Peace multiplier effect: integration of peace and values education in Rwanda’s national curriculum

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday IV)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Learning, curriculum & pedagogy

Proposal

From April to July 1994, Rwanda was submerged into a bloodbath, the Genocide against the Tutsi, which claimed over one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus in only 100 days. Today, the majority of Rwanda’s population was born after the Genocide and experience trans-generational trauma from their parents who survived this horrific event. Research shows that a society that has gone through a traumatic situation such as genocide remains vulnerable for a relapse unless the conditions that cause the genocide or the mass atrocity are addressed (Harffs, 2015).

Aegis Trust, a non-profit that works to prevent genocide and mass atrocities worldwide, sees Rwandan youth as the change-makers for building lasting peace. Aegis Trust has been working in Rwanda since 2004 with the establishment of the Kigali Genocide Memorial. In the past 14 years, Aegis has delivered peace and values education training to more than 60,000 educators, young Rwandans and members of communities.

For the past five years, Aegis Trust has partnered with Rwanda Education Board to integrate Peace and Values education as a crosscutting issue in the new national curriculum. The partnership is built on findings from the the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide and Radio La Benevolencija, which reported that secondary school students do not know the historical build-up to the events in 1994 and are confused on terms such as war, genocide and war crimes (CNLG, 2009).

Aegis Trust has developed an innovative curriculum and teaching and learning materials that are currently being used by over 70,000 teachers nationwide. It focuses specifically on critical thinking in challenging situations in order to give Rwandan youth the skills and attitude needed to ensure sustainable peace. Teachers in all subjects have been trained on how to integrate peace and values education in their lesson plans, which has challenged educators at all levels of the system to see promotion of peace as part of their job description. The integration of peace and values education in the national curriculum has created a multiplier effect – it ensures that 3 million post-genocide students annually are benefitting from situational based questions and participatory methods that empower them to see themselves as central to the peace building process. Today, Aegis now faces the next step of quality control and impact monitoring.

Aegis Trust will very briefly present on the organization’s groundbreaking peace and values education curriculum and the development of Rwanda’s first model Peace Schools. In order to stay true to the Aegis mission of encouraging participation in the peace process, Aegis will demonstrate a segment of a lesson from the model lesson plans book. This will put participants in the shoes of Rwandan students and allow them to use their critical thinking skills in a real-life scenario. During the group discussion, the chair will challenge the roundtable participants to suggest ways that Aegis can assess impact and to brainstorm how peace and values education can fit into their own work or country.

Author

• Enoch Ssemuwemba Nsubuga, Aegis Trust