At a time when societies in Asia are faced with a crisis that questions old systems and offers opportunities for change, the role of schools should be reviewed. It is in this context that human rights education in Asian schools has to be appreciated. There are significant efforts by various institutions in the region in this field. Their experiences are lessons for other institutions to learn.
This report is one step toward a greater recognition of these efforts. This is an attempt at making available the insights that go with implementing human rights education programs in schools. The workshops created a forum for exchange of ideas on the substance and mechanism for making effective programs for the teaching of human rights in schools. This report tries to capture such rich experience.
There are many more steps to take in order to make human rights education a normal part of school curriculum in Asia. This report shows that steps are being taken by various types of institutions other than the schools. And this is a most significant element in promoting human rights within the formal education system. Non-governmental organizations are bringing their field experiences in human rights work into the realm of formal education. While national human rights institutions and education institutes are beginning to give more importance to the inclusion of human rights in the school curriculum. There is still much room for other institutions to lend their hand in this field of human rights.
We hope that the initiatives of various institutions in developing programs on human rights education in schools will get greater recognition from the general society in whose name these efforts are initiated in the first place.
Dr. Dong-hoon Kim
Director
Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center