On that day Sarah, a student of junior high school 8 Muhammadiyah of Bandung was excited and also a little nervous. This was because the school was going to be visited by students from the junior high school Yahya Christian of Bandung. This meeting was Sarah’s first experience of interacting with students of different religions.
At first, the atmosphere was so stiff. Both Muhammadiyah and Yahya students looked shy. However, through various games, they begin to mingle and interact.
They succeeded in breaking the ice. The barriers of difference began to crumble. At the end of the event, they looked like close friends who seemed to have known each other for a long time.
On another occasion, it was the Muhammadiyah students’ turn to visit Yahya Christian junior high school. To welcome the visitors, the students of the Yahya surprised them.
When Muhammadiyah’s students entered the schoolyard, the students of Yahya greeted them with chanted sholawat. One of the teachers of Muhammadiyah school admitted when he heard the prayer that he was emotional and almost burst into tears.
This is one of the stories from the Breaking Down The Wall (BDW) program. A program that builds bridges and breaks down walls of prejudice. The program initiated by PeaceGen is part of peace education.
The students from the two schools (Muhammadiyah and Yahya) had participated in the 12 Basic Values of Peace training. As a follow-up activity, they were invited to practice it in real life.
Learning Peace Education Through Breaking Down the Wall Program
The BDW program started in 2009. Until now, BDW has been duplicated in various places, including schools. Last year BDW was held in Solo and Poso. This year, schools in Bandung and Makassar had the opportunity to build bridges with schools of different religions.
This year’s BDW raised the theme of the integration of peace education in the national curriculum for learning Civics Education, Islamic Religious Education, Christian Religious Education, and Guidance and Counseling through teachers training was implemented on 6-10 September 2021.
A total of 70 teachers from 10+ schools in Bandung and Makassar participated in the training. They were equipped with the latest learning methods during the pandemic, namely blended learning & teaching, online learning and teaching methods that are implemented in fun and interactive ways. They were also taught how to teach with storytelling and gamification into the learning process.
Not only building bridges between schools, but this month PeaceGen also builds bridges of collaboration between civil society organizations and the government.
PeaceGen’s collaboration with the Center for Detention Studies (CDS) launched a geospatial database for criminal acts in Indonesia. The launch of this platform is an effort to conduct mapping in strengthening efforts to prevent extreme violence in Indonesia.
Apart from Breaking Down the Wall program, in September PeaceGen also implemented training for self-development related to peace values, including Conflict Resolution Training, Happy Without Bully Training, Self Love Training, and Universal Module Training.
Click the button below to read more PeaceGen’s latest report.
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