Teaching human rights at schools?

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.

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