of the local education setting and authorities are not involved in the early stages. However, it is worth noting the a significant developments made since the World Education Forum in 2000 and its resulting Dakar Framework for Action which focuses on including an explicit call for donor support to the field, commonly known as 'educa-

While this field is not defined exclusively in terms of conflict, the disruption of education due to conflict is certainly one set of circumstances that come within the definition of an emergency [32]. The most important initiative so far which has been made is the formation of the Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE). The network includes Norwegian Refugee Council, CARE International, Save the Children Alliance, UNESCO, UNHCR and UNICEF. The primary role and responsibility of the INEE is to define minimum standards for education in emergencies which until recently is being used in all GLR countries. While in the GLR the INEE does not implement nor coordinate responses during crises, it is known to have enabled members to share information and encourage

Despite these achievements, available evidence suggests that those working within other sector still need to be convinced about the inclusion of education in frontline humanitarian responses. This is indicated by the fact that despite a decade of advocacy, education still receives only 2% of humanitarian aid. Further, compared with food, health, shelter, water and sanitation, it receives the lowest

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

#### *Towards Global Peace and Sustainability: Role of Education in Peace-Building in the Great… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

use of child soldiers, protection for girls against sex crimes, landmine education and trauma counseling. This report provided the basis for a number of initiatives and interventions which shaped later aid policies and practices. Most of the issues identified by the report have become specialized areas of international development. It was from this report that arguments had been developed and made that education should be an integral part of humanitarian responses to any calamity including wars and violent conflicts [29, 30]. This argument is rooted on the fact that education is a fundamental right as articulated in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1981).

A well-established fact is that children should not lose this fundamental right to education simply because they are caught in the midst of a conflict or war-torn areas. Further, during violent conflict or after the war, education is regarded as an integral part in the physical, psychosocial and cognitive protection of children. Some of the benefits of education include provision of a sense of normalcy and stability, lessening the psycho-social impact of violent conflict or traumatic experiences of war. Experiences has consistently shown that a safe learning environment may shield children from the everyday physical violence of a conflict, protect them from being recruited as child-soldiers. Further, education is an important channel in conveying life-saving information on how to protect oneself from danger. In the GLR, these dangers include sexual attack, child recruitment as combatants, and child-labor in landmines. It further provides cognitive protection by supporting intellectual development through the teaching of literacy and numeracy and, in some cases, conflict resolution and peace-building skills. However, given the severity and notoriety of the warring factions in the GLR, there remains considerable and of course very fierce debate among educational stakeholders about the necessity to include education in frontline humanitarian aid responses in war-torn areas.

A significant and notable danger is related to a fragmented and highly uncoordinated immediate responses and efforts from longer-term development plans for the education sector in the GLR. In most cases, the international agencies involved in immediate responses are different from those involved in longer-term planning of the development aid for education. Further, the disturbing fact is that sometimes education sector personnel and experts with experiences and understanding of the local education setting and authorities are not involved in the early stages. However, it is worth noting the a significant developments made since the World Education Forum in 2000 and its resulting Dakar Framework for Action which focuses on including an explicit call for donor support to the field, commonly known as 'education in emergencies' [31].

While this field is not defined exclusively in terms of conflict, the disruption of education due to conflict is certainly one set of circumstances that come within the definition of an emergency [32]. The most important initiative so far which has been made is the formation of the Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE). The network includes Norwegian Refugee Council, CARE International, Save the Children Alliance, UNESCO, UNHCR and UNICEF. The primary role and responsibility of the INEE is to define minimum standards for education in emergencies which until recently is being used in all GLR countries. While in the GLR the INEE does not implement nor coordinate responses during crises, it is known to have enabled members to share information and encourage collaboration [33].

Despite these achievements, available evidence suggests that those working within other sector still need to be convinced about the inclusion of education in frontline humanitarian responses. This is indicated by the fact that despite a decade of advocacy, education still receives only 2% of humanitarian aid. Further, compared with food, health, shelter, water and sanitation, it receives the lowest

response to funds requested [3]. This is perhaps because education is still perceived as part of longer-term development, rather than as an immediate humanitarian response. Part of the problem may be based on the fact most of the field workers use to justify more funding for education during the humanitarian phase are more about the need for earlier engagement instead of longer-term issues. These issues may include collection of accurate data, assessing whether and how to reform education, and developing better capacity. In most cases, concerns of the funders are that rebuilding the education system during the emergency response period may reproduce old problems. And the most cited problems include unequal access that may leave legacies that are more difficult to redress in later development phases.

