Schools as zones of peace  

We constantly seek to live in peace. Whether in our intimate relationships, our families, our small communities, our nation, or the entire world. Even while disagreements over ideas, beliefs, and perspectives will inevitably arise, we constantly yearn for a peaceful conclusion to every argument. Additionally, we always think of schools as places of peace because we believe that children learn best in settings where peace is valued, maintained, and respected.

However, the latest episode involving the deaths of schoolchildren shocked and saddened the entire world. In a gun and knife attack at a day-care center in northeast Thailand, an ex-policeman killed at least 37 people, the most of them children. In the wake of the incident in Nong Bua Lamphu Province, police claim he later killed himself and his family. Children and adults are among those killed at the nursery; according to the police, the perpetrator stabbed most of his victims before running away.

We believe that schools as zones of peace is primarily for any situation, conflict or fragile context, where children are facing disruption in education because of military use, occupation, attacks on schools, forced recruitment, or the use of classrooms as storage for military weaponry. In some circumstances, implementation of this initiative may lead to a state endorsing the declaration.

In the our country, for instance, one of the purposes and objectives of the Department of Education is to establish schools and learning centers as facilities where schoolchildren are able to learn a range of core competencies prescribed for elementary and high school education programs, or where the out-of-school youth and adult learners are provided alternative learning programs and receive accreditation for at least the equivalent of a high school education.

The effort aims to ensure both girls' and boys' safety at school and prevent the disruption of instruction brought on by armed conflict. The initiative is based on the notion of "Schools as Zones of Peace," which was effective in guaranteeing children's access to education in any nation amid civil strife. The project's local objectives include creating safe learning settings in times of conflict and afterward, increasing community and student awareness, and fostering local and national involvement in safeguarding education. This is one way that nations might go about putting the Safe Schools Declaration into practice through a bottom-up strategy that also involves neighborhood schools and communities.

To maintain some type of discipline --or, to put it another way-- some form of peace, students are strictly prohibited from using any dangerous weapons at school. They are also taught the importance of peace and how important it is for everyone to get along and work together.

Armed combatants from both government forces and armed organizations are normally not allowed in schools, according to the regulation. Instead of inside the school, government authorities' armed force security units must be stationed nearby, if necessary.

Our schools must be protected by any means necessary in order for them to serve as effective havens of peace. And where parents, teachers, employees, administrators, and students can feel safe and secure.