Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), an international peace NGO, successfully held the ‘DPE-HWPL Peace Education Teacher Graduation Ceremony’ in Maseru, Lesotho, on March 13. This event was jointly conducted with the Development for Peace Education (DPE), a civil society organization specializing in peace education within Lesotho.
The ceremony was attended by 51 teachers who successfully completed the peace education course, along with high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) of Lesotho, education figures, and community leaders, totalling about 74 participants. In particular, this event served as an important platform for collaboration where government agencies, the international community, and local civil society united to integrate peace values into the national education system.
Mr. Tsepo Valentine Ntutu Mosoeu (Coordinator of DPE) stated, “The partnership with HWPL has brought new hope to the educational field in Lesotho. Beyond simple knowledge transfer, we are first transforming teachers so that students can grow into ‘peace citizens’ who resolve conflicts through dialogue and respect each other. This graduation ceremony is the beginning of that change.”
Honorable Ntoi Rapapa (Leader of the Alliance of Democrats and Minister of Education) emphasized, “Social conflicts and violence cannot be resolved solely through institutional changes; people’s values must change. If we do not teach peace to children, someone else will teach them violence, which is why the role of teachers in the field is more important than anything else. I hope that this education will be fully implemented within the public education system so that all children in Lesotho can grow up learning peace, and I will actively support this.”
Mrs. Puleng Nkaleche (Principal of Ribaneng High School) shared her thoughts, saying, “Having experienced the tragic pain of losing children in the past, I felt the desperate need for peace more deeply than anyone else. The peace education introduced after establishing a relationship with HWPL following the September 18 event in 2023 has become a light of healing and hope for our school and children. Now, our teachers will become messengers of peace and teach so that tears are never repeated on this land.”
Starting with this graduation ceremony, HWPL and DPE plan to expand the scope of peace education throughout Lesotho and regularize the teacher training process. The teachers who received certificates will play a key role in instilling peace values in students at all levels of schools, contributing to the establishment of sustainable peace and social harmony in Lesotho.
