Growing consensus around the world recognizes human rights education should be infused throughout the programme of every school - in curricula and textbooks, policies, the training of teaching personnel, teaching methods and the overall learning environment. Children can be easily guided by human rights education to make informed choices in life, to approach situations with critical and independent thought, and to empathize with other points of view.
In Sri Lanka, the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, Colombo university-based institution, has been a key player in building the human rights culture in Sri Lanka since 1994. The programmes of CSHR cater to a number of groups including primary and secondary school students, university students and pre-service and in-service teachers.
Its Human Rights Education Programme for Schools (HRES) targets secondary school students. The programme is designed to teach human rights in a non-formal manner, enabling participants to integrate human rights values into their day-to-day activities.
In spite of such intensive programmes introduced, this writer is in the opinion that human rights literacy is not yet widespread in Sri Lanka. Students of law and international relations or political science may study human rights in a university setting, but most people receive no education, formally or informally, about human rights.
Examples
Though there are many laws, which guarantee security to the common man, we have failed in the strict enforcement of them because of this knowledge gap. How can people use and defend human rights, if they have never learned about them? It follows then the first question that we have to answer is how to help students acquire the necessary human rights knowledge, skills and attitudes so they can play their roles effectively within a culture of human rights.
Two modern day examples can be quoted.
(a) “Human Rights Education in the School Systems of Europe, Central Asia and North America: A Compendium of Good Practice” is a compilation of 101 examples of good practice in human rights education in primary schools, secondary schools and teacher training institutions in Europe and a number of other countries.
This compilation aims to support quality teaching in these areas and to inspire educational policymakers and administrators, teachers, teacher trainers, non-formal educators and all other interested actors. It also intends to facilitate networking and the exchange of experience among education professionals.
(b) In Australia, a course of studies titled, an Introduction to Human Rights and Responsibilities provides students with the opportunity to explore the meaning of ‘rights’ and develop an understanding of human rights, and the responsibilities that complement them.
This resource has been designed to be used with an interactive whiteboard but can also be used on any internet enabled device, including a computer or tablet hooked up to a data projector. It includes interactive lessons with accompanying teacher resources (including lesson plans) and suggested homework activities and has been mapped to the Australian Curriculum for Humanities and Social Sciences.
Basic objectives
This writer believes it is time we integrate extensively human rights values to a number of subjects in our secondary schools from Grade 6 to 8. If systematically and properly done, such education will have great impact on society, definitely in the long run.
Sri Lanka's education reform does not include human rights education as a new subject although human rights are incorporated in various subjects such as social studies, political science, life competencies, and aesthetics etc. The integration has not been effective.
Few years ago, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam decided among themselves to introduce human rights as a subject to their school curricular frameworks.
They had seven basic objectives in mind: (l). To formulate ASEAN Human Rights Education vision and mission; to review human rights standards and principles in order to identify core human rights concepts for basic education; (3) examine linkages between human rights and Southeast Asian cultures in order to help translate human rights concepts into educational materials; (4) to train on how to relate human rights lesson plans to the existing school curriculum; (5) to identify various strategies for infusion of human rights in the formal education curriculum. (6) to identify programmes for extra and co-curricular activities and/or human rights community-based activities (7) to prepare an action plan regarding strategy in regional lobby for human rights education.
In these countries, Human Rights Education is a specially integrated subject offered in all educational levels. It serves as a means to develop and perpetuate the human values (humanity, unity, democracy and social justice) in everyday life; to develop in the students an awareness of his/her rights and duties as well as obedience toward laws and regulations, and a noble disposition; and to develop an awareness and understanding of interrelationships among the family, schools, society and the nation.
Our Education
If we believe that there is a role for human rights education within our school curriculum, then it is both useful and relevant to understand to what extent we are already complying. Through a properly structured survey, it is possible to determine that issue.
Most importantly, we should research what is actually is happening in the classrooms? No legislature in the world can assure student learning without the active involvement of the classroom teacher. When the media, politicians, teachers, students and others in everyday life begin to refer to such problems as women's issues, children's rights, poverty, international trade, unemployment as human rights issues, our students should gain a basic knowledge of what is been spoken about. They must learn that human rights abuses are not just something that occur in faraway places but happening right here at home they are happening in their homes and neighbourhood.
Human rights education can be incorporated into the school curriculum in two ways:
(1) The formal curriculum: Schools may choose to examine their present curriculums and identify areas where themes and elements of human rights education already exist. Human rights education is considered the most important part of the core curriculum of good general education. (2) The informal curriculum: Human rights education can also be promoted through the extracurricular and co-curricular activities of the school.
Context and approaches
The globally accepted approaches to incorporating human rights education in the curriculum are the following: (1) Direct context: This involves including specific topics or subjects that focus on human rights education into civics, science, or history subjects, for example. India has introduced human rights education at the higher education levels. (2) Indirect context: This involves the use of all school subjects as vehicles for human rights education. Some examples are (i) creating “learning units in human rights” in order to integrate the content of different subjects toward solving a particular problem and (ii) including human rights elements in every subject. (3) Implicit context: This involves the creation of a socio-cultural ethos in schools that will develop students’ understanding of human rights.
Integration
The question is how to introduce the new curriculums at various levels. It is obvious that one more subject cannot be added to an already overloaded curriculum. Human rights education can be integrated into existing curriculums. The real question, however, is what and how much is to be integrated. The answer requires a selection of issues. Teaching the basic rights may be done under the umbrella of ethics. At the secondary level, basic and other rights may be introduced into existing curriculum subjects.
Only when people are educated about human rights can we hope to prevent human rights violations, and thus prevent conflict, as well. This message has a real relevance to our current political and social scenario.
Education is a powerful tool for social transformation and justice. We have to start the process of formation at the root of society by sowing the seed of humanism in the minds of our students, the future of Sri Lanka. The task ahead of us is daunting and challenging. We have many miles to go and promises to keep. In solidarity with like-minded people, the distance becomes shorter and the target achievable.
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