Education plays a key role in increasing students’ resilience and can ultimately contribute to building a culture of peace.  It can reduce the incidence of radicalization and violent extremism that leads to terrorism.  However, to play this important role, schools must be considered safe spaces, both physically and psychologically, by their students.  Teachers have a crucial role to play through the environment they create in their classrooms.  A safe and positive school environment leads to learning and growth, while the opposite increases susceptibility to negative influences.  To ensure that teachers have the skills and tools necessary to create safe and positive school environments, USAID provided funding to UNDP Kosovo to support the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology in the preparation of two curricula manuals for lower and upper secondary school teachers.  The “Teaching Peace and Building Resilience” curricula manuals will help empower teachers in their role of creators of safe and positive school environments. 

The “Teaching Peace and Building Resilience” curricula manuals launched on February 12, demonstrated the Ministry’s commitment to meet its obligation of preventing violence in schools and preventing violent extremism.  The manuals outline ways that teachers can prevent threats to student safety and security, challenge risky behaviors, and ensure students can make informed decisions.  The material also includes ways that teachers can assist students in building key competencies such as creative and critical thinking skills, effective communication, and other life skills.  Overall the methodology contained within the manuals will help bolster peace and resilience at the individual level, school level, within families, and within communities.