Managing Tertiary Education for Peace and Conflict Resolution in Nigeria

Peace is a necessary condition for the sustainable development of any nation. It is described as the absence of physical and structural violence, and the presence of justice. Peace education involves human rights and conflict resolution education. This justifies the prominence of peace and conflict resolution education in the educational agenda of nations. Based on this, the paper examines the management of tertiary education for peace and conflict resolution in Nigeria. The population of the study comprised lecturers from the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences from the Universities of Benin, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Uyo, totalling 2312. A sample of 231 lecturers was drawn for the study using the Cluster Sampling Technique. One research question and one null hypothesis were considered in this study. Data collection was done using a structured instrument tagged, "Managing Tertiary Education for Peace and Conflict Resolution" (MTEPCR) Questionnaire. The Instrument was duly validated and tested for reliability using the Cronbach Alpha reliability formula. This gave a reliability coefficient of 0.81. Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and simple percentage were used to answer the research question. The null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 alpha level, the one-way ANOVA. The result of the study indicated a low extent in the implementation of peace and conflict resolution education in tertiary institutions. There was no substantial difference in the implementation of peace and conflict resolution education among four federal universities. Based on these findings, key policy, practice and research implications are discussed.

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The Role of Education in Implementing Social Justice

American Journal of Islam and Society ◽

10.35632/ajis.v31i2.1053 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 153-156

Author(s):

Zahra Seif-Amirhosseini

Keyword(s):

Social Justice ◽

Conflict Resolution ◽

American University ◽

International Service ◽

Conflict Resolution Education ◽

Peace And Conflict ◽

Global Peace ◽

The University ◽

Peace And Conflict Resolution

In honor of World Day of Social Justice, on February 24, 2014, Shia RightsWatch and American University held the first-ever conference devoted to presentingnew paradigms for exploring how the rights of the minority Shia Muslimcommunity can be protected against such entrenched realities assubordination, injustice, violence, discrimination, and marginalization. Socialscientists define minority as a culturally, ethnically, religiously, or racially distinctgroup that coexists with, but is subordinate to, a more dominant group.This subordinancy, the chief defining characteristic of any minority, has nothingto do with numbers, a fact perhaps most vividly illustrated by South Africaunder apartheid (c. 1950-91).The conference, held at American University, was cosponsored by theMohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace. Well-known and high caliberpolicymakers, professors, and researchers shared their findings in order tooffer solutions designed to foster peace, tolerance, and religious freedom forthis group and the regions in which they reside.In his capacity as the first occupant of the endowed Mohammed SaidFarsi Chair of Islamic Peace as well as the founder of the university-wideCenter for Global Peace, Abdul Aziz Said (School of International Service,American University) welcomed everyone. He remarked that peace is farmore than the absence of war, that it is, in fact, inclusive of social justice, ecologicalsustainability, sustainable economics, and cultural diversity (peace asthe absence of structural violence). Thus, conflict resolution is one of the buildingblocks of peace. Given that the ends we seek and the means that we employin the study of peace and conflict resolution are interconnected, teachingthese two fields must be based on a pedagogy that is itself peace and notmerely a process of certification. He argued that education about peace andconflict resolution and education for peace and conflict resolution are twosides of the same coin. Peace and conflict resolution education combine informationwith liberation and procedure with transformation. He concluded ...

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