MAKING THE SCHOOL A TRUE ZONE OF PEACE
MA. LIEZL R. DELA CRUZ
The educational system is passing through a very challenging time. More than the difficulties in the implementation of the K-12 curriculum and the seemingly unstoppable increasing cost of living allowance in the country, teachers are also confronted with advocating peace amidst an environment that reports violence as an everyday occurrence. Many schools have flagged on their campuses a signage expressing their strong desire to excuse schools from all these violence. However, the challenge cannot be addressed by this mere act.
Ronal Reagan once said that peace does not equate to the absence of conflict. Probably, completely eradicating conflict is virtually impossible. For schools to be a true zone of peace, people within should be able to espouse the skills of handling conflicts. From this perspective, one can ask, “Is our school really a zone of peace? Are we able to teach students how to handle the various conflicts that they encounter in their daily affairs? Are we, teachers and other personnel, able to manifest the same?” Peace education should begin with the manner by which teachers deal with each other and their students. So much of the technicalities and possible conceptual terminologies, students should be able to internalize the importance of peace through their daily encounters with the people in the school. The school should be the safest school for all students, second to their home. When this is materialized, we, teachers, may indeed claim that we have fulfilled our loco parentis role to our students.
Many schools may be more fortunate for not having the same conditions as those in Marawi. We may have the biggest library or the most sophisticated technological equipment in our classroom. But if our students do not feel safe within the walls of our campuses, it can never be a zone of peace. In our days when a significant number of our students are coming from dysfunctional families, the school seems to be the last frontier for our students. Unless we become advocates of genuine peace in our classrooms, we may simply be pushing our students to stray on their ways.
— oOo— The author is Teacher I at Doña Asuncion Lee Integrated School