It is important to note that the inclusion of conflict-affected contexts within the broader concept of 'education and emergencies' has not been helpful from a peace-building perspective in the GLR. This is because while it's understandable that conflicts undoubtedly create crises and situations similar to other emergencies, it is conceptually confusing to suggest that understanding the role of an education system during or after conflict is the same as responding to humanitarian or natural disasters. This necessitates and suggests that any analysis needs to be context-and conflict-specific.

### **8. Conflict-sensitive education in the GLR**

For several past decades, various studies have increasingly highlighted aspects of education that have implications for violent conflict and peace-building [34–36]. These studies suggest a number of reasons why we should be cautious about how education is provided [35]. Firstly, education may be perceived politically as a powerful tool for ideological development as it has been in some countries which have experienced coup de tat and genocides [36]. This can take many forms, ranging from the use of education in the development of liberal ideas, to nation building and, in extreme cases, political indoctrination as it was witnessed before and during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Secondly, education may be perceived as an instrument for providing the knowledge and skills necessary for economic development and societal mobility [37]. However, this may or may not be include equity concerns, thus further excluding certain groups from economic and social benefits that education can provide. The exclusion of some groups in accessing quality education may further divide the society and bring it closer to escalation of violent conflicts as it has been the case in post-independence Burundi. Thirdly, education can be used as a means by which social and cultural values are transmitted from generation to generation. This may depend on the values concerned for it may convey negative stereotypes or encourage attitudes that explicitly or implicitly condone violence or generate conflict as it is the case in South Sudan [38, 39].

This necessitates the need to thorough analyses of education systems from a conflict perspective for it is one of the underdeveloped areas in education research. This is extremely relevant to educational practitioners such as policymakers, education administrators, teachers, parents, and other development workers. There are many entry points to the various levels of an education system in developing conflict-sensitive education systems. It may include critical analyses of the political ideology driving a system, and sometimes it may require legislative, structural and administrative features. The efforts may have significant implications for the development of non-discrimination and equal access to education policies and practices. However, the most contentious challenge for the international development agencies is to find a way of raising critical questions about the form and content of education and its implications for relations between peoples, groups and

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nations. The difficulty will be in finding ways for this to be accepted internationally as a legitimate concern and as part of improving the quality of education in

In the GLR, the extent to which education can be regarded and used as a tool for political and/or ideological tool can be evidenced by political and ideological involvements in daily operational issues, such as appointments of educational officers, deployment and allocation of teachers and the determination of the content of the curriculum. In many circumstances, political and social elites have consistently indicated their desire to see and use education for their own ends and purposes. Although evidences and experiences had shown that decentralization of education systems carry the potential to increase participation and ownership, however, it may also leave education open to manipulation as part of local politics. This has been observed in Kenya after the 2007 violence and the 2010 constitution. This highlights the need for critical and broad analyses that identifies the political and economic influences operating on and within the education system in post-conflict environments. The starting point could be the capacity building and training for those in public service. This may therefore be a necessary prerequisite for the success of the overall education sector plan which targets to take into account the concept of conflict and peace-building education. At all levels of the education system, governance is a crucial issue [40]. The arrangements that are in place for representation and participation in consultation [34, 41], decision-making and governance may be potential sources of conflict, or they may be opportunities for inclusion and the resolution of grievances [42]. This necessitates the arrangements for accountability and transparency to be reflected in an education system's capacity to accept and address inequalities that might otherwise become sources of future

Broadly, the way in which education provision is implemented may compound inequalities and erode confidence in government's capacity to provide basic services [43]. In such a situation, grievances are likely to become increasingly politicized, making it easier to mobilize support for violent conflict [44]. For example, education may become a source of conflict depending on whether it promotes conformity to a single set of dominant values (assimilation) [22], permits the development of identity-based institutions (separate development) or encourages shared institutions (integration) [45]. The extent to which any of these approaches make conflict more or less likely will be highly context-dependent. This is what happened in the pre-genocide Rwanda whereby the Hutu ruling elites and their government side-

