MSU General Santos aims to become ‘National Peace University’
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 19 August) — Mindanao State University in General Santos City is now equipped to become the “National Peace University,”school officials said.
Mario Aguja, a professor at MSU General Santos, said last week’s four-day conference here of peace scholars and experts from all over Mindanao have re-equipped themselves with new tools and approaches on peace education.
The conference, held from August 7 to 10, was attended by academic scientists, researchers, peace advocates, and educators from over 30 universities and colleges in the island.
Aguja, MSU faculty regent and also the project leader of the Commission on Higher Education-Institutional Development and Innovation Grant (CHED-IDIG), on Wednesday said the big challenge confronting educators has always been how to present the narratives of Mindanao from that of biases, prejudices and conflict, to that of peace and development in our area.
“Sabi nga nila, karamihan sa atin ay dito na ipinanganak at dito na rin mamamahinga sa Mindanao,” (As they say, most of us were born here and will also die here in Mindanao) he said.
He was optimistic that last week’s gathering of scholars and experts will give them the opportunity to build networks and collaborate on significant effort towards meaningful initiatives in helping attain peace in the island.
He said the event was designed to share inspiring experiences on significant matters that highly affect peace education from the different communities, giving everyone a clearer narrative about their Mindanao, he said.
“We cannot just do it as an institution of higher learning and it was the first time to bring everybody together to learn from each other what we are doing, to share our victories and pains as Mindanaoans, as we all dream to bring peace in Mindanao,” he said.
For his part, university chancellor Usman Aragasi said the curriculum and programs for peace education are now in place.
Aragasi said the peace educators’ learnings from the conference will be their commitment to becoming ambassadors of peace and goodwill.
CHED chairperson Prospero De Vera III, addressing last week’s conference, said discussions on peace must be given urgency because it’s a continuously evolving concept.
“While at some point, we tell everyone to be patient because it is so difficult to untangle historical events, there is also a sense of urgency. We should not be complacent when we talk about peace,” De Vera III said, adding there is a need to make peace a lifestyle.
De Vera III emphasized the need to assert that peace must have a historical perspective.
“Peace advocates must view peace education from a historical perspective because in peace education and in the discussion of peace, historical distortions are all over the place. We must correctly articulate the role of colonialism, the role of subjugation, and the historical marginalization in Mindanao,” he said.
He cited that schools of higher learning should be more involved in the discussion of peace education because they have the means to undertake research on education and extension programs.
He said the involvement of educators is important because discussions on peace “must necessarily rectify distortion in historical interpretation, especially now that fake news is all over the place and it is so easy to agitate people to get angry.”
Educators have the responsibility to undertake research to correct historical distortion, embed it in their teaching function, and make it part of a general education curriculum, just like what MSU is now doing, he said. (Rommel G. Rebollido/MindaNews)
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