Since the mid-1990s, increased attention has been paid to the role of schools in post-conflict societies. There has been more focus on how schools contributed to identity-based conflicts and how schools might address the socially constructed schisms that led initially to the conflicts. Moreover, there is increasing recognition of the importance of community processes in contributing to social identity formation. Schools, in particular, are among the major influences on young people’s identities and on their attitudes towards the ‘other’. They thus have the potential to contribute to reconciliation processes.
Despite the extensive thinking that has gone into a reconsideration of the role of schools after mass violence, it falls primarily to humanitarian agencies to get schools going again and to initiate programs that will provide a semblance of normalcy in the wake of conflict. A review of donor programs suggests that the emphasis has been placed on emergency interventions and that there has been little integration of long-term reconciliation approaches. Those with the greatest stake in schools – e.g. teachers, students, administrators and parents – are regularly left out of the planning for post-conflict change.
This study attempts to rectify this by surveying representative members of these groups in the post-conflict countries of Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, and Rwanda. While context, culture and history are critical to understanding the resulting data, three common themes emerge from consultations across the post-conflict societies:
- Fear of a return to conflict: This fear lies at the core of attitudes towards schools. There is resistance to integrated schools for fear of hostility and violence; this lack of interethnic contact contributes to intergroup mistrust. Discussion of potentially controversial issues is also avoided for fear of conflict.
- Disparities in power: The widespread desire of groups in power to maintain control over others and for groups not in power to regain power results in further tensions. The motivations of disempowered groups range from wanting to regain power from the empowered group to simply wishing to maintain some sense of group identity.
- Politics of memory: The teaching of history reflects the submerged but ongoing conflict that pervades these societies. With the persistence of different narratives of the war, there is controversy over whose memory and version of the ‘truth’ should be taught.
Schools are thus greatly impacted by conflict and play an important role in post-conflict reconstruction; they should be moved to centre stage of post-conflict reconstruction. The principal stakeholders or beneficiaries of education reform in the aftermath of mass violence hold strong opinions both about the problems that schools face and what options may be available for change – and must be included in the design of school interventions. It is also important to recognise that society’s institutions are integrated and that focus solely on school reform is insufficient. Attention to the broader context – the education system and the socio-political environment – is necessary for long-term change. Recommendations for schools in the context of post-conflict social recovery include:
- Give sustained attention to curricular development, particularly around the subjects of history and literature.
- Allow for new teaching methods that promote critical thinking and greater classroom interaction.
- Contextualise education within the broader political and social environment in which children in post-conflict societies live.
- Provide sustained contact and a bridge to ‘the other’ that can contribute to the building of social networks based on a shared sense of common good.
