Vision NiE project to take peace, conflict resolution to schools

Jun 24, 2008

THE NEW Vision will, start next month, a peace and conflict resolution project, targeting secondary schools. The project will aim at cultivating a non-violent social culture of mediation and peace building among teenagers.

By Conan Businge

THE NEW Vision will, start next month, a peace and conflict resolution project, targeting secondary schools. The project will aim at cultivating a non-violent social culture of mediation and peace building among teenagers.

The project will have a weekly pull-out published in The New Vision; alongside having all schools in the country, participating in peace-building activities.

The pull-out will cover stories on managing anger, understanding dynamics of conflicts, how to make decisions in a conflict situation and developing negotiation skills, among other issues.

Excerpts of a novel entitled Aboke Girls: Children Abducted in Northern Uganda written by Els De Temmerman, will be run, for six weeks. The book looks at the Joseph Kony-led LRA war in creating child soldiers in Uganda, and the bravery of a nun who risked her life to save these children from the devastating war.

Comprehension questions from this novel, meant for students, will also be published.

Addressing teachers on the project, The New Vision’s Newspapers in Education (NiE) Coordinator, Jamesa Wagwau, said: “The media is a powerful tool that can be used to change minds of people. Everything begins in the mind. It is the mind that has to be nurtured.
“We need to bring up children who are tolerant. This has to be nurtured in them at an early stage.”

This is part of The New Vision’s NiE project, which will help improve the reading culture in the country’s schools.
“In most of these schools, teachers jealously guard the books, leaving the pupils with no chance of accessing reading materials,” explained the Vision Group’s deputy Editor-in-Chief, Barbara Kaija.

Kaija, who was addressing teachers from all regions of the country at the company headquarters on Saturday, added: “Newspapers can be used in conjunction with textbooks, to improve literacy levels in schools.”

She said the NiE is not a subject but an exciting teaching-aid. “Since newspapers simulate the real world in the classroom, they can be used to teach any subject on the school curriculum and at any level,” she explained.

Kaija explained that newspapers contain something of interest for everyone - sport, fashion, world news - and so has the advantage of appealing to learners. “These can be used to teach students in schools,” Kaija explained.

For entry into the competition, school authorities can contact Jamesa Wagwau on Tel: 0772 631 032 or at jwagwau@newvision.co.ug

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