Over a hundred advocates from educational institutions and civil society gathered at the 3rd National Peace Education Summit to support the government’s peace agenda.
The Peace Education Summit is part of a series of activities lined up for this year’s National Peace Consciousness Month, bearing the theme: “Peace Month @ 20: Bagong Pilipinas: Transforming Minds, Transforming Lives.”
The summit focused on harnessing education for societal harmony and featured discussions on institutionalizing peace education in curricula.
Key initiatives include CHED memoranda promoting peace studies, training for educators, and collaborations with NGOs.
According to Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Commissioner Dr. Ronald L. Adamat, who represented CHED Secretary J. Prospero E. De Vera, one of the steps taken by their agency to promote a culture of peace was the issuance of memoranda supporting the institutionalization of peace education in colleges and universities.
These include CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 1, s. 2019, which calls for the integration of peace education/studies into relevant higher education curricula, and CMO No. 42, s. 2021, which recommended guiding principles and practices on peace education for higher education institutions.
“We have initiated comprehensive training programs for professors to equip and empower them with the right knowledge in teaching peace, emphasizing the significance and relevance of peace education,” he said.
Participants emphasized the need for a united effort to advance peace education and addressed challenges such as materialism.
