|
Felisa
Tibbitts, Case Studies in Human Rights
Education: Examples from Central and Eastern Europe,
Council of Europe/HREA, 1997 USE OF THE MEDIA IN HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON POLAND
The Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is an educational and research institute that has sponsored numerous human rights-related activities throughout Poland, as well as other parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Use of the media cross-cuts most of the educational programming, which include sections on public education, the training of professional groups, a Human Rights school, and youth work. In the area of visual media, a sophisticated public education campaign was organized by the Foundation through a formal collaboration with Polish public television. This collaboration began in 1991, and resulted in the development of fifteen half-hour television programs concerning the international system and instruments for protecting human rights. In 1994 and 1995, this production was renewed, resulting in ten more twenty-minute movies concerning the basic philosophy and history of human rights, as well as problematics related to human rights and Polish society. Questions of euthanasia, equal access to medical care, compulsory military service and suicide are raised. Foundation Director and narrator of the programs, Marek Nowicki, explains that "we try to show that human rights is very interesting and creative, because there are more questions than answers." Many of these programs were translated into both English and Russian for use in other parts of Europe; the agreement between the Foundation and the Polish public television, is that these films may be made available free of charge within Central and Eastern Europe and the NIS, although they remain copyrighted in the West. Videocassettes of these programs are also available and being used in Polish schools. Such videocassettes, if properly designed, can be used not only in the classroom, but for teacher, NGO and youth worker training purposes. For example, the Council of Europe's 1995 videocassette, "Stand Up Now for Human Rights" was used in an Albanian teacher training. This 40-minute video portrays the human rights work of young people and presents current issues of concern to youth. The Albanian teachers were encouraged to use the video as a supplement to other textual, human rights education materials, in order to ignite children's interests in human rights issues and action. The Council video also contains a useful guide of suggested follow-up activities and human rights education resources. Videocassettes pertaining to human rights and suitable for students and training purposes have been developed by other non-governmental organizations, as well, such as Amnesty International. In the written media, numerous mediums for human rights education have been employed. Back in Poland, within the Youth Section of the Foundation, students from the upper secondary school level are responsible for publishing a quarterly journal "Polis," on "the art of public life." Written by leading Polish intellectuals, young people shape and edit the editions, which have a circulation of around 2000. Polis editors have also provided forums for discussions, which are then captured in writing in the journal. For example, after the showing of "Shoah" on Polish television in 1994, which concerned the history of Polish Jews and anti-Semitism, the students invited members of the editorial board of "Idele" a leading Jewish journal, to hold a discussion with them. Subsequently, both Idele and Polis published portions of these discussions in their respective journals. The Foundation also uses professional publications in order to reach key groups such as teachers. For example, the Polish Ministry of Education publishes a monthly social science journal that goes to every school. Foundation members have facilitated publishing in this journal key human rights documents, along with commentaries from Polish human rights specialists, as well as selected portions of the Polish constitution. These journals are permanent fixtures in school libraries. Student-run newspapers are another, local way to bring the human rights message into the school environment. In Slovenia, for example, upper secondary students in the town of Kamnik have combined their interests in English language learning, the media and civics education to produce a periodic English language bulletin. The magazine publishes students' poetry, photos and drawings, written responses to topics such as "My Favorite Thing" and interviews with famous Slovenian and international figures. Such experiences are very valuable for students, who have the opportunity to learn more about writing in a foreign language, magazine production and also civic participation, while sharing interesting and important information with fellow students. Newspapers and television programs are themselves useful instructional resources in the teaching of human rights. Both trainings and instructional texts often include exercises that require students to study the media for representations of human rights in their society. For example, in an Amnesty International exercise, students are asked to bring in newspapers and look for examples where human rights are violated, where they are protected, and where they are in conflict. After small group presentations in class, the students are then asked categorize these rights. Follow-up activities include assigning students to conduct the same exercise for television and radio broadcasts. Auditory means, such as radio and cassette tapes can also be used effectively in a human rights education program. In Poland, the Youth Section is allotted three hours every Saturday on a private radio station, where they are given the chance to give a young person's perspective on on contemporary problems that relate to democracy and human rights. In the small town of Ziri in Slovenia, students from the town=s school take over the local radio station on two afternoons a week to produce their own programme. As well as providing them with an opportunity to express their opinions and take responsibility for programme content, the students (eleven and upwards) have also learned many new skills. In Romania, the branch of a national human rights NGO organized a weekly radio "call in" program, hosted by a staff member, whereby Romanian youth were encouraged to call in and share their concerns over the air. Just as in the case of television, radio series concerning human rights topics can also be organized. In cases where television, radio and newspaper technology is not readily available within a school or community environment, it is still possible for students to appreciate and participate in some form of media-related education. For example, if a regular school newspaper cannot be organized, students might still undertake short-term projects that involve mock newspaper construction. Similarly, mock radio and television forums can be organized within a classroom or school environment, which give students public opportunities to interview, debate and discuss human rights-related issues.
Felisa Tibbitts
© Human Rights Education Associates, 1997
|