Transforming schools into "territories of peace" - Lily's Blackboard

Transforming schools into "territories of peace" - Lily's Blackboard:

Transforming schools into “territories of peace”

The world’s longest continuous armed conflict could soon come to an end, and educators are leading the way to transform a public school system ravaged by war into a “territory of peace.” Where is all this happening? The answer: Colombia. After six decades at war, and after four years of intense negotiated talks, the government of Colombia and the FARC rebels have declared a truce and signed a peace agreement. (On October 2 Colombians will go to the polls to vote on the agreement.)

Colombian teachers have been direct victims of this violence. More than 1,000 unionized teachers have been assassinated, many hundreds more threatened and exiled. Their schools and communities have been devastatedby a war that has claimed more than 220,000 lives, and generated close to 5 million refugees.

But today, Colombian teachers–members of a profession in which hope is part of the DNA–are preparing to build a new country where peace is possible, where a new generation of students will grow up with books instead of bullets. The Colombian Federation of Educators, FECODE (in Spanish) is leading the way with a project to transform public schools into “territories of peace.”

About 70 percent of teachers in Colombia are unionized, and recently leaders of education unions from Latin America, the United States (yes, NEA was there) and Education International, went to Colombia to support the campaign for peace and reconciliation and FECODE’s initiative to transform schools into Transforming schools into "territories of peace" - Lily's Blackboard: