How the education system has helped strengthen democracy

The Pal-Think for Strategic Studies institution organised the ninth lecture under the title: “The role of the educational system in strengthening democracy”, within the project “Strengthening the democratic and civic values of the youth”, as this lecture comes within a series of lectures the Pal-Think for Strategic Studies institution implements in the field of democratic awareness.

The lecture was presented by Dr Ibrahim Abu Muammar, president of the National Association for Democracy and Law, with the attendance of 20 young men and women from the various university specialisations.

Dr Abu Muammar began the lecture by asking the male and female participants about what they expect to benefit from during the lecture, and discussed with the participants the concept of education and democracy, their relation to each other, the mechanisms of activating democracy in our educational system, and what the solutions are for consolidating the democratic system. He made clear that no society can be democratic — believing in the private and public freedoms and human rights, and holding fast to the logic of difference and the legitimacy of dialogue and tolerance — unless it is raised on true democracy in behaviour and application, and that comes only through upbringing on the principles of sound democracy.

He recommended the necessity that the programmes, curricula, and study courses present expanded legal material that qualifies the learner to know their rights and duties, so as to be democratic in their conduct and behaviours with themselves and their peers. He discussed with the attendees the Palestinian educational system and the extent of its suitability to the democratic concepts, and the opinions varied on whether the problem is from the educational curricula themselves or from the way education is applied. The lecturer added that good education requires good governance, for it is the foundation of the democratic process, and it is what we lack today in Palestinian society.

At the lecture's conclusion the lecturer conducted a brainstorming process with the participants about the importance of reforming the education process in the region, and the answers centred on the point that education is the foundation for the rest of the different fields of life, and if the educational process is set right according to the democratic philosophy, the whole society is set right — and thereby we surpass the stage of despotism and partisan control and accept the other. Democratic education is a necessity for building a democratic society, and likewise a necessity for economic and social development.