What is the role of education in relation to conflict and reconstruction? This paper, presented at the 2004 annual conference of the British Association for International and Comparative Education, argues that conflict sensitivity needs to be considered as a routine aspect of long-term planning and development of all education systems.
There is growing recognition by policymakers of the relationship between education and conflict. Where an opportunity for education has been lost due to conflict, it is not just a loss to the individual, but a loss of social capital and the capacity of a society to recover from the conflict. However, conflict is not restricted exclusively to low-income countries or to those with the lowest enrolments in primary education. It is therefore necessary to look closely at the type of education that is on offer in a country and the values and attitudes it is promoting.
Education is often seen as benign, but it has both positive and negative aspects in relation to conflict.
- Formal education is almost always run by the state, and the state may be party to the conflict. This makes intervention difficult.
- Conflict raises questions concerning government views on the purpose of education and the extent to which it is seen as a tool for political or ideological purposes.
- Governance, transparency and accountability are crucial issues at all levels of the education system.
- Issues of equality in terms of education inputs or outputs carry the potential to inflame or ameliorate conflict between different groups within society.
- Many countries are modernising their curriculum to include skills that may be helpful to avoid conflict.
- Issues relating to the language of instruction can be difficult to resolve in practice.
- Teachers are probably the single most important factor in mediating the curriculum and the values it conveys.
A systemic approach is necessary. Policies and practice at all levels within education systems need to be analysed in terms of their potential to aggravate or ameliorate conflict. This issue needs to be considered at times of emergency, but also as a routine aspect of long-term planning and development of all education systems. Actions and investments are required in a range of possible entry points.
- In conflict situations there is an even greater need for systems and structures that insulate the education sector from political bias, potential corruption and interference in operational decisions to implement policy.
- Capacity building and training may be a necessary prerequisite for the success of any overall education sector plan that takes account of conflict.
- Individually, no education programme offers a magic solution for the prevention of conflict. It is unrealistic to expect an immediate impact in the short term.
- A more realistic solution may be an audit approach that encourages education authorities to take stock of educational provision with a special focus on features that could help to prevent conflict.
- Policymakers need to give more serious attention to evaluating the efficacy claimed for preventative education across a range of international contexts and monitoring it over a sustained period of time.
- There is a danger that ideological struggles between policymakers over rights-based approaches and improvements in quality distract from co-operative efforts.
