INTRODUCTION
1. Overview of the Topic
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”1 These words of Nelson Mandela convey profound hope and inspiration. In today’s globalized world, with all its challenges and struggles, the only “weapon” that can foster genuine peace and security is education. That is why education shall be understood and approached from a holistic, all-encompassing perspective. The classic basic educational skills, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, are no longer sufficient in a globalized world. These should be supplemented by skills needed to attain such objectives as empowerment, awareness, cultural understanding and respect, universal moral values, and social cohesion. In which case, education can serve as a milestone for global peaceful coexistence and collaboration. It can become an indispensable asset for attaining the ideals of peace, harmony, and social justice. Effective education systems are thus critical in ensuring sustainable peace and development.
There exist multiple definitions of education. On a more general level, education refers to a range of activities and experiences, varying from formal teaching and learning to the building of underlying understanding and knowledge. The word education is derived from the Latin educare, meaning “to raise,” “to train,” “to bring up.” Such a linguistic foundation could imply that education ought to be understood as a life-long process, leading to bringing out the best in every human being. One of the first important thinkers on education, Plato, believed that education had to be holistic and that it ought to play a prominent position in the formation of citizens.2 In tune with Plato, Aristotle stressed that one of the primary goals of education was to produce good, capable, and moral citizens for the polis.3
Today, education is more vital than ever before in determining how well people adjust to the realities of an increasingly interdependent world. Education determines who will be able to face persisting challenges in a constructive and positive way. In this respect, national governments should construct education systems that meet a multitude of goals: social, intellectual, economic, political/civic, moral, and cultural. As stated by Jacques Delors’ International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, life-long education shall strive to base itself on the following foundations: learning to live together (by developing an understanding of others and their history, traditions and spiritual values, which would induce people to manage inevitable conflicts in an intelligent and peaceful way), learning to know, learning to do, and learning to be.4 According to the Commission, the acquisition, renewal, and use of knowledge ought to be emphasized in the educational process. Education should constantly adapt to changes in society.
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that: “everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all the basis of merit.”5 It states that education “shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups…,” ending with the rights of parents to “choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”6 This concept of the necessity of access to education is echoed in the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to “ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling,”7 signaling the importance and commitment that the United Nations (UN) attaches to education. This is no coincidence.