Education And World Peace

September 21, every year is the Interna-
tional Day of Peace; a day set aside by the
United Nations General Assembly to take stock of humanity’s contributions to the promotion of peaceful co-existance in a world thorn apart by wars, conflicts, discords, violence, man’s inhumanity to man and injustice.
The key intent of the declaration was to encourage people across the world to embrace the core values of peace and compassion, which are the binding principles and collective purposes for the birth of the UN in 1945 and which has been one of the geatest areas of challenge for the world.
With the theme: “Education For Peace,” the UN encourages member nations to find ways of building consensus on imperatives for peace through education and public awareness on issues related to peace across all borders and fronts.
Speaking at an event to commemmorate the day, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, said: “It is not enough to teach children how to read, write and count. Education has to cultivate mutual respect for others and the world in which we live, and help people forge more just, inclusive and peaceful societies.”
The Tide salutes the pivotal roles played by the UN in facilitating peace building across the world. Even so, some member nations especially one or two in the Security Council have often failed to cooperate as and when due to agree and enforce peace with a view to making the  would a safer place.
Although, UNESCO, an agency of the United Nations has done so much in drawing attention to the development of the human person, the theme of this year’s Peace Day has shown the burden of developing education in the nations of the world both in content and quality.
The Tide believes that the idea of doing business with peace through small and medium arms proliferation, particularly in efforts to promote bilateral relations with rascally regimes, is only a suicidal venture for humanity as a whole. We recognise the place of diplomacy and political intervention, but the civilised world cannot afford to play cat and mouse when avoidable conflicts endlessly waste human lives in nations across the world.
While we agree that education is a strong catalyst in moderating and developing the minds of men to accept  peace as the right path to sustainable growth and development, the content of edcuation in some sections of the world actually turns the concept of education on its head.
Also of concern is the dilemma that even in this age and times, a lot of people have no access to formal education. In some cases, the standards are so low that those who go through them suffer another type of danger. The world needs both quality and peace education.
As the world continues to celebrate the International Day of Peace, it is only instructive that world leaders initiate and promote only the right kind of education, such  that recognise peace as a pre-requisite for life and living. It must be noted that peace is intended to protect life which is given by God and that life is sacred.
On the other hand, the increasing number of idle hands across the world on account of un-employment that threatens peace can only  be reduced by the type of education that creates skills, technical and vocational knowledge that leaves no room for idle thoughts.
It is sad that in the face of advancement in learning and religion, the world still suffers aviadable civil wars, ethno-religious conflicts, and unfathomable violence across the globe. Even the gift of reasoning that separates man from animal appears to have taken leave of a lot of people..
Even as the world takes steps to build peace through education, people should not be denied the right to fair hearing and justice. Similarly, the economy must also be operated in ways that it does not leave anyone without food and shelter. This is because for such persons, peace means nothing.
On the whole, mankind must begin to accommodate the different view-points of others and jettison the air of superiority or invincibility that often makes peaceful co-existence difficult.
The world needs peace more than ever before. Sadly, the feeling has often been that peace is what some other person gives.
Closer home, it is in times like this that people will fully appreciate the unprecedented commitment of the Rivers State Government under Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to improved educational pursuits and indeed security. The transformation of the learning environment in the state is not only a thing of pride for Rivers State and indeed Nigerians, but an attraction to learning, which needs to be replicated in other states and climes.
Interestingly, the state also sends its students abroad on scholarship for some specialised training as well as opens the way to other specialised training in agriculture, oil and gas activities among others. Already, how these had engaged the youths and doused tension in the state is there for all to see.