During the three-decade war between the Indonesian Military

During the three-decade war between the Indonesian Military
(TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), burning down schools in
conflict areas was a common occurrence, with the two sides
generally blaming each other for the vandalism.

This of course was before the Dec. 26 tsunami destroyed
hundreds more schools in the province last year.

Thankfully, the disaster struck at the consciences of the
conflicting parties. The peace deal signed recently in Helsinki
wrought many important concessions from both sides and has given
many the hope the Acehnese can begin living lives free from
conflict. More importantly, a prolonged peace would allow new
generations of Acehnese access to a better, more enlightening
form of education.

The peace has seen hundreds of GAM fighters coming down from
the hills and reuniting with their villages and families, with
some even having coffee with their old foes in the TNI. But this
peace has presented a new challenge: How will this emotionally
and politically divided society successfully reintegrate?

This is certainly a question too complex to answer in this
article, but it should be noted that the memorandum of
understanding underlines that the Indonesian government should
aid the reintegration of former GAM fighters into society. This
reintegration is not just supposed to involve former GAM fighters
but also their family members, including their school-aged
children -- the future generation who will navigate the fate of
the province.

This means that education -- as an agent of social change --
will play a vital role in the reintegration. Conducted under a
brutal military rule, peace-building education programs were
often virtually meaningless as they encountered pedagogical
difficulties in exemplifying how beautiful living in peace is.
With the military offensive gone, it should be easier for such
programs to equate theory with practice.

In essence, education for peace has several characteristics:

First, this learning experience tends to encourage global
perspectives rather than narrowly chauvinistic or ethnocentric
ones.

Second, this learning experience is concerned with respecting
others' rights and the attainment of human dignity.

Third, it is open-minded and participatory rather than closed-
minded, authoritarian, dogmatic and domineering.

Fourth, it promotes social literacy skills in non-violent
resolution of conflicts.

Fifth, it puts a high importance on caring, compassionate and
humane ethical standards rather than an uncritical endorsement of
physical violence and war, alienation and structural violence.

Therefore, taking Aceh's contextual reality into account,
there are some points worth considering.

Much has to be done to enhance the understanding among
students that their peers from "enemy" families are still their
Acehnese brothers and sisters who were also victims of prolonged
injustice. Many former GAM fighters and their families are still
frightened that revenge on them may still take place -- but in
other forms.

Indeed, Islamic and traditional Acehnese values could
encourage a sense of brotherhood and unity in the province but
these values should be managed carefully, especially regarding
the issue of Acehnese and non-Acehnese. Meaningful dialog about
different sides' feelings should be pursued in a cautious,
respectful but also candid manner to ensure that all members of
society regardless of their ethnicity and religion can
voluntarily live in harmony.

Dialog could be encouraged by having students visit families
of other ethnicities and participate in class discussions about
how peace was attained in other volatile parts of the world --
part of a participatory civic education subject.

The experiences of many conflict areas around the world also
show that teacher neutrality is crucial in education for peace.
As members of the war-torn Acehnese society, teachers are also
likely to have been emotionally disturbed by the conflict as many
of their colleagues will have been kidnapped or killed and many
of their schools burned down. Despite this, it is vital teachers
remain uncompromisingly neutral in front of their students.

Regarding the TNI, as long as they remain in the province, a
feeling of being betrayed by the peace accord could easily affect
non-Acehnese soldiers, many of whom have been demoralized since
the fall of Soeharto.

If these soldiers were encouraged to go to schools, meet with
students and tell their stories about their families, many of
whom have also suffered in this conflict, this might steadily
help erase the brutal image of the TNI in the eyes of many
students and encourage the soldiers to act more humanely in
future.

Nevertheless, all this will be a superficial solution if the
hearts and minds of the Acehnese are still shrouded in doubt and
fear. Therefore, Jakarta and GAM are left with no option but to
sincerely implement the peace accord.

The conflicting parties might have dropped some of their
weapons but will they really be willing to provide future
generations with books and pens? Or will they just evolve into
more power-hungry administrations that neglect education and are
happy to keep the Acehnese in a state of backwardness. Time will
tell.

The writer is an education and social affairs observer at The
Public Sphere Institute.