Some notes about the teaching of Human Rights in Kurdistan regional school

 

Some notes about the teaching

of Human Rights in Kurdistan regional school

 

 

The ministry of education in the region has decided to include the international declaration of human rights courses into its current educational system starting from grade 10 or the first year at vocational schools. This can be regarded as a cultural achievement in its educational policy as the local authority accepts this as part of its loyalty to the UN organization, since the latter saved the Kurdish people from an inevitable demise triggered by the 1991 uprising. The paramount subjects taught in our contemporary world, their lies the importance of educational methods covering the role of UN in global arena. The related course to be taught, side by side, the present syllabus as several countries have already implemented similar initiatives. Thence after, this thought¬-provoking subject has become a prominent feature in the new educational policy of various countries where democracy basis is much rooted. Education plays a vital role in the overall development in any given country and consequently, it becomes an important element in the formation' of a personal identity of its citizens. Therefore, education should take its appropriate path in this direction and the teaching of human rights can be regarded as the basic element of modem educational philosophy. In order for education to be modernized, it should bear the modem features, some of which are:

1- more openness and consideration for humanitarian rapport utilizing the technological progress in advertising improving public relation, the spanning of knowledge in communication area and advocating cultural inter-action among the existing civilizations.

2- The other facades of new world, democracy and human rights, as some countries have previously inscribed the humanitarian principles in its constitution. Democracy implies the will of the people and that is, decisions are made via their elected representatives, this actually has occurred in many countries like Sweden, Belgium and Germany.

3- The existence of individual social input in the community which can be regarded as nationalistic moral value and the latter to be concisely developed within the context of increasing future pioneers.

4- Advocating personal training at an early stage to promote personal freedom and feeling of responsibility and liability through organized teaching, using the gradual teaching stages and from this, prospective view of epoch characteristics may be initiated and its related cultural effort in the teaching of this subject as an important element of Kurdish educational philosophy will be materialized. Hopefully, it would carry aspects of the century and to congruent with the genuine fundamentals of the regional stability.

Since the formation of the local authority in 1992 in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Ministries were able to manage the task of the region according to their particular specialization. It is the duty of the regional MOE to adopt the teaching of human rights subjects at the school curriculum and to see it implemented. The SCR 688 became evident locally, regionally and internationally and primarily concerned with the human conservation, i.e. the, civilians, and hitherto, providing the displaced masses with "the Safe haven" in Iraqi Kurdistan. This was the first step for the initiation or rather reviving the Kurdishness among the, Kurds ' by means of the new world order agitating modem spirits. The Human Rights issue has become a modem mean and weapon, if used skilfully and actively, to gain the objectives listed hereunder:

1- This weapon has been accidentally explored despite the fact that all the proceeding attempts have failed its path orientation.

2- The use of this medium is not limited to a certain group, on the contrary, all the classes of pupils should participate in Its implementation.

3- This mean has' gained a robust power in Kurdistan, surpassing the, enemy's latent plan to decimate the national aspiration.

4- It is an active mean against foreign intrusion and triggers the facilitation in the function of legislative, implementative and justice power in the managing of authority and consequently, establishing,' the basis for a Kurdish modern entity in the region.

The objectives behind the teaching of Human Rights

1- To acquaint pupils with the aims of this international achievement in a concise and clear fashion.

2- To make the pupils realize the causes that lead to the establishment of the UN.

3- To emphasize on the interaction between different cultures within the human objectives and the importance of stressing the cultural dialogue between various nations.

4- To familiarize the pupils to respect others and their views in a friendly fashion.

5- It is a new page in the world history conveying the hierarchical beliefs of the masses.

 

The teaching methodology of Human Rights

There are many methods that teachers of humanitarian science, specially history, can use in the classroom as concerning the visual aids, used as a concrete stage to complete the abstract stage. This method of teaching ought to be flexible and reliable and to promote the development, there should always exist new element to be added to the previous, ones, which the specialized teacher-should choose in teaching the subject. It is also important to enrol these teachers in specific training courses that include the subject of Human Rights in curriculum, like, Teacher's Institute and Colleges of Education and Arts. We can divide the teaching of this subject according to the educational stages:

1- Primary stage

2- Secondary stage and Vocational schools

3- The Specialized Institutes and Universities

 

1. The primary stage: education at this stage can be limited to simple matters concentrating on child's rights focusing on the ten principles issued by the UN. This can be taught by visual and pictorial aids, simple stories and animated means pinpointing at the objectives of the UN.

2. Secondary stage and Vocational schools: education at this stage can be limited to teaching of the international declaration of Human Rights and the manifesto of the UN organization for education science and culture, UNESCO. In teaching of this subject, the teacher should depend substantially on the seasonal programs about the current world events such as: TV programs, mass media, specialist magazines, school publication and distribution.

3. The Specialized Institutes and Universities: at this stage, teaching should expand the international declaration of Human Rights including the basic UN doctrines, analysing the international situation to be used as a modem for the opening of educational and cultural dialogues among the nations and eventually, asking the students to provide studies and research about the important events in the global rapport.

Evaluation and Examination in the subject of international Human Rights: at the end of the course, pupils should sit for an exam to evaluate their understanding and knowledge of the subject. It is preferable to arrange simple brief yet thorough questions within a limited period to test the pupils’ retention in the pertinent domain. Moreover, the questions should be within the pupil’s knowledge capacity and thence, graded to higher Levels

 

Ahmed Qarani

 Spring 1998