Alternatives International

The World Education Forum

Refaat SABBAH — 2010-10-02T03:58:33Z

Whenever Palestinians have the chance to meet people from outside, and they realize there are still people in the world who fight for justice and fight for the rights of the other, it gives them hope— and when people have hope they work for peace.

Tell us about the status of the education system and education under occupation.

Beginning with education, it's considered one of the most important resources in Palestine. Palestinians, they don't have a lot of resources. That is why the human is the most important resource that we are working on. And education is one of the elements that protect the human there, especially since we are still under occupation. Education is not just to teach the people knowledge and skills but also to keep them aware of their rights and to keep them aware of other human issues around them. Education is how to keep memory, how to keep the history of the people, and also how to create a healthy peaceful person. Education in general in Palestine is now in danger.

We don't have a problem with how many children go to school. We have a problem with the quality of education— the quality of education is down. The research says that depression is behind that; the depression of the people: the teacher who doesn't see a future political vision in front of him, he becomes depressed. The people who don't see that there is hope to have their own identity or their own state, they became depressed. The teacher is asked a lot of questions from the students that he doesn't have answers for. He becomes depressed and the quality of education is low. That's why the World Education Forum that we are organizing came about. We are trying as much as we can to bring people from outside to Palestine, and to integrate Palestinians within this process, hoping that Palestinians will become aware of how they can deal with the problems they face in education. And education, as I said, has other aspects that we hope the Palestinian will look at— education has social, cultural, economic, and environmental aspects. And that's why we are looking forward to what we call global education and not local education.

How will the World Education Forum impact Palestinian society?

Having the opportunity to meet people from outside will help the organization of Palestinian education, including its unions. We hope the debate, discussion, experience, and practices that it will bring to Palestine will bring creativity and initiatives. I am sure when Palestinians see that there are people coming from India, Latin America, Europe, Canada, it will change them, it will give them hope. Whenever Palestinians have the chance to meet people from outside, and they realize there are still people in the world who fight for justice and fight for the rights of the other, it gives them hope— and when people have hope they work for peace.

What do you want the people from outside to bring to Palestine?

We want their experience, their solidarity; it means a lot to us. Break the siege. If the people go there, that is enough. You break the siege. You are saying to the world that we will not allow the Palestinians to be isolated, it is not fair.

What is the difference between the challenges of education in the West Bank and in Gaza?

I think this is a very good question because the challenge that we face is unity. The division among the Palestinian people has a really negative impact on education. For example, if my organization is working on civics and human rights, how will you be able to work on equality, citizenship, freedom and critical thinking and all these political rights while the people in the West Bank are not similar politically to those in Gaza. And the children and teachers, they have been affected a lot from this division because the teachers in West Bank and the teachers in Gaza don't know what to say. So it has an impact on the teacher and the students, and it is one of the reasons for the declining quality of education in Palestine.

What will you have to do to improve unity?

The World Educational Forum in Palestine, this is what we can do; we cannot do much but at least we can do something. We will do it in Gaza, we will do it in Ramallah, we will do it in different locations with international participation. This I think will help to end the division that negatively impacts education. We have to work; we have to keep working as civil society for international solidarity because I think the division is not just internal. This is clear, it also has some influences from outside.

Does Israel control the content of Palestinian education?

Israel does not control the content of education but the peace agreement controls the content. There are a lot of Israeli organizations who look at what teachers teach in the schools. There is a committee that is monitoring what is going in Palestinian schools, which is not fair. If you want to monitor the Palestinian schools, monitor the Israeli schools as well. If you want peace, if you want justice, if you want people to re-educate themselves on peace, you have to work on both sides.

How will education help in the peace process?

Education alone helps in the peace process. If the teachers believe in its value, they will transfer it to the students. They are the kings of the classroom. We, our behavior, it came from our education. There is little space for it to come from outside. You spend 18 years in the school, with 8 hours or 7 hours per day. There you build yourself and especially the human and the point of view. It's important that education build this. When we mention peace it doesn't just mean the peace process: if there is the peace process or not, if there is negotiation for conflict resolution. There is another side, where you always have to work on peace, to work on the health of the human. This is peace, the real peace that we are working towards. When you are healthy, you can work, you can struggle, you can continue living in a positive way. Healthy is not to hate, healthy is to love others, healthy is to love yourself, healthy is to insist on your rights, healthy is to be in solidarity with others, healthy is to do positive things for others. This is what I mean when I say healthy. All people should work on their health, not just Palestinians.

