Constructing Peace through Education in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

131 Pages·2010·2.75 MB·English

The Discourse of Unity:
Constructing Peace through Education
in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

Petra Novakova
Master Thesis 2010
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The Discourse of Unity: Constructing Peace through Education
in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

University: Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Faculty of Management
MSc Human Geography specialisation International Migration,
Development and Globalisation

Student: Petra Novakova
Student ID: 0853410
Contact: [email protected]

Supervisor: Dr. Lothar Smith
Second Reader: Dr. Ir. Mathijs van Leeuwen

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IX
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY XI
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS XIII

1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Introduction to the Conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts 1
1.2 The Research Problem 4
1.2.1 Research objective 5
1.3 Societal Relevance of the Project 6
1.4 Policy Relevance of the Project 7
1.5 Thesis Outline 9
2 CONFLICT & PEACE BUILDING 11
2.1 Conflict & Complex emergencies 11
2.1.1 Ethnic conflict 13
2.2 Conflict transformation theory 16
2.3 Peace building 20
2.4 Introduction to Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA) 21
3 DEBATE ON EDUCATION AND CONFLICT 25
3.1 Education and conflict 25
3.2 The current international debate on ―education and conflict‖ 26
3.3 Geography of Education 29
3.4 Two faces of education 30
3.5 Ethnicity, Culture and education 32
3.6 Embedding education in societal interaction 35
4 EDUCATION IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICT
ENVIRONMENTS 37
4.1 Impact of Education on the Peace building Process 37
4.1.1 Difference asks for a design of development policy accordingly 38
4.2 The Role of Education in the Aftermath of Conflict 38
4.3 Education Impact Assessment (EdIA) 40
4.3.1 EdIA: a „must‟ in educational assistance in conflict entanglement 41
5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 47
5.1 The research methods 47
5.1.1 Literature review 48
5.1.2 Semi-structured interviews 49
5.1.3 Participatory observations 49
5.1.4 Focus group discussions (FGD) 50
5.2 Guideline for situation analysis 50
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5.3 Data Processing 51
5.4 Challenges and limitations 52
6 CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS ON ITS PATH TO PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE 55
6.1 Administrative structure of the CHT 57
6.2 The Education system in Bangladesh 60
6.3 Education in the Chittagong Hill Tracts 62
6.4 Education in the district Bandarban 64
6.4.1 Lapagoi Para school and Lemujhiri Para in Bandarban district 65
6.5 The National Education policy mismatch 67
6.5.1 Implications of the policy mismatch for the CHT 68
6.5.2 Education Impact Assessment applied to CHT 70
6.6 Filling in the gaps in the provision of formal education 71
6.6.1 Missing common approach to cultural diversity in schools 73
6.7 Transforming society through education in CHT 74
7 CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS 77
7.1 Conclusions 77
7.2 Recommendations 83

BIBLIOGRAPHY 85

ANNEXES/ APPENDICES 91
Annex I Overview of the international legal framework regarding education 91
Annex II Article from the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) 96
Annex III Illustration of the Atlas ti software used for data organisation and analyses 100
Appendix I UN resolution on the right to education in emergency situations 101
Appendix II Chittagong Hill Treaty 1997 106

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List of Tables
Table 1: Underlying causes of ethnic conflict 14
Table 2: Negative and Positive Faces of Education 30
Table 3: The PCIA and EdIA Indicators Matrix 44
Table 4: Overview of the Types of School in Bangladesh 61
Table 5: Amount of Government and Registered Non-governmental Schools in Bandarban District 64
Table 6: Literacy and Dropout Rate in the 7 Upazila of Bandarban 65
Table 7: Relevance of the Government Education Policy in CHT 67
Table 8: Education Impact Assessment (EdIA) of the Situation in CHT 70
List of Figures
Figure 1: Changes of Ethnic Balance in the CHT 16
Figure 3: Multidimensionality of Conflict and Conflict Transformation 19
Figure 2: Transformers and Triggers of Conflict at Different System Level 19
Figure 4: Types of Societies (simplified model) 35
Figure 5: Scheme Illustrating the CHT Administrative System 59
Figure 6a: The Status of Education of Household Heads in CHT 62
Figure 6b: The Status of Education of Indigenous Population Household Heads in CHT 63
Figure 6c: The Status of Education of the Bengali Household Heads in CHT 63
Figure 7: Composition of communities in the villages in CHT 73
List of Boxes
Box 1: Steps towards Building Peace within and between Communities 43
Box 2: Government Action contrary to CHT Peace Accord 56
Box 3: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) 91
Box 4: Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960) 92
Box 5: The right to Education: Articles 13 and 14 (specifies the rights to education) and
Article 27 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural 94
Box 6: Convention on the Rights of the Child 95
Maps
Map 1: Division of the three districts in CHT 3
Map 2: The spread of indigenous ethnic groups in CHT 58
Pictures
Picture 1: Pre-primary community school 66
Picture 2: The Lapagoi Para pre-primary school project 66

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am grateful to a number of people for their advice and support during researching and writing
this thesis. This research has been realised with the help of the various participants who devoted
their time and granted a personal in-depth interview providing their views and perspectives on
the research subject. I would therefore like to thank them for their interest in the research subject
and their support showed during the interviews. I am grateful to the staff of the UNDP –
CHTDF in Rangamati and Bandarban for their support and help in facilitating my fieldwork
and for sharing their views on the thesis subject in relation to the geographical area CHT
Bangladesh. Also to the staff of the local NGO Toymu in Bandarban, many thanks for the time
and provided translation in the field. My thanks also go to Mrs. Gita Poyck, Mr. Louk Stumpel
and Mr. Liam Owens, educational experts from Edburgh consultants, for clarifying to me some
of my question regarding educational development projects. I own a deep debt of gratitude to
Dr. Lothar Smith who critically supervised the thesis and who provided me with invaluable
feedback to improve and strengthen the thesis. Last but not least I wish to say thank you to you
Bart, for your support and advice during the whole process of writing.

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