At the practical level, there are many aspects of curriculum that have a bearing on conflict or can be used to promote future escalation of conflict [46]. When a narrow view of curriculum aims as the transmission of knowledge, attitudes and skills from one generation to the next, it may be used as an extremely powerful tool to promote particular political, cultural ideologies or religious practices as it happened in Tanzania where the quota system in accessing secondary education was used to promote and forge a sense of national-hood. The contemporary trend in many countries in the GLR is to 'modernize' the curriculum so that it is defined in terms of 'learning outcomes'. In their contexts, learning outcomes refer to skills, attitudes and values as well as factual knowledge. This may include the development of 'generic skills' such as communication skills, the ability to crosscheck facts from multiple sources of information, evaluate conflicting evidence, the development of media literacy, critical thinking and moral development [25]. In the GLR settings, there is a particular emphasis on 'life skills' as a means of providing child protections, social and health education (id21, 2004). The rationale for this argument is that, these are the type of skills that are essential in peace-building efforts [47].

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

emergencies.

conflict.

lined the Tutsi minorities.

*Towards Global Peace and Sustainability: Role of Education in Peace-Building in the Great… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

nations. The difficulty will be in finding ways for this to be accepted internationally as a legitimate concern and as part of improving the quality of education in emergencies.

In the GLR, the extent to which education can be regarded and used as a tool for political and/or ideological tool can be evidenced by political and ideological involvements in daily operational issues, such as appointments of educational officers, deployment and allocation of teachers and the determination of the content of the curriculum. In many circumstances, political and social elites have consistently indicated their desire to see and use education for their own ends and purposes. Although evidences and experiences had shown that decentralization of education systems carry the potential to increase participation and ownership, however, it may also leave education open to manipulation as part of local politics. This has been observed in Kenya after the 2007 violence and the 2010 constitution. This highlights the need for critical and broad analyses that identifies the political and economic influences operating on and within the education system in post-conflict environments. The starting point could be the capacity building and training for those in public service. This may therefore be a necessary prerequisite for the success of the overall education sector plan which targets to take into account the concept of conflict and peace-building education. At all levels of the education system, governance is a crucial issue [40]. The arrangements that are in place for representation and participation in consultation [34, 41], decision-making and governance may be potential sources of conflict, or they may be opportunities for inclusion and the resolution of grievances [42]. This necessitates the arrangements for accountability and transparency to be reflected in an education system's capacity to accept and address inequalities that might otherwise become sources of future conflict.

Broadly, the way in which education provision is implemented may compound inequalities and erode confidence in government's capacity to provide basic services [43]. In such a situation, grievances are likely to become increasingly politicized, making it easier to mobilize support for violent conflict [44]. For example, education may become a source of conflict depending on whether it promotes conformity to a single set of dominant values (assimilation) [22], permits the development of identity-based institutions (separate development) or encourages shared institutions (integration) [45]. The extent to which any of these approaches make conflict more or less likely will be highly context-dependent. This is what happened in the pre-genocide Rwanda whereby the Hutu ruling elites and their government sidelined the Tutsi minorities.

At the practical level, there are many aspects of curriculum that have a bearing on conflict or can be used to promote future escalation of conflict [46]. When a narrow view of curriculum aims as the transmission of knowledge, attitudes and skills from one generation to the next, it may be used as an extremely powerful tool to promote particular political, cultural ideologies or religious practices as it happened in Tanzania where the quota system in accessing secondary education was used to promote and forge a sense of national-hood. The contemporary trend in many countries in the GLR is to 'modernize' the curriculum so that it is defined in terms of 'learning outcomes'. In their contexts, learning outcomes refer to skills, attitudes and values as well as factual knowledge. This may include the development of 'generic skills' such as communication skills, the ability to crosscheck facts from multiple sources of information, evaluate conflicting evidence, the development of media literacy, critical thinking and moral development [25]. In the GLR settings, there is a particular emphasis on 'life skills' as a means of providing child protections, social and health education (id21, 2004). The rationale for this argument is that, these are the type of skills that are essential in peace-building efforts [47].

Additionally, in terms of 'content', every area of the curriculum carries values with the potential to communicate implicit and explicit political messages. However, close observations of curriculums in the GLR will show that many of these involve specialized areas of study in a form of subject contents. For example, the UNESCO position paper on language of instruction highlights the importance of sensitivity to majority and minority languages. It further distinguishes between 'national' and 'official' languages by saying that:

*The choice of language in the educational system confers a power and prestige through its use in formal instruction. Not only is there a symbolic aspect, referring to status and visibility, but also a conceptual aspect referring to shared values and worldview expressed through and in that language [25].*

The question of what should be official and national language has been a center of controversy and "educational politics" in the GLR than anything else in the curriculum. While Tanzania successfully used Kiswahili language as a national-unifying factor and medium of instruction, D.R. Congo is until now much divided along various ethnic groups and against or for French. Though Burundi and Rwanda almost everyone speak, write and communicate in Kirundi and Kinyarwanda respectively, having common languages have not helped these countries achieve national unity and build sustainable peace and tranquility. Recently, Rwanda has shifted from Kinyarwanda-French to Kinyarwanda-English with Kiswahili as an alternative language.

