【English】
The theme of this month's Hiroshima Abroad Ambassador event is "What are you studying/researching?"
I am a first-year PhD student at Hiroshima University. I am interested in education and conflict resolution.
Why am I interested in this area?
The following is a story I would like to share with you.
Located in South Asia, Sri Lanka is a multicultural country with many ethnic groups. Since ancient times, Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, and Burghers have lived together in harmony. The majority of the population is Sinhalese.
Nevertheless, ethnic tensions have existed for a long time. Thirteen years have passed since nearly three decades of ethnic war ended. Currently, Si Lanka is engaging in the post-war peacebuilding process, and one echelon is education.
Education should help a person to become well-rounded with knowledge, skills, values, ethics, and good attitudes. An essential part of this process is to make children learn how to respect each other, learn skills for managing conflicts and protect human rights locally and globally.
I have nearly five years of experience at a government school in Sri Lanka. It was a trilingual school. Students and teachers belong to different ethnic groups as well as different religions. That means majority and minority ethnic groups are taught separately in the same school. The language was a significant barrier to expressing one's ideas with other ethnic groups.
I would like in my research to analyse the education system within the multi-ethnic Sri Lankan society and find ways to contribute the sustainable peace and post-war reconciliation in Sri Lanka
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Source of the images ( some) from the internet.
