A report by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has revealed that countries with more educated women are peaceful compared to those with a less educated female population.
The GPE and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) research affirmed the potential for education to build peaceful societies.
At the same time, the report showed that countries with higher overall school completion rates have fewer recorded conflicts especially based on the rates of secondary completion.
“Countries with higher rates of female school completion, particularly at the primary level, tend to have less conflicts,” the report read in part.
Besides, the report showed a correlation between higher rates of both primary and lower secondary school completions with factors creating and sustaining peaceful societies.
According to the report, quality education is linked to shorter conflicts, and it can decrease conflict risk by fostering economic development and social equality.
“The number of years learning in school is the strongest correlation on reducing various forms of violence,” it read.
How Education Promotes Peace
The report explained that inclusive, quality education promotes understanding, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence among individuals and communities.
Moreover, education holds the potential to reduce the likelihood of conflicts by fostering critical thinking, encouraging open dialogue, and creating economic growth opportunities.
“While the results of this exploratory study cannot be interpreted causally, there are a number of statistically significant correlations that associate quality education with more peaceful and stable societies,” the report read.
Report Details the Challenge in Using Education to Promote Peace
The report said the world’s attention focuses on how violence and conflict disrupt learning, rather than how learning can contribute to peace.
It explained that conflicts are tearing attention away from the need to support education as a pathway to peace.
“With more than two decades’ experience in lower-income countries, including those affected by conflict, the world urgently needs to recognize the role of education in fostering more peaceful societies and vastly increase its support to education systems,” it stated.
According to the report, nearly a quarter of a billion children in lower-income countries globally are out of school.
It emphasized that the relationship between education’s contributions to more peaceful societies is grossly under-investigated.
This according to the report provides only a partial picture for governments and donors when making critical investment decisions.
