Czech Leisure Center Peace Education Seminar
On October 16, a peace education seminar was held at the Leisure Center in Ivančice, Czech Republic. The Czech Republic provides compulsory education of nine grades, and most schools give an opportunity to students to advance through grades by way of an evaluation system. Also, they have a system where students can retake a course on the subject that they received the lowest credit on during the semester. For this, a standardized educational environment has been created for moving up grades, and students are also immersed in studies focused on grade advancement. Therefore, apart from education that deals only with knowledge, most schools are striving to provide students with various learning and experiences through after-school classes.
This peace education seminar was arranged with the need for education on the personality of students in addition to their studies and was held for teachers who conduct after-school classes. HWPL first introduced the HWPL peace education and explained the necessity of peace education. Then after answering questions about peace education, teachers had time to discuss and present ideas on how to apply peace education into their lessons.
The teachers who attended the seminar talked about the conflicts that occur when people gather and live together, and they recalled again that there are various conflicts in life. In addition, they agreed that students should have the right personality to quell such conflicts and live together.
The Director of Leisure Center in Ivančice, Jana Heřmanová who hosted this seminar said, “I have written an essay with the topic: ‘Let people live in peace,’ but we did not move much from that time. Nevertheless, I believe that now when the focus is given to interpersonal development and lifelong learning, it will be moving. When it says ‘peace,’ it is not only about war and crimes, but also about us, people; how we behave to each other, what beliefs we have, understanding, love, how we act to another, and what are our attitudes. I believe that thanks to Peace Education, the awareness of what conflicts are, how to solve it and prevent it will be changed. The hope is we learn to communicate together, solve problems, and think about what society we will have and how we want to live in this world.”
The Director of Leisure Center in Hustopeče, Petr Fridrich said, “Peace Education is the root that must be in every individual. It can be applied in daily life, in every activity with students, any camp, anywhere where we can bring these topics. I think it is essential. We know that somewhere here are those topics, but we need to materialize so everyone can find what is necessary to him or herself and also for others because we are not on this planet alone.”
The Director of Children and Youth Center in Kuřim, Jiří Hejduk said, “Everyone would look forward to school, children would like to go there, there would be no bullying. The work of teachers would change, their motivation and also the motivation of children, and also education would change.”
The teachers plan to participate in HWPL Peace Educator’s Training Education for them to teach peace education in the future so that a culture of peace can be established in the Czech Republic.
