UNICEF - School textbooks, Ethno-religious conflict and Education for Peacebuilding

All children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential – to the benefit of a better
world. - UNICEF
Textbooks  convey not only knowledge but also social values and political identities,
and an understanding of history and the world.- UNESCO

Sri Lanka has been one of many countries that have been using school textbooks for several
decades to propagate intolerance of ‘the other’ thus creating vicious conflicts in multi-ethnic
and or multi-religious countries.

For decades UNESCO and UNICEF have been helping such countries transform their 
Textbooks and learning to achieve peace-building. When UNICEF and the govt of
Netherlands undertook Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy Programme (PBEA) in 2012-
2016 with 14 countries (Burundi, Chad, Cote d’ivore, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia,
Myanmar, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, State of Palestine, Uganda and
Yemen), Sri Lanka did not join them. Reports on the programme are very encouraging:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED573879.pdf

Reports on the programme are very encouraging:

Learning for Peace: Lessons Learned from UNICEF’s Peacebuilding, Education, and
Advocacy in Conflict-Affected Context Programme, Friedrich W. Affolter and Anna Azaryeva
Valente, 20/12/2019, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-22176-8_14