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The Transforming Role of Education in a Post-Conflict Region in Southeastern Bangladesh: Reaching Out With Education for Peace

The Transforming Role of Education in a Post-Conflict Region in Southeastern Bangladesh: Reaching Out With Education for Peace

Ala Uddin
Copyright: © 2017 |Pages: 16
ISBN13: 9781522518808|ISBN10: 1522518800|EISBN13: 9781522519768
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1880-8.ch008
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MLA

Uddin, Ala. "The Transforming Role of Education in a Post-Conflict Region in Southeastern Bangladesh: Reaching Out With Education for Peace." Handbook of Research on Science Education and University Outreach as a Tool for Regional Development, edited by B. Pandu Ranga Narasimharao, et al., IGI Global, 2017, pp. 77-92. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1880-8.ch008

APA

Uddin, A. (2017). The Transforming Role of Education in a Post-Conflict Region in Southeastern Bangladesh: Reaching Out With Education for Peace. In B. Narasimharao, E. Wright, S. Prasad, & M. Joshi (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Science Education and University Outreach as a Tool for Regional Development (pp. 77-92). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1880-8.ch008

Chicago

Uddin, Ala. "The Transforming Role of Education in a Post-Conflict Region in Southeastern Bangladesh: Reaching Out With Education for Peace." In Handbook of Research on Science Education and University Outreach as a Tool for Regional Development, edited by B. Pandu Ranga Narasimharao, et al., 77-92. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1880-8.ch008

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Abstract

This paper attempts to provide an insight into the transforming role of education in peace-building in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). The region has been witnessed ethnic conflict since the mid-1970s. However, the situation intensified with the government sponsored population transfer program (1979 onward), which not only changed the demographic profile, it forcibly displaced many indigenous people—who less than two decades earlier had already been displaced by the Kaptai hydroelectric project (in 1960s). Consequently, the indigenous people who were already in duress because of land scarcity caused by the dam and transmigration faced further survival problem in competition with the Bengali settlers. In this situation, the indigenous people resisted the influx of the Bengali settlers in the hills. In response to the resistance, the Bangladesh government deployed a huge number of military and other armed forces to foil the “insurgency”. In consequence, many incidents of massacre, attack and reprisal attack, killing, sexual violence, etc. took place, often committed by the armed forces and Bengali settlers. However, a couple of initiatives led to a long-awaited agreement in 1997, which formally ended the two and half-decade-long bloody conflict in the hills. Even though 17 years have elapsed since the signing of the Accord, the region is neither a peaceful nor a secured region to its people. Under the circumstances, this paper proposes education can transform the communities toward peaceful coexistence. Addressing the sensitive issues education can contribute to reconstruct and social renewal in the aftermath of violent conflict. Based on empirical findings, also consulted with secondary sources, the paper posits, merely education is not the solution of the long-standing conflict; however, it has significant role to play in peace-building in the post-conflict and conflict-affected societies, like the CHT.

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