Stop verbal and physical attacks – Peace Council urges SHS students

In the wake of Senior High School (SHS) students resorting to the destruction of school properties, and engaging in physical and verbal attacks on teachers, colleagues, and opinion leaders among others in the expression of their displeasures, the National Peace Council (NPC) is carrying out peace education campaigns in High Schools across the country to consolidate its peacebuilding efforts.

On Tuesday, 12th April 2023, the NPC engaged the Labone SHS students under theme: “Promoting Tolerance and Peaceful Coexistence in SHSs”.

In delivering her statement, Mrs. Janet Sarney – Kuma, Director of Capacity Development and Outreach of the NPC reiterated the inevitability of conflict in human existence, however, when managed well can reduce its escalation into brutalities. She added that, the maintenance of peace is the responsibility of both the young and old, chiefly, the young. This is because the youth are mostly the vehicle for the propagation of violence.

The Director said that it is the plan of the NPC to create peace clubs in SHSs however, this project will require some funding to create, manage and sustain them. She, therefore, called on corporate institutions to support this enviable initiative in the short to the long term. “The clubs will help imbibe the tenets of peacebuilding, management, and resolution of conflicts in the youth for a peaceful nation, she said.””

Students were walked through the definitions of tolerance, peaceful coexistence, conflicts, and the common causes of conflict. Additionally, students were introduced to the staircase model of conflict dynamics, escalating and de-escalating behavior, Alternative Dispute Resolution.

In her closing remarks, Madam Adelaide Ama Boye, Headmistress of the school, expressed her appreciation to the NPC for such an insightful engagement. She charged her students to be agents of peace wherever they find themselves henceforth.