The Silsilah Elementary School and Extensions’ teachers attended the In-Service Education and Training (INSET) and Professional Development of Teachers SY 2022-2023 last August 22-26, 2022 at the Oasis Livelihood and Training Center, Harmony Village. As part of the training, the teachers were given four Peace and Dialogue and Education workshops under the Tulay Bata for Dialogue and Peace (TBDP) program, which was formally relaunched this 2022. In the first session, the teachers were asked to remember and share their most precious childhood memories. They were also tasked to analyze and evaluate what makes a peaceful and chaotic community. The second session introduced peace and the types of violence in society. The teachers were given the venue to share their reflections on the stories of peace educators who were transformative in their approach to conflict resolution in their school communities. The third session focused on the re-imagination of school communities where the teachers shared their dreams of a peaceful and dialogical school community. In the last session, peace and dialogue education and culture-based education were emphasized for implementation in the Tulay Bata activities of SESE. The teachers were challenged to formulate and demonstrate in teaching peace and dialogue-based education which integrates peace routines; culture and faith-based values and teachings; and local contexts and contents. On the last day of the INSET, the teachers fruitfully showcased their teaching demonstration which integrated peace and dialogue education.
The Tulay Bata for Dialogue and Peace is an educational approach directed toward children at the preschool and elementary levels. It is based on the vision of Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra PIME, founder of the Silsilah Dialogue Movement, of a student-centered education that forms children to be active actors of peace and dialogue in society. It aims to inculcate in children the four pillars of dialogue: dialogue with the self, others, creation and God and to empower parents to be active agents in the spiritual formation of children. It sees communities and linkages as important co-educators and partners in the holistic formation of children.
There are three main goals in the relaunch of the Tulay Bata for Dialogue and Peace this 2022. Firstly, TBDP wishes to re-implement the inclusion of the Tulay Bata for Dialogue and Peace module in teaching in the Silsilah Elementary School and Extensions (SESE). Secondly, it aims to empower culture and faith-based education and to localize and contextualize the contents of teaching with the integration of peace and dialogue routines and practices in classroom teaching of SESE. Lastly, it desires to introduce the Tulay Bata for Dialogue and Peace module to the Department of Education as an educational contribution to the national level, aligned with Silsilah’s vision of promoting the culture of dialogue as a path to peace in society.
Janille Mariz A. Garduque