Training workshops for teachers have reached seven departments in Paraguay
With the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Paraguay, the manual "Educating to Remember - The Holocaust, paradigm of genocide" is implemented at a school level.
August 10 and 11, 2017
Within the guidelines of the Educational Program to Educating to Remember and those drawn up by the interinstitutional agreement between the Ministry of Education and Science (MEC) and the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace (GEAP), the "Training and awareness-raising for the prevention of violence", aimed at the Network of Prevention and Comprehensive Care for Violence towards Girls, Children and Adolescents in the educational field of the MEC.
Departmental coordinators, educational supervisors and technicians of the MEC are trained by experts in different areas and with a focus on comprehensive education based on principles and values for the prevention of all forms of discrimination or violation of human rights, using as a foundation the study of the Holocaust as a paradigm of genocide.
The active participation of the actors who make up society, and more specifically the ministries of education, at this stage of implementation of the Program Educating to Remember in schools and colleges, is vital to the success that is wanted in the education of children and adolescents.
Since 2014, the educational program of the GEAP has found support from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Paraguay through an Interinstitutional Cooperation Framework Agreement aimed at the development of programs and projects that are properly approved, focused and related to the promotion, diffusion and protection of human rights. This agreement was renewed on August 14, 2017 and signed by Dr. Enrique Riera Escudero, Minister of Education, Dr. William Soto, Executive Chairman of the GEAP and Dr. William Paras, National Coordinator of the GEAP in Paraguay. (See related article)
Teacher training in seven departments
So far this year, between May and August, seven teacher training courses were held in the departments of Concepción, San Pedro, Alto Paraná, Cordillera, Caaguazú, Guairá, Central and the capital, with the support of trainers from Paraguay , Mexico, Argentina, Israel, Colombia and Bolivia.
They delivered the support and research material School Level Handbook "Educating to Remember", declared an educational interest by the Ministry of Education and Science of Paraguay with Resolution No. 7957.
Educating to Remember in the central zone
In the capital of Paraguay, training for the implementation of the Educating to Remember - The Holocaust, paradigm of Genocide manual was carried out on August 10 and 11, with the objective of promoting principles, values and human rights through the study of the Holocaust and other genocides, strengthening a culture of peace and respect for the dignity of the human family, for the development of a comprehensive education in schools in different countries.
The following modules were developed: a) Education for the formation of integral human beings, b) The Holocaust as an effective tool for the teaching of values and human rights, and c) War of the Triple Alliance.
The director general of the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace, Mrs. Gabriela Lara, officially presented the educational manual in this sector of the country and highlighted the objectives to be developed with this project of the GEAP at the national level.
Professor Nora Gahon, director of the Spanish Speaking Department of the Beit Lohamei Haguetaot Museum in Israel, presented the chronology of the history of the Holocaust and the warning signs that anticipate the commission of an act of discrimination and of intolerance, which on a large scale ends in the commission of a genocidal act.
Dahiana Perez, from Bolivia, an expert in peace education, presented the holistic educational approach, the fundamentals and the methodology for developing the handbook based on the Holocaust and human rights in the classroom.
Dr. Liz Caroll Cowan, Paraguayan prosecutor, also gave an account of the War of the Triple Alliance, the greatest war in America recognized by many historians as a genocide that left lessons for the population, and whose reference is important to contextualize it in the framework of acts committed against the life and dignity of the human being.
The trainings carried out within the framework of the signing of the Interinstitutional Agreement, allow approximately 65,000 teachers throughout Paraguay to be reached.
