A Don, Prof. Kolawole Raheem, has said that Peace Education should be taken more seriously globally. He called for its inclusion into the school curriculum and non-formal learning.

Speaking at the African Refugees Foundation (AREF) lecture with the theme, ‘Mainstreaming Peace Education into School Curriculum and Non-formal Learning’, Raheem argued that peace education must be contextualised to make it culturally and spiritually relevant to everyday life for global living.

He said that peace itself is elusive and very complex, noting that every society defines it according to its preferences.

“So far, peace education is majorly taken as learning conflict resolution skills. It has not also been seen as a priority in our quest for sustainable development. We still think that it is enough to manage conflict and go on with our everyday life. However, events all over the continents in this world show that violent activities are more rampant and taking many more innocent lives.

“The competitions among nations and individuals have become very alarming. Even students at schools are perpetrators of violent activities that claim the lives of students and teachers. The political competition for leadership is a war. The more we talk of civilisation the more we see savage things being promoted by the so-called modern man/woman.

“The way out of this quagmire is for nations to make use of their educationists to come up with purposive Peace Education that is contextualised for teaching and learning in schools. It must be part of the school curriculum just like science and other subjects,” he said.