THE PRACTICAL ASPECT OF LEARNING HUMAN RIGHTS, Second part

"The Practical Aspects of Learning Human Rights*
HURIGHTS OSAKA

(Second part)

School environment

An important project that addresses the need to have the proper school
environment for learning human rights is UNICEF's child friendly school
system (CFSS). For a number of years now, UNICEF has been giving support to
the adoption of CFSS by schools in various countries in the region. Under
its Country Program for Children, UNICEF promotes CFSS in Philippine
schools. In addition to helping realize child rights, the program links with
the Gender and Development Program (GAD) of the Philippine government which
is being mainstreamed into the education system.

A CFSS-recognized school is defined as

one which recognises and respects children's rights and responsibilities,
provides the enabling environment to realize children's rights in school,
and helps ensure such an environment in the community and households, is
child-friendly. The CFSS promotes a new appreciation of and approach to
basic education in that the school, to become truly child-friendly, needs to
be where students, teachers, parents and the community work together in
support of children's education and development. It also puts forward the
notion that the school must take responsibility for the education of
children who are unenrolled.

CFSS is promoted as an idea that is practical and feasible. A system
of assessing how child-friendly a school is emphasizes practical ways of
fulfilling child rights. According to an assessment guide developed in the
Philippines, a child-friendly school has 5 traits:

a.Inclusive, gender-sensitive and non-discriminating;
b.Effective with children;
c.Healthy for children;
d.Caring and protective of all children;
e.Involves children's families and the community.

A checklist on the meaning of one of these school traits states:

A child-friendly school is effective with children when it
- is child-centered
- has the best interest of the child in mind in all its learning activities
- has a curriculum that addresses the child's learning needs as well as
those of the community and society
- employs teaching methods that are suited to the child's age, abilities and
ways of learning
- encourages children to think and decide for them-selves, ask questions
and express their opinions.
- encourages children to participate in school and community activities
- encourages children to work together to solve problems and to achieve what
they aim to do
- encourages children to express their feelings through arts - music, drama
and other forms.

The employment of the child-friendly school concept is a practical
step that allows school administrators and teachers to see human rights
education in concrete form.

One CFSS-related project in Thailand encourages more student
activities with the support of the local community. In one seminar, parents
and teachers suggested that the school should help organize student clubs
that make use of resource persons or instructors from the local community.
These people are seen as instrumental in:

o Organizing activities involving the students
o Creating awareness among the teachers and community that these activities
do not need money
o Assessing student learning needs and interests
o Creating a list of local resource persons
o Encouraging the development of activities that promote the students'
self-esteem and self-confidence.

The project also provided the opportunity for the parents to clarify certain
rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. One issue discussed
was the concept of corporal punishment in schools. The parents learned that
it is not desired that there be no punishment at all.

The main issue is how to ban all physical punishments. It was asked: why is
it that if an adult hit another adult it would be considered illegal, but
not when children are hit? The World Health Organization asserts that a
child-friendly school must not employ corporal punishment. Research shows
that physical punishment does not only have immediate effect but causes
aggressive behavior later on. Corporal punishment is still used because
schools are unable to find a better way to solve the problem.

In a study of the impact of CFSS in some Philippine schools, issues about
teachers were pointed out:

a. Teachers' behavior

Undoubtedly, there had been an infusion of concepts and values related to
women's and children's rights into the setting of the CFSS schools covered
by the study. However, even within an environment that could be relatively
controlled by the school heads and teachers, gender biases continue to be
brought in through the materials used and the often unconscious and
spontaneous remarks and behavior of the teachers themselves. In difficult
subjects, such as the teaching of a second language and of science,
evidences of gender stereotypes tend to be more pronounced than in subjects
that are taught in Pilipino [Philippine national language] and that relate
to less difficult topics.

d. Capacity and morale of teachers
Finally, a way to boost the capacity and morale of teachers at the local
level for the promotion of both women's and children's rights is to assist
them in building institutional linkages with both [government] and NGO
[non-governmental organization] advocates. No amount of training will do any
good if the trained persons are unable to re-generate their selves and find
support from more accessible people and co-advocates.

Notes

4. Miriam College - Women and Gender Institute, Gender and Socialization
in Child Friendly Schools - An Exploratory Study (Quezon City: 2001) page 7,
and also in volume 7 of Human Rights Education in Asian Schools (Osaka:
HURIGHTS OSAKA, 2004).
5. Department of Education and UNICEF Manila Office, Is Your School
Child-Friendly? A Self-Assessment Guide, (Manila: undated)
6. Kreangkrai Chaimaungdee, "Child Rights In School" Participatory
Learning Processes for School and Community, The Life Skills Development
Foundation (Chiangmai: 2003), and also in volume 7 of Human Rights Education
in Asian Schools (Osaka: HURIGHTS OSAKA, 2004).
7. Miriam College Women and Gender Institute, op. cit., page 58.