We live in an interdependent and globalized world and the world has become less peaceful. Collectively, we face a range of challenges: inequality, poverty, racial and religious intolerance, discrimination, violent extremism, migrant crisis and conflicts.

The future will pose new issues that we cannot yet predict but we should prepare our future generations to face these challenges with the knowledge and skills provided by our global learning commitment. In order to bring about change we need to learn about the challenges we face, our interdependence and our power to positively effect change and contribute to the world.

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One of the biggest problems in our society is violence, especially violence against children. It cuts across boundaries of geographies race class, religion, culture. The Convention on the Rights of the Child forms an international basis for ensuring the rights and protection of children. Yet, in every country of the world, there are children who continue to fear and experience violence. Education is a fundamental right to each and every child. Education is crucial for children’s development, enabling them to cultivate their creative talents and critical thinking, gain life skills, develop social relations, and grow with dignity, confidence and self-esteem as individuals. It has a unique potential to generate an environment where attitudes condoning violence can be changed and non-violent behavior can be learned.

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Schools can break patterns of violence and provide skills to communicate, to negotiate and support peaceful solutions to conflicts. Schools offer children the possibility of learning and internalizing values of solidarity, tolerance and respect, and they serve as important resources for the promotion of non-violence and for overcoming tension and mediating conflicts, among pupils and staff, and also beyond, in the wider community.