Teaching human rights at schools?

Alpha Amirrachman, Jakarta

During my time as a teacher at some informal education institutions, I found the students to be relaxed in their expression of ideas. Jokes that mocked the New Order regime were carefully timed during discussions, making us chuckle. At public schools, however, students were generally tense. Jokes were told, but naturally not about the New Order regime.

When I touched on the issues of human rights, students showed interest. But there was no student who raised questions.

Lessons on human rights can be stimulating for students, but which method of teaching works best?

In light of the fact that the world has been rocked by terrorism -- which disgraces human dignity through its violent acts and the prejudice and discrimination that it incites -- this is a critical question. While democratic values are now being adopted here, human rights violations continue in various new forms.

Indeed, there are now many school textbooks that cover human rights issues, but teachers lack the experience to teach human rights values to students according to their stage of development, which is pedagogically essential to effectively impart the values to students.

Betty A. Reardon in her book Educating for Human Dignity: Learning about Rights and Responsibilities, outlines practical educational activities to be practiced in classrooms based on the developmental level of elementary and secondary school students.

For childhood level (ages five to eight), the main concepts and values are rules, order, respect, fairness, diversity, cooperation and personal responsibility; and the discussion topics are inequality, unfairness and harm.

At this stage, the concepts of social order, fairness, community and responsibility are introduced through the practicality of classroom rules. It should be imparted that observing agreed rules is important so that everybody can have opportunities to engage in all learning activities. In terms of diversity, students are exposed to the notion that the beauty of the whole family is characterized by the willingness of its members to recognize their differences.

For later childhood (ages nine to 11), the main concepts and values are law, citizenship, community rights, constitution, freedom, social responsibility; the discussion topics are prejudice, discrimination, poverty and injustice. At this stage, the teacher introduces the idea that a citizen has both rights and responsibilities, thus introducing the basic concept of citizenship.

In classrooms, through drama or puppetry, a scene can be shown where a child is denied participation in class activities due to specific reasons, followed by discussion on how prejudice and discrimination can hamper people's right to receive a decent education.

For adolescents (ages 12 to 14), the main concepts and values are justice, equality, equity, global responsibility and international law; while the discussion topics are ethnocentrism, racism and authoritarianism.

In classrooms, teacher can ask students to list things that can make the world better and compile human rights news and stories from the media that reflect their wishes, such as the change from authoritarianism to democracy in some countries.

For youths (ages 15 to 17), the main concepts and values are moral exclusion and inclusion, moral responsibility, global citizenship and ecological responsibility; the discussion topics are ethnocide, genocide, torture, political repression and environmental abuse.

For example, students can be encouraged to get involved in a movement that pushes the government to outline new regulations that preserve the right to a sustainable environment. Their involvement in such activities can be stimulating as it enhances both their organizational skills and their human rights awareness.

Above all, if we are serious about making this nation more peaceful, civilized and democratic of its own accord, it is vital for the government -- with the help of any concerned non- government organization -- to start institutionalizing both the conceptual awareness and practical skills of human rights education through capacity building such as the training of teachers and workshops. Locally rooted educational activities, however, should further be designated, encouraging the emergence of a genuine awareness.

Unlike during the New Order regime, now we have the opportunity to make this happen. The question is: Do we have the commitment and will to pursue this?

The writer is an M.Phil candidate at the School of Policy and Practice, Faculty of Education and Social Work, the University of Sydney.