April 2005
Tense diplomatic relations recently marked the relationship between China and Japan, regarding the revision by Japan of the contents of social science educational textbooks for Japanese high schools. In the textbooks, the 1937 massacre of the civilian population in Nanking by the occupying Chinese army is described as “an incident”. According to a report in Le Monde (1) the word “invasion” is never mentioned when dealing with the “Great Asian War” which Japan conducted from the 1930’s. This recent exercise in dissimulation is not an isolated case mounted on the head of a pin by a few newspapers looking for circulation. On the contrary, it illustrates the recurrent hostage taking of the truth at the service of nationalistic socialization through indoctrination. The idea, dear to Kant, of a universal history from a ”cosmopolitical” point of view continues, to paraphrase the philosopher, to knock against the influence of particular ends conforming to the personal desires of their authors, and often to the prejudice of others. In this perspective, the teaching of history obedient to political and social requirements: “Societies principally expect the knowledge of the past to instruct them about their own history, to strengthen the feeling of their originality, when they don’t ask the historian to create it from whole cloth, while maintaining the founding myths. (2) But “every individual has the right to know his past as well as the right to disavow it”, affirms the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (3) while adding that citizens have the right to learn a history that is not manipulated and that the State should therefore assure this right and encourage an appropriate scientific approach, without religious or political deformation, of all that is taught. Can’t one attribute the successive failures of peace, at least in part, to ethnocentrism raised to its paroxysm? The fact that educational textbooks still contain presentations biased against crimes against humanity, writes Fernando Reimers, reminds us eloquently how much remains for us to do to allow UNESCO to complete in all its dimensions the mission enunciated in the first lines of its constitutive Act: “Wars having birth in the spirit of man, it is in the spirit of man that the defense of peace must be raised.”(4) NOTES (1) International Bureau of Education (1999). “Learning to live together thanks to the teaching of history and geography. Final report of the Colloquium. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/International/Publications/ |
| - Knowledge and public action The 5th International conference on “the capability approach” will be held at UNESCO, in Paris, the 11th – 14th September 2005. On the occasion of this meeting the participants will tackle, amongst other themes, that of quality of education. Relying on the 4 pillars of “learning, knowledge, skills, knowing how to be, and knowing how to live together) this will concern seeing how to improve quality of education and to articulate it with sustainable development.
The 12th annual human rights education week will be held this year in Queretaro, in Mexico, from 25 to 30 July. - Word day against child labour The situation of children who work in mines and quarries, often in conditions that are perilous, insalubrious and extremely dangerous for their security and health, will be the center of attention at the 4th world day in the battle against child labour on 12 June 2005, the World Labour Organisation (ILO). |
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- Fundación Cultura de Paz
This trilingual (English, Spanish and French) website invites NGO’s to bring their contribution to a report prepared by the civil society relative to the first half of the International Decade for the United Nations General Assembly. This contribution takes the form of replies to an on-line questionnaire. Several organizations have already replied to the appeal, as seen in the table of respondents, which can be consulted in the website. - Comparative Education Association The World Council of Comparative Education Societies is an NGO that works in concert with UNESCO. The Council is interested in theories and methods of comparative education, the education of girls, the training of teachers as well as peace education. - ICT The Observatory of technologies for education in Europe proposes a series of studies, essays and accounts of experiences of the use of ICT in education. |
- Equality in educational systems
European university teams worked together to realise a project aiming to measure and compare the equality of educational systems of the member states of the European union. The result of their work can equally serve as a tool for decision-makers in the area of defining educational politics. - Rich Countries, poor children According to the results of an investigation conducted by the Innocenti Research Centre of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the proportion of poor children in the developed world has increased in 17 of the 24 countries of the OECD that have data in this area. No matter which of the commonly used poverty measures is applied, the situation of children is seen to have deteriorated over the last decade. - UN Action Plan for human rights education The project revised from the first phase of the action plan of the World Programme for human rights education was published by the United Nations under the reference A/59/525/Rev.1. - Primary education in the world In its last report on gender parity and primary education, UNICEF gives an account of the progress – albeit still hesitant – in the access of all children to primary education, particularly girls. In order to hope to attain the objective of education for all by the year 2015, the United Nations agency invites all rich country donors to hold to their engagements while it recommends the abolition of school fees and the suppression of similar costs. |
- Women’s rights The International Human Rights Institute will hold its 36th annual session on teaching from 4 to 29 July in Strasburg, under the theme, « International Protection of Women’s Rights”. http://www.iidh.org/pages_a/prog_a.html - Defense of Human rights - Defense of minorities - Democratic Citizenship |