UNESCO Must Urgently Revise School Textbooks in Sri Lanka To Stop Hate-Mongering and To Start Peace-Building
UNESCO Must Urgently Revise School Textbooks in Sri Lanka To Stop Hate-Mongering and To Start Peace-Building
UNESCO Must Urgently Revise School Textbooks in Sri Lanka To Stop Hate-Mongering and To Start Peace-Building
We in Sri Lanka have been finding over the last several decades how our
school history/civics textbooks have been presenting material in an utterly
unacceptable manner harming our multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.
Here is a collection of clips from several research papers:
https://www.scribd.com/document/333264605/UNESCO-Must-Urgently-
Revise-School-Textbooks-in-Sri-Lanka-to-Stop-Hate-mongering-and-to-
Start-Peace-building
3.Sri Lanka has been pretending to address the root causes of the conflict
in Chapter 5 in the textbook on Grade 10 textbook on Civic
Education( http://www.edupub.gov.lk/Administrator/English/10/Civic%20Ed
ucation-G10-E/PDF%205.pdf ) and tripped up GEM Report team:
A.
i.Policy Paper 28: Textbooks pave the way to sustainable development
The Paper has Sri Lanka under the sub-title ''Progress towards promoting
peace'':
‘’In Sri Lanka, textbooks long fostered enmity between ethnic groups.
Sinhalese textbooks portrayed Sinhala kings as heroes defeating the
Tamils, who were depicted as invaders. Sinhalese Buddhists were
presented as the only true Sri Lankans (Cardozo, 2008). Six history
textbooks spanning grades 7 to 11 published in 2007-2008 no longer
include strong explicit stereotypes of Tamils but largely brush over Tamils’
story, culture and religion by providing a Sinhalese-centric history of the
country. The textbooks present role models that are almost exclusively
Sinhalese, such as the kings Vijabahu I and Parakramabahu or prominent
Sinhalese politicians. The absence of Tamil or Muslim role models offers
pupils from minority communities few figures with whom to identify.
Textbooks also fail to recognize alternative interpretations of historical
events and to encourage students to engage critically with the past (Gaul,
2014). Sri Lanka has made some encouraging progress in textbooks,
however. After decades of conflict and civil war between its two largest
ethnic communities, Sri Lanka has initiated several reforms to include
conflict resolution and reconciliation mechanisms in its textbooks (Figure
13) (Vanner et al., 2016)’’ – Textbooks pave the way to sustainable
development, December
2016, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002467/246777E.pdf
ii.We sent GEM Report team a letter on why the last bit of their conclusion
about Figure 13/Vanner et al is wrong and hence the ''promotion'' to the
new sub-title ''Progress towards promoting peace'' from the preceding sub-
title ''Breeding intolerance and prejudice through textbooks'' under which
Afghanistan is cited , is wrong.
iii.So their next report has Sri Lanka under the sub-title ''Textbooks can
stoke or perpetuate conflicts'':
''In Sri Lanka, textbooks have long promulgated ethnic enmity. Sinhalese
textbooks portrayed Sinhala kings as heroes defeating the Tamils, who
were depicted as invaders. Sinhalese Buddhists were presented as the
only true Sri Lankans (Cardozo, 2008). Six history textbooks spanning
grades 7 to 11 published in 2007/8 no longer included overt Tamil
stereotypes but largely brushed over Tamil history, culture and religion and
presented almost exclusively Sinhalese role models. The absence of Tamil
or Muslim role models offered minority students few figures with whom to
identify. Textbooks also failed to recognize alternative interpretations of
historical events or encourage students to engage critically with the past
(Gaul, 2014).'' - Accountability in Education: meeting our
commitments, UNESCO, 24 Oct
2017, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0025/002593/259338e.pdf
So Sri Lanka does not want its students to learn about the causes of the
protracted ethnic conflict that has been afflicting and agonising their
country for nearly 6/7 decades. Ever since the armed rebellion started
35/40yrs ago, Sinhala leaders have been telling the Sinhala masses and
the international community about ''terrorist problem'' and nothing about the
causes of the ethnic conflict that led to the terrorist problem.
C.Sri Lanka has succeeded in tricking GEM Report team into saying:
''Sri Lanka has made some encouraging progress in textbooks, however.
After decades of conflict and civil war between its two largest ethnic
communities, Sri Lanka has initiated several reforms to include conflict
resolution and reconciliation mechanisms in its textbooks.''
It is good to know about other countries. But Sri Lankan children are denied
the opportunity to learn about the root causes of the conflict afflicting their
own country which is essential for peacebuilding according to vast amount
of research carried out by UNICEF in many conflict-afflicted
countries: http://www.ineesite.org/en/education-for-peacebuilding
5.Chapter
1, http://www.edupub.gov.lk/Administrator/English/10/Civic%20Education-G10-
E/PDF%201.pdf , in the same textbook has this at the
beginning:
Introduction to Democratic Governance:
‘’In the long history of civilization, man used to live together with a view of
facilitating the fulfillment of his basic needs. With the gradual development
of society, the need arose for an organized system of governance to
facilitate weal of society and protection of law and order.
Accordingly, various countries have practised different methods of
governance to rule them. Monarchism, (federal) aristocratic system, and
democratic governance can be cited as examples. At present, most
countries including Sri Lanka have implemented democratic governance.’’