Another area of curriculum controversy is the teaching of history and the extent to which history education may become a vehicle for promoting particular versions of history, revising historical events or confronting the past in a critical way. Given the political turmoil experienced by all countries—with the exception of Tanzania, in the GLR, history taught in schools are too fluid and twisted depending on who is in power by then. For example, in Rwanda the official history taught seems to ignore the critical role played by previous Hutu governments before the current regime. Political dimensions in the way that geography is taught and the lexicon it uses for disputed territories can be problematic and the content of teaching material for areas such as culture, art, music and religious education often get drawn into controversy [27, 48]. Such areas are sometimes referred to as 'national subjects', in many instances tightly controlled by governments and regarded as essential tools for nation building as it is the case in Tanzania and Rwanda.

In the GLR, another area of curriculum controversy which requires specialized concerns is the values represented in official textbooks and other learning resources. For example, the operation of a single textbook policy in Tanzania offered a Ministry of Education a way of guaranteeing a 'minimum entitlement' for all pupils to basic learning resources. This is particularly important and very effective approach in low-income GLR countries where equal access to education needs to be clearly demonstrated. However, questions arise about who controls and benefits from the production of textbooks; who decides their contents, and under which circumstances. In contested and highly diverse societies as it is the case in D.R. Congo, arguments related to content of textbooks has been a source of cultural and ideological battlegrounds. In the GLR textbooks review processes have a long history. For example, there were joint initiatives on French-Kinyarwanda textbooks during the 1990s; French-Kirundi cooperation following the end of the 1990s wars; and a Congo-Brazaville - D.R. Congo textbook project in the 1980s [9]. They raise sensitive issues about what might be considered offensive and by/to whom. Examples include concerns raised by Rwanda about the treatment of the 1994 genocide in the textbooks and a critique of international assistance for the replacement of textbooks [49].

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An interesting observation has been a concern that an emphasis on conflict analyses, conflict resolution skills and peace-building strategies potentially highlights negative aspects of provision of education. Practically, some international aid organizations and workers seem to suggest that this makes it more difficult to persuade donors to provide fund to invest in education in conflict-affected GLR countries. Some go as far as to claim that this makes it difficult to maintain a positive and practical relationship with local education authorities and officials hence, underplaying the important contribution that education can make to 'peace-

**9. Education for reconstruction, reconciliation and peace-building**

on the reconstruction of physical infrastructure [50].

for rebuilding human relations and inclusive education systems.

the Hutu extremists. It is against the law to question this official claim.

A report on 'Education for Reconstruction' [45] distinguishes between 'physical' reconstruction of school buildings (including emergency repair strategies, the needs of refugee education and landmine safety issues); 'ideological' reconstruction that refers, for example, to democratization of an education system or retraining of teachers; and 'psychological' reconstruction that responds to issues of demoralization, loss of confidence and health-related issues of stress and depression. This contrasts significantly with a report on the World Bank's experience with postconflict reconstruction, which suggests that the main priority during the 1990s was

The main recommendations of the report illustrate how the World Bank's position was to maintain a watching brief, but stop short of providing development assistance while conflict is underway. However, a later publication from the World Bank Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit acknowledges the need for a shift in position from an emphasis on post-conflict reconstruction to 'a sensitivity to conflict' [51]. This is also reflected in a study undertaken by the World Bank on Education and Post-conflict Reconstruction [38]. The main objective of the noted study was to review experience of education system reconstruction in post-conflict countries and identify lessons that may assist in the achievement of EFA goals. These reports reflect a move away from the notion of thinking about conflict in discrete stages, to an appreciation that the analysis of conflict and 'conflict sensitivity' needs to be built into routine thinking as part of mainstream operations. Further, there is also a growing appreciation that reconstruction is not simply about replacing the physical infrastructure of schools, but needs to include opportunities

The concept of reconciliation has received attention across a range of international contexts, but each conflict is quantitatively different in terms of the level of violence and number of casualties, and qualitatively different in terms of the social context and the nature of atrocities that may have taken place. These factors mean that those affected by conflict have different perspectives on what is reasonable or realistic in terms of reconciliation attempts. This makes it extremely difficult to consider reconciliation as a generic concept with the same implications for different conflicts. For example, the concept of reconciliation in Rwanda means a fresh start and forgetting the atrocities committed. The gravest part of the assertion is that in Rwanda, the official version of the genocide indicates that only Tutsis were killed by

The concept of 'reconciliation' is also problematic in terms of the difficult and controversial issues it raises. The term embodies positive connotations about healing past conflicts [52]. Despite research into the role of education in relation to truth and reconciliation processes in contexts such as Burundi and Rwanda [31, 46, 53] deeper understanding of the role of education in contributing to reconciliation

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

building' efforts in this region.

*Towards Global Peace and Sustainability: Role of Education in Peace-Building in the Great… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

An interesting observation has been a concern that an emphasis on conflict analyses, conflict resolution skills and peace-building strategies potentially highlights negative aspects of provision of education. Practically, some international aid organizations and workers seem to suggest that this makes it more difficult to persuade donors to provide fund to invest in education in conflict-affected GLR countries. Some go as far as to claim that this makes it difficult to maintain a positive and practical relationship with local education authorities and officials hence, underplaying the important contribution that education can make to 'peacebuilding' efforts in this region.

## **9. Education for reconstruction, reconciliation and peace-building**

A report on 'Education for Reconstruction' [45] distinguishes between 'physical' reconstruction of school buildings (including emergency repair strategies, the needs of refugee education and landmine safety issues); 'ideological' reconstruction that refers, for example, to democratization of an education system or retraining of teachers; and 'psychological' reconstruction that responds to issues of demoralization, loss of confidence and health-related issues of stress and depression. This contrasts significantly with a report on the World Bank's experience with postconflict reconstruction, which suggests that the main priority during the 1990s was on the reconstruction of physical infrastructure [50].

The main recommendations of the report illustrate how the World Bank's position was to maintain a watching brief, but stop short of providing development assistance while conflict is underway. However, a later publication from the World Bank Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit acknowledges the need for a shift in position from an emphasis on post-conflict reconstruction to 'a sensitivity to conflict' [51]. This is also reflected in a study undertaken by the World Bank on Education and Post-conflict Reconstruction [38]. The main objective of the noted study was to review experience of education system reconstruction in post-conflict countries and identify lessons that may assist in the achievement of EFA goals. These reports reflect a move away from the notion of thinking about conflict in discrete stages, to an appreciation that the analysis of conflict and 'conflict sensitivity' needs to be built into routine thinking as part of mainstream operations. Further, there is also a growing appreciation that reconstruction is not simply about replacing the physical infrastructure of schools, but needs to include opportunities for rebuilding human relations and inclusive education systems.

The concept of reconciliation has received attention across a range of international contexts, but each conflict is quantitatively different in terms of the level of violence and number of casualties, and qualitatively different in terms of the social context and the nature of atrocities that may have taken place. These factors mean that those affected by conflict have different perspectives on what is reasonable or realistic in terms of reconciliation attempts. This makes it extremely difficult to consider reconciliation as a generic concept with the same implications for different conflicts. For example, the concept of reconciliation in Rwanda means a fresh start and forgetting the atrocities committed. The gravest part of the assertion is that in Rwanda, the official version of the genocide indicates that only Tutsis were killed by the Hutu extremists. It is against the law to question this official claim.

The concept of 'reconciliation' is also problematic in terms of the difficult and controversial issues it raises. The term embodies positive connotations about healing past conflicts [52]. Despite research into the role of education in relation to truth and reconciliation processes in contexts such as Burundi and Rwanda [31, 46, 53] deeper understanding of the role of education in contributing to reconciliation

processes has yet to be developed. Reconciliation may be necessary at many levels (between individuals, between groups in conflict, between peoples or nations at war). There are implications for education in terms of facilitating reconciliation by addressing the legacies of conflict. These include the impact on the bereaved and injured, remembrance and commemoration; debates about forgiveness, expressions of regret, apology and symbolic events; understanding the role of amnesties, prisoner releases, alongside concepts of restorative and transitional justice. These are challenging, long-term tasks that link reconstruction programs into the mainstream education sector and the longer-term goal of conflict prevention. Education for reconciliation may therefore be seen as a contribution to peace-building, concerned with conflict transformation within societies. In Rwanda, the *gacaca* courts as efforts for reconciliation created more hatred and rage than peace and tranquility. This necessitated the government to use force and specific educational policies to suppress anger in the communities.

While it has got its own share of socio-political violence, Tanzania adopted a rather pragmatic approach to building sustainable peace and harmony by instilling to children a sense of tolerance and understanding. In 1998 following the Muslim assault of a Catholic parish priest of Mburahati - Dar es Salaam, and the "question of pork eating" violence, the government of Tanzania ordered its police force to storm and quash the Muslims rebellion at Mwembechai area killing at least four people. To build sustainable peace and tranquility, one of the strategies adopted by the Ministry of Education was to include in the existing curriculum the question of patriotism and social understanding and civic education. In 2001 the police shoot 22 Civic United Front—*Chama cha Wananchi* (CUF) members in Pemba, Zanzibar— Tanzania [54]. CUF, the opposition party in Tanzania was predominant in Pemba. It establishes itself there due to some genuine social, political and economic grievances among common people—*wananchi wanyonge.* Apart from union grievances, one of the main and very serious concern was sidelining of Pembas in accessing quality education in a larger Zanzibar context. To restore order and harmony in Pemba, after signing of the peace and harmony agreement commonly known as *Mwafaka II,* the existing regime in Zanzibar devised a quota system across five regions of Zanzibar and introduced peace-building education in the curriculum. However, concerns remains with the current political willingness to implement the curriculum.

The concept of 'peace-building' received renewed attention following the UN Secretary General's call for the establishment of the Peace-building Commission (PBC), the Peace-building Support Office (PBSO) and the Peace-building Fund (PBF) in 2006. So far, all these structures emerged as a result of concerns to prevent relapses in the aftermath of conflict. The initiatives provide support to immediate post-conflict countries through funding of political, governance, security and macroeconomic reforms. However, some scholars recommend that:

*"focusing on social policies such as education and healthcare, as opposed to macroeconomic reforms, is especially important for preserving peace in countries that have emerged from civil conflict" [23, 55].*

Also others highlight the limitations and sometimes negative effects of peacebuilding that focuses exclusively on electoral and economic reforms [55]. The PBF has funds of US\$360 million and is supporting more than 150 projects in 18 countries, but social programming, such as education, has received less than 14% of its funds (PBF status as of November, 2017).

Renewed interest in peace building may also be due to the greater priority that is being given to security as a consequence of global events during the past decades.

**69**

ments or the Paris principles.

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the confusion of roles between military and aid personnel [34, 58].

economy analysis can inform its programming in education.

The change in security context in the GLR during the past decade also creates new challenges for aid agencies and development organizations. There are two main dimensions to this. Firstly, there is growing awareness among donors that a purely technical approach to programming is insufficient in the political environments present in situations of conflict in the GLR. This has led to more emphasis on the need for political economy analysis of the education sector. There is increasing recognition that blockages for effective reform at the sectoral level (including for delivery, planning and procurement) can be political and that technical solutions alone may not be enough. Governance of a sector and the way in which politics and institutions interact within that sector, will in practice have a critical impact on sector policies and services [59, 60]. A number of donors have developed tools and approaches to political economy analysis [61, 62] and these have been reviewed by various stakeholders. These build on early work by DFID on 'drivers of change' and approaches such as the Government of the Netherlands, Strategic Governance and Corruption Analysis (SCAGA) [63]. However, there are very few examples in the literature of these being applied to the education sector or in post-conflict environments, although the European Commission is currently reviewing how political

Secondly, the changing context and increased emphasis on the global security agenda will require aid agencies to make more explicit choices about how they position themselves and their work. Humanitarian interventions suggest time-limited emergency responses to humanitarian crises and natural disasters, some of which will be caused by conflict. Development assistance that adopts a 'conflict-sensitive' approach has been encouraged by both the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) and the OECD DAC Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States (2007), and suggests only a degree of intervention that 'does no harm'. The noted agencies are the major donors in the GLR, hence key players. However, if agencies accept that 'conflict transformation' is the distinguishing feature of a peace-building approach, then this is likely to require a more interventionist stance. Development informed by political analysis inevitably means making decisions based on judgments about what is best from a peace-building perspective education, and these may not always be consistent with the views of national govern-

In terms of linkages between education and peace-building, the role of education is often stereotyped as 'peace education', perceived to involve working with children

This is evidenced by the focus of the most recent World Development Report (2018) [56] on Conflict, Security and Development. It is also reflected in the EFA Global Monitoring Report [57] in two main ways. Firstly, the GMR reports on an increasing number of attacks on education that use political and military violence against education staff, students, teachers' unions, government officials and institutions. UNESCO has also produced a report on 'Protecting Education from Attack' that explores possible motives, responses and prevention strategies including armed protection, community defense, and strengthening international monitoring systems and humanitarian law [58]. Secondly, the report highlights concerns about links between aid and security. It identifies 21 developing countries (all countries in the GLR included) that are spending more on arms and the military than on primary schools, and presents evidence that the amount of aid to certain countries may be driven more by global security concerns rather than poverty. The merging of national security concerns and international development policies is a significant challenge for those in both the development and peace building fields. It highlights the use of education to 'win hearts and minds' as part of counter-insurgency strategy in D.R. Congo, Congo-Brazaville and Burundi. This raises concerns about

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

#### *Towards Global Peace and Sustainability: Role of Education in Peace-Building in the Great… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

This is evidenced by the focus of the most recent World Development Report (2018) [56] on Conflict, Security and Development. It is also reflected in the EFA Global Monitoring Report [57] in two main ways. Firstly, the GMR reports on an increasing number of attacks on education that use political and military violence against education staff, students, teachers' unions, government officials and institutions. UNESCO has also produced a report on 'Protecting Education from Attack' that explores possible motives, responses and prevention strategies including armed protection, community defense, and strengthening international monitoring systems and humanitarian law [58]. Secondly, the report highlights concerns about links between aid and security. It identifies 21 developing countries (all countries in the GLR included) that are spending more on arms and the military than on primary schools, and presents evidence that the amount of aid to certain countries may be driven more by global security concerns rather than poverty. The merging of national security concerns and international development policies is a significant challenge for those in both the development and peace building fields. It highlights the use of education to 'win hearts and minds' as part of counter-insurgency strategy in D.R. Congo, Congo-Brazaville and Burundi. This raises concerns about the confusion of roles between military and aid personnel [34, 58].

The change in security context in the GLR during the past decade also creates new challenges for aid agencies and development organizations. There are two main dimensions to this. Firstly, there is growing awareness among donors that a purely technical approach to programming is insufficient in the political environments present in situations of conflict in the GLR. This has led to more emphasis on the need for political economy analysis of the education sector. There is increasing recognition that blockages for effective reform at the sectoral level (including for delivery, planning and procurement) can be political and that technical solutions alone may not be enough. Governance of a sector and the way in which politics and institutions interact within that sector, will in practice have a critical impact on sector policies and services [59, 60]. A number of donors have developed tools and approaches to political economy analysis [61, 62] and these have been reviewed by various stakeholders. These build on early work by DFID on 'drivers of change' and approaches such as the Government of the Netherlands, Strategic Governance and Corruption Analysis (SCAGA) [63]. However, there are very few examples in the literature of these being applied to the education sector or in post-conflict environments, although the European Commission is currently reviewing how political economy analysis can inform its programming in education.

Secondly, the changing context and increased emphasis on the global security agenda will require aid agencies to make more explicit choices about how they position themselves and their work. Humanitarian interventions suggest time-limited emergency responses to humanitarian crises and natural disasters, some of which will be caused by conflict. Development assistance that adopts a 'conflict-sensitive' approach has been encouraged by both the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) and the OECD DAC Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States (2007), and suggests only a degree of intervention that 'does no harm'. The noted agencies are the major donors in the GLR, hence key players. However, if agencies accept that 'conflict transformation' is the distinguishing feature of a peace-building approach, then this is likely to require a more interventionist stance. Development informed by political analysis inevitably means making decisions based on judgments about what is best from a peace-building perspective education, and these may not always be consistent with the views of national governments or the Paris principles.

In terms of linkages between education and peace-building, the role of education is often stereotyped as 'peace education', perceived to involve working with children

and youth on peace education programs for personal development, inter-group contact and conflict resolution techniques [64]. However, there have been a number of more recent initiatives that have reviewed research in this area [52, 55, 65].

## **10. Recommended way forward**

**Escalation of conflicts and wars are significant impediment to achievement of Education for All goals**. Currently more than half of all children are out-ofschool in conflict-affected and fragile states. Available data indicate that about 39 million children (54.2%) lived in conflict-affected or fragile countries, out of a total of 72 million children who were not in school [66]. The GLR has its fair share of out of school children—about 9 millions. This impedes achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG number 4 which targets to ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all including children in conflict affected areas such as those in the GLR.

**For long time, the education in conflict-affected and fragile states is underfunded.** Education for children in conflict-affected and fragile states receives less than one-fifth of education aid despite representing more than half of the world's population of out of school children. Further, children in conflict-affected areas in low-income GLR countries receive less than 5% of all the education aids supplied globally. Particular attention is drawn to the fact that education as a response to emergency or conflicts, receives between little more than 1–4% of funding from humanitarian appeals [67]. Given this fact, it is beyond doubts that funds allocated for pre-primary and early grades as part of emergency response package in conflictaffected countries in the GLR is extremely low. Given its critical role in sustainable peace-building efforts, this level of education cannot be ignored.

**There is deliberate lack of attention to education as an important subsector following signing of peace agreements.** The analyses of the 17 full peace agreements in the GLR signed between 1989 and 2015 that are publicly available, 11 make no mention of education at all. Even in those that do, include education, there is great variation in the way it is perceived and addressed in terms of security, protection, economic development or socio-political issues' [67]. The report highlighted research that documented attacks on education and suggested that investment in education has a potential 'peace dividend' following peace agreements so long as it is developed in ways that are inclusive and accessible; safe and protective; relevant and appropriate; and accountable. Given the critical role of education in peace-building, the subsector should be part and parcel of any future signed peace agreements. This will be critical in the developing GLR states where literacy rates are still low and there are some mushrooming rebel groups.

**Increase educational opportunity for the poorest and most disadvantaged**, particularly through early childhood education, social protection, and flexible and alternative education such as accelerated learning programs. It is important to note ECE has the potential to level the play field between children from advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds [47, 67]. Evidence indicates that children from disadvantaged conflict and violent backgrounds benefits much from early childhood interventions [28, 36]. As such, it will be an important move to increase access to education by all children in the GLR region.

**There is an urgent need to focus on teachers and teaching quality,** particularly through clearly stated strategies for recruitment, training and professional development. Further, given geographical and urbanicity variations, educational stakeholders may need to offer sufficient remuneration and incentives to work in the poorest and most remote areas. Very unfortunate, in the humanitarian responses

**71**

**Author details**

Laurent Gabriel Ndijuye\* and Pambas Basil Tandika

\*Address all correspondence to: buritojr1980@yahoo.com

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

The University of Dodoma, Tanzania

provided the original work is properly cited.

*Towards Global Peace and Sustainability: Role of Education in Peace-Building in the Great…*

in conflict-affected areas, humanitarian workers and aid for education accounts to 4.2% only [47]. In the GLR, this should go hand in hand with increasing relevance and purposefulness of education through relevant curricula which are sensitive to diversity and promote values that support sustainable peace-building efforts**. There is a need to increase the financing of education in conflict-affected and fragile GLR states.** This can be done by ensuring allocation of at least 20% of national budgets to education, broaden access to free education, and allowing involvements of civil-societies in monitoring of educational budgets, increasing international aid to meet the annual financing requirement for basic education needs in the low-income GLR countries. This will allow attainments of pre-set educational goals, especially those related to sustainable peace-building efforts. Finally, success of all of the suggested strategies will solely depend on the level of community involvements, and political willingness of existing governments in the

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

GLR and their development partners.

*Towards Global Peace and Sustainability: Role of Education in Peace-Building in the Great… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92417*

in conflict-affected areas, humanitarian workers and aid for education accounts to 4.2% only [47]. In the GLR, this should go hand in hand with increasing relevance and purposefulness of education through relevant curricula which are sensitive to diversity and promote values that support sustainable peace-building efforts**.**

**There is a need to increase the financing of education in conflict-affected and fragile GLR states.** This can be done by ensuring allocation of at least 20% of national budgets to education, broaden access to free education, and allowing involvements of civil-societies in monitoring of educational budgets, increasing international aid to meet the annual financing requirement for basic education needs in the low-income GLR countries. This will allow attainments of pre-set educational goals, especially those related to sustainable peace-building efforts. Finally, success of all of the suggested strategies will solely depend on the level of community involvements, and political willingness of existing governments in the GLR and their development partners.