Refaat Sabbah is the Director of the Teacher Creativity Centre in Palestine.

Photo: flickr/ Romana Klee

What next Palestine?

Refaat SABBAH — 2006-03-28T00:53:01Z

Everybody was surprised with what has happened lately in the Palestinian political scene. This fast and powerful climb of the political Islam, not only put donors and politicians in perplexing situation, but it also caused the rest to wonder what and why this happened. The wide and noticeable corruption, the absence of rule of law and disorder in the last few years and the political and administrative ill performance have resulted in lower productivity, less loyalty to work and sever public anger.

The absence of the Palestinian leadership that was supposed to be able to lead people to a safe shore, made those people judge and punish the Palestinian authority, including those in the left, by voting for Hamas, believing that Hamas will be able to take a stand towards the mentioned issues, regardless of that stand. By doing so, they hoped it will spare things from more deterioration. The election process that brought Hamas to the top, was completely democratic. This fact was assured and witnessed by all participating local and international observers. In this regard, we would like to add that it was the first time in the Arabic world history where power was peacefully transferred, and this might present a model for future elections.

In my opinion, it was a promising thing. What they did, people were saying: either you maintain rule of law, accountability and transparency or you are out of power. In Qalqilia and Rafah, for example, Hamas took over most of municipality seats but they failed to win any in the legislative council elections, few months later. This example showed that the public has already started judging and monitoring Hamas for their work at the municipality level. As I believe, this will give the Palestinian democratic stream a four years chance to rebuild itself and get ready for the next elections. Based on what happened in Qalqilia and Rafah, Hamas is not likely to capture majority of legislative seats, and the democratic stream does have a considerable opportunity to get some of those seats. At present, all political parties, organizations and individuals in Palestine who believe in democracy, tolerance and world peace to reorganize them selves and prepare more appealing agenda.

The role of the civil society organizations are asked to intensify their work regarding maintaining regulations and legislations away from discrimination and extremism. Public education is one major field where political Islam will try to implement his agenda. Here comes the work of organizations working in the educational sector that ought to keep pursuing a teacher who cares about democracy and a student who believes in rule of law, progress and tolerance.

In the coming four years, we think that working on building capacity of educational cadre through programs that encourage issues of tolerance, democracy and diversity is of the most affective goals

View online : www.teachercc.org

Refaat SABBAH is member of the Teacher Creativity Center in Ramallah. TCC is a founding member of Alternatives international.

Je suis optimiste

Refaat SABBAH — 2006-03-27T23:41:05Z

Tout le monde a été surpris par la victoire de Hamas lors des élections palestiniennes de janvier dernier. L'essor de l'islam politique nous interpelle à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur de la Palestine et il faut se demander ce qui est arrivé.

La corruption rampante, le non-respect de la loi et le désordre prévalant dans le cadre d'une administration palestinienne lamentable se sont traduits par une vaste colère populaire. Lassés d'un leadership qui a échoué à nous mener à la libération, les gens, y compris à gauche, ont voté pour Hamas qui leur a promis d'améliorer leur sort. Le processus, tout le monde en convient, a été absolument démocratique. Ce n'est pas rien si on considère que c'est la première fois que le pouvoir est transféré pacifiquement au Moyen-Orient. Les électeurs ont parlé fort, «ou bien vous assurez le respect des lois, l'imputabilité et la transparence, ou bien on vous met dehors».

En passant, les Palestiniens sont capables de discernement. À Qalqilia et à Rafah, par exemple, ils n'ont pas voté pour Hamas, parce qu'ils ne sont pas contents de la gestion municipale par les islamistes qui avaient gagné les élections locales il y a quelques mois. Hamas le sait et comprend que l'idée de la démocratie ne sera pas remise de côté.

Les citoyen/nes peuvent changer le pouvoir, c'est la leçon de ce qui vient d'arriver et dans ma vision des choses, c'est un développement très positif. Cette élection marque donc un tournant. Tout le monde, partis, organisations, individus, s'entendent pour valoriser la démocratie et la paix. Tous sont commis à l'idée d'une société civile indépendante qui observe, critique, propose et lutte contre la discrimination et l'extrémisme. Dans le domaine qui nous intéresse, l'éducation, la balle est dans notre camp. Personne ne nous empêchera, personne ne nous donnera la permission non plus, pour mobiliser les enseignant/es dans la bataille pour la démocratie, le progrès, la tolérance.

View online : www.teachercc.org

Refaat SABBAH est l'un des animateurs du Teacher Creativity Center à Ramallah. TCC est membre d'Alternatives international.