The Practical Aspects of Learning Human Rights*
HURIGHTS OSAKA

(Third part)

Government program

The support of the government is crucial in any human rights education in
schools program. Though many NGOs work independently from governments in
their school-based programs, governmental support is essential in order to
have a sustainable program on human rights education in schools.

Many governments in Asia-Pacific have launched a number of initiatives
supporting human rights education in schools. Japan has a law on human
rights education but the programs seem to be mainly done by local
governments, without complementing national programs. Pakistan and a few
other countries have adopted national plans of action on human rights
education.

National human rights commissions have on their own developed materials on
human rights. Some of these materials are meant for teachers and students.

An older national government program is from the Philippines. The Philippine
(Ministry) Department of Education implements in-service training and
material development on human rights education (in partnership with the
Philippine Commission on Human Rights), GAD, and CFSS programs. In 2003, a
series of workshops was held in various parts of the country to

a. Collate and analyze the data results from the survey [on teachers'
awareness of human rights],
b. Outline the matrix of HRE [human rights education] core
competencies/skills of a human rights teacher,
c. Design a competency-based training for teachers with reference to the
skill and contents requirements of the [relevant subjects in the
curriculum]"
d. Develop training packages including facilitators manual (with field
testing component),
e. Finalize the facilitators manual based on field testing results.

Because of its recently revised human rights teaching exemplars, the
Department started in February 2004 the training of trainors and teachers to
equip them with "relevant content, skills and attitude to effectively
integrate human rights values in their respective learning areas."

The Department's GAD program, which is meant to implement a law on women,
aims to "eliminate gender stereotyping in textbooks and instructional
materials, ... [and] raise gender awareness among the participants enabling
them to be more committed and responsive to gender equality."10 Training
workshops are being held under this program. Under the CFSS program, a
training kit was produced which contains among others the following: 11

a. Effective Teaching-Learning in Child-Friendly Schools: A Training Manual
b. Protective and Inclusive Child Friendly Schools: A Training Manual
c. Gender Sensitivity Training Facilitator's Manual
d. Storybooks on Children's Rights
e. Is Your School Child-Friendly? A Self-Assessment Guide.

The Philippine experience shows concrete steps that promote human rights
education in schools. It also shows that collaboration between the
Ministry/Department of Education, and other institutions (such as national
human rights commission and international institution like UNICEF) are
essential in implementing programs.

Indeed, there are valuable practical experiences from some countries in the
Asia-Pacific that should be models for other countries interested in human
rights education in schools to follow.


Notes

8. Department of Education Memorandum 160, series of 2003, Analysis of the
Human Rights Awareness Level of Classroom Teachers and Workshop on Designing
Teacher Training Packages on Human Rights Education (HRE), 15 May 2003.
9. Department of Education Memorandum 16, series of 2004, Training of
Trainors and Teachers on Human Rights Education (HRE), 13 January 2004.
10. Department of Education Memorandum 19, series of 2004, Gender and
Development (GAD) Programs), 15 January 2004.
11. Department of Education Memorandum 19, series of 2004, Child-Friendly
School System Trainer's Kit, 21 March 2003.

* This article appeared in the March 2004 issue of FOCUS Asia-Pacific. It
can also be accessed in the HURIGHTS OSAKA wensite: www.hurights.or.jp