IPNEWS: With the reopening of primary and secondary schools for the 2024/2025 academic year, Church Aid Inc. (CAI) has launched a “Back-to-School” Campaign to promote Forgiveness Education across