Cebu Technological University

National Service Training Program (NSTP)

Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS)
& Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)
Main Campus
Corner M.J Cuenco Avenue & R. Palma Street Cebu City Philippines
____________________________________________________________________________________
Activity 12

Last Name, First Name: NS. No.

Topic: Peace Education Date of Submission

Introduction:

On the 20th century (1900-1999), extreme forms of violence have taken place in terms of racial
discrimination, modern warfare, hatred of ethnicities (tribal wars), sexual abuse, domestic abuses, and
destruction of nature. Although such forms may not be usual in some areas of the Philippines and
outside the country, it may be worth reflecting that the chaos that happen not only in parts of
Mindanao (terrorism) is not the only conflict that needs resolve but also the conflicts within ourselves.
An excerpt of the Catholic song, One more gift, states that “For the confusions around are mere reflections
of what's within.” The conflicts we see outside are the reflections of wars inside the human souls.

Preliminary question:

What types of conflicts do you know? Are conflicts only limited to friends and families? Do you
believe that the world is safe to live in? These are questions that need answers. However, the truth
about life is that there is no world that exists without conflicts. Rising every morning to attend to
school is usually confronted with conflicts whether to get up early or give one’s self more time to rest.

However, the case above is a simple conflict, don’t you think? If we are going to dig deeper into
conflicts, we may be able to understand the root causes of violence. Is it enough to say that war is
violent? What about the destruction of nature, is it not violent just because it does not involve humans?
What if nature becomes violent with humans through typhoons, landslides, and eventually hunger by
the death of plants? Would that not change your mind about violence with nature?

Teaching process:

Preparation (15 minutes)

This is a non-graded activity but a way of assessing your knowledge and understanding
of violence and conflict. Write peace if the word or phrase talks about the absence of violence
and conflict; write violence if the concept is about conflict. Determine also as what category the
concepts are. Choose from inner peace, war, justice and compassion, environmental concern,
culture, and reconciliation and solidarity. An example is provided below for better
understanding.

CATEGORIES

inner peace war justice and compassion environmental concern

cultural awareness reconciliation and solidarity

GEC-KAF KOMUNIKASYON SA AKADEMIKONG FILIPINO 1

 Cebu Technological University
National Service Training Program (NSTP)
Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS)
& Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)
Main Campus
Corner M.J Cuenco Avenue & R. Palma Street Cebu City Philippines
____________________________________________________________________________________
Example:

Black lives matter violence justice and compassion

1. Marawi siege _________________ _________________

2. Hunting and poaching _________________ _________________

3. Peace education _________________ _________________

4. World Earth Day _________________ _________________

5. Child pornography _________________ _________________

6. Child labor _________________ _________________

7. Depression _________________ _________________

8. Peace talks _________________ _________________

9. Covid-19 _________________ _________________

10. ISIS _________________ _________________

Presentation (40 minutes)

PEACE EDUCATION

In the field of peace education, teachers aim to use their professional skills to warn others
about the unavoidable consequences of conflict. The primary goal is to reach peace and keep it that
way for every generation. Peace education is rooted from religious traditions of love, compassion,
charity, and tolerance to the modern theories of reducing external threats of social and natural
violence.

To create a peaceful world, humans must strive for positive peace, a condition where there
is justice, human rights, and sustainable (renewable, continuous) development in communities. It is
not only about stopping violence but establishing a mindset of commitment to the principles of
peace.

(Harrisa, 1996)

It is the goal of education to create conditions for peace to exist. Such conditions are that
there is freedom of speech, productivity, human rights preservation, and conflict management
without violence.

Education should not focus on standardized tests alone as a measure of being “educated”,
rather the system should be focused on promoting awareness of the sources of violence in personal
lives and how to resolve them. The framework of education must be focused on how to create a
society everyone deserves.

The following are the topics about peace education:

1. Cultivating inner peace. Depression is rampant among the young and even the middle-aged
adults. Lack of faith is not the reason why depression exists because religion is one too many

GEC-KAF KOMUNIKASYON SA AKADEMIKONG FILIPINO 2

 Cebu Technological University
National Service Training Program (NSTP)
Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS)
& Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)
Main Campus
Corner M.J Cuenco Avenue & R. Palma Street Cebu City Philippines
____________________________________________________________________________________
and it does not necessarily explain the existence of such phenomenon. Religion could be a way
to cultivate inner peace to get away from depression, but it is not the only solution. Depression
is not defined by sadness alone; it is more than sadness that the human mind could hardly
understand. Lack of inner peace could result to self-harm or harming others—could also be
both.

Positivelypresent.com suggest the following ways to cultivate inner peace:

a. Focus on the present. A lot of inner conflict is a result of worrying about the future or
dwelling on the past so a great way to cultivate peace within yourself is to focus on the
now.
b. Simplify your life. You've heard it a million times before, but less really is more. The more
you simplify your life, the less anxiety and stress you'll have counteracting your
peacefulness.
c. Learn to accept what is. Whenever you choose not to accept what is reality, you're causing
turmoil within yourself. Accept what is and you'll be a lot more at peace with yourself and
the world.
d. Avoid most negativity. While some negativity does have a purpose (such as to alert of us
danger), most of it brings you down and if you want to have peace in your life, you have to
do what you can to avoid it.
e. Make positive choices. Choose to spend time with positive people in positive situations or
you will have a very difficult time having peace in your life. It's your life – choose your
surroundings carefully!

2. The culture of war. The culture of war is more than just a nation being at war; it is the physical
and structural violence that permeates every aspect of culture, including language, interpersonal
relationships, power dynamics and one's relationship with nature. The culture of war manifests
in a myriad of ways and is often deeply entrenched in beliefs that can make it seem "normal" or
"natural." However, as culture is a human construct, the culture of war is human-made, and as
such, can be equally dismantled and replaced with a culture of peace.
(twbonline.pbworks.com)
3. Living with justice and compassion. Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan via Sunstar.com.ph wrote
from his article of his conference with Muslim religious leaders from Lanao del Sur and Norte
about living with justice and compassion. The following are his excerpts:

“The workshop yielded two relevant and important points. Compassion and Justice. Every participants
agreed that these points are keys in solving the Mindanao problem. Both values are present in all the
religions of the world.

‘Compassion’ is the most frequently occurring word in the Qur’an. Each of its 114 chapters, with the
exception of the 9th, begins with the invocation ‘In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful…’,
and yet there is a perception that a great deal of violence and injustice today are attributed to Muslims.
How come an obvious contradiction seems to exists?

This contradiction is rooted on the idea that we are "trapped" in a consciousness of the past. We glorify the
golden age of the sultanates, the Islamic civilization contributions in the world, but we somehow today,
most of us feel that we are oppressed and discriminated.

A ray of hope which will allow us to transcend these contradictions is the perseverance of our communities
to live in accordance to the teachings of Islam. There are Muslims who continuously exemplify the values

GEC-KAF KOMUNIKASYON SA AKADEMIKONG FILIPINO 3

 Cebu Technological University
National Service Training Program (NSTP)
Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS)
& Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)
Main Campus
Corner M.J Cuenco Avenue & R. Palma Street Cebu City Philippines
____________________________________________________________________________________
and principles of Islam. They need to connect with each other and establish a strong network and alliance
and work hand in hand to make the peace process succeed.”

4. Living in harmony with the Earth. The way humans may go extinct is by abusing nature itself.
The vast deforestation, wastes in the ocean, melting of ice caps, may not sound deeply serious
but they are real threats. Deforestation not only displaces wild animals but also worsens climate
change. The melting of ice caps also releases viruses that have been frozen for millions of years.
Ocean wastes also kill marine organisms on such a way that it will compromise our oxygen
supply since a great deal of oxygen supply also come from the oceans. Imagine a life without
oxygen, could that exist—or will you still even exist?

This is the reason why it is highly important to respect nature because if the Earth is the house
and the major source of life of all creatures, why destroy it? It is not silly to respect nature. If
destructive human activities against nature shall continue, we could only wait for the time that
when resources become too short, war and massive deaths may just be some of the scenarios.

5. Promoting human rights and responsibilities. It is a basic human right to live and be protected
against any form of harm. It is also the protection of every human to protect and nurture lives.
On summary, human rights could be stated as “Live and let live” or as we live, we should also
allow others (not only other humans) to also live. Cases such as police brutality, killings of
activists, disruption of freedom of speech, are against human rights. However, it is also worth
noting that rebellion, hostage taking, organizing terrorist groups, brain washing the masses are
also human rights violations.

6. Building intercultural respect. Racial discrimination is rooted from the beliefs that one race is
superior from the others. Intercultural respected is also rooted from the very nature that every
culture is unique and is neither superior nor inferior to others. Tolerance is an important aspect
of intercultural respect. Tolerance is a way of accepting how others act according to their own
culture and being respected for your own culture. Personal adjustment is also important when
one comes to a place with a different culture from one’s self.

7. Reconciliation and solidarity. Years after Japan attacked the US Pearl Harbor while making
the Philippines its battleground, Japan sought after reconciliation with the Philippines. In
return, the country established solidarity programs to strengthen the relations of the two
countries.

Practice (30 minutes)

Based from your personal experiences and background knowledge, state your
personal roles on the dimensions of peace education. One sentence only.

1. Cultivating inner peace

________________________________________________________________________
2. Dismantling war culture

________________________________________________________________________
3. Living with justice and compassion

________________________________________________________________________

GEC-KAF KOMUNIKASYON SA AKADEMIKONG FILIPINO 4

 Cebu Technological University
National Service Training Program (NSTP)
Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS)
& Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)
Main Campus
Corner M.J Cuenco Avenue & R. Palma Street Cebu City Philippines
____________________________________________________________________________________
4. Living in harmony with the Earth

________________________________________________________________________
5. Promoting human rights and responsibilities

________________________________________________________________________
6. Building intercultural respect

________________________________________________________________________
7. Reconciliation and solidarity

________________________________________________________________________

Performance
For you, how would you promote the culture of peace within the society without being
ashamed of feeling silly? Create your action plan by writing your answers on the spaces provided.

MY ACTION PLAN ON PEACE EDUCATION

__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Assignment

Search for news articles about violations of peace within the country. Summarize the
contents within three sentences only. On a separate sheet, write your personal reflections and how you
may be able to resolve such issues on your own ways as a responsible citizen.

GEC-KAF KOMUNIKASYON SA AKADEMIKONG FILIPINO 5