^aDepartment of English & Communication, Durban Institute of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, PO Box 952, Durban 4001, South Africa. E-mail: narsees@dit.ac.za

Abstract

This paper is motivated by a need to foster worldwide institutional collaboration and to reconsider conceptualizations of teaching, learning and researching education, encompassing a concern with human rights and a culture of peace. Education is a fundamental element in all processes that aim to build a culture of peace and human rights (UNESCO, 2000). It is more than the provision of information, it is a lifelong, value-based process of improving knowledge and action within the framework of the principles of the international instruments of human rights. My paper is underpinned by the underlying principle of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, Satyagraha and Ahimsa. In this paper, I articulate that in the context of deep human crisis in the 21st century, the education of future citizens need to be redressed so that a better balance is achieved between academic excellence and human values and moral perceptions. The making of moral citizens must mean persons with 'human excellence'. I argue that single-minded focus on economic growth and globalization over much of the 20th and 21st centuries has led to an erosion of human values (Galtung, 2003, Lasonen, 2003, Lickonia, 1993). Anger, resentment, lust for revenge, even success through aggressive competition, subverts, undermines and are corrosive of this good. For peace education to accomplish societal change, attitude and value formation need to be considered. This is the first time for the Durban Institute of Technology, that a module of this nature entitled 'Value-Based & Peace Education' is being piloted with students across the faculties. The module strives to produce in learners learning outcomes oriented to knowledge, skills, values and attitudes through an integrated approach. It seeks to encourage the culture of peace, interfaith dialogue and education for wholesome value choices. Principles, which are essential cornerstones on which an education for a humanistic and international society must be built, are incorporated.