Workshop highlights role of teachers as ‘agents of peace’

ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a one-day workshop here in the federal capital on Wednesday stressed the need for immediate steps to rein in growing tendency of extreme behaviours among the vulnerable younger generation in the country.

The workshop titled “School Faculty Training for Peace Building” held at the House of Light School in Bara Kahu was organized with an objective to identify the growing tendencies of extreme behaviors in younger generation of lower middle and lower class as well as help the faculty of schools to take steps required to manage deviant behaviours and the drivers of extremism through different techniques, including the anger management.

Islamic Research Institute (IRI) Director Dr Aftab and Ms Sabahat and Prof Qaiser from the Quaid-e-Azam University spoke on the occasion. While addressing the ceremony, they said the violent extremism is not caused by any single factor or grievance but it grows out of an intolerant world view in which violence is the primary medium of exchange and society is a means to an end. They said there are several ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors operating within fragile, oppressive or conflicted-affected environments that help explain this phenomenon. “Marginalization, grievances and experiences of injustice or corruption also push individuals towards violent behaviours,” they said.

The speakers said that the faculty of schools can hugely contribute towards nation building and making Pakistan a place where wisdom, peace and harmony prevails. They said the teachers as agents of peace can address the legacy of violent bahaviours in contexts where religion, sect and ethnicity have mitigated against the promotion of social cohesion in the society.