[hr-education-na] Re: Strategies for introducing HRE into primary and secondary school

Dear friends,

There are several sources of HRE curricula e.g. "Refugees: A Canadian
Perspective" (www.unac.org). A central repository of HRE resources needs
to be created for more effective visibility and communication of related
topics. This repository would provide a universal HRE "portal" for access,
discussion and promotion of HRE issues for teachers and students alike, as
well as the broader community. Such an endeavor would require compilation
of information from aforementioned sources, reviews of curricula by
academia and a website to store the information, or links to it. This can
be implemented as a project spearheaded by an NGO involving collaboration
across several organizations. The objective would be to establish a
central forum where resources (educational curricula, policies and
learning materials) can be collected, ideas can be shared and issues
discussed.

As far as extra-curricular activities are concerned, as Lorna aptly
pointed out, it is crucial to 'engage' teachers and students in a
practical and meaningful manner so that they can appreciate the relevance
of HRE in their own minds. One such initiative in this direction that I
would like to share is the Global Letter Exchange Program. This program
has been a successful attempt towards bringing refugee issues into the
lives of students by making them real. The primary goal is to connect
refugee youth to non-refugee youth as pen friends by means of letter
exchange. This is a simple yet powerful way of forging relationships and
spreading awareness. Young participants are fascinated by the idea of
corresponding with students of the same age, but from the opposite end of
the globe with differing culture and circumstances than those existent in
their surroundings. Non-refugee youth involved in the program are exposed
to first-hand information about human rights issues and are encouraged to
take action by spreading awareness within their own local communities.

I am thrilled to partake in this consultation and look forward to insights
and ideas that develop through this discourse.

Warm regards,

Ankur Sharma
asharmac@sfu.ca
www.respectrefugees.org
1-519-8834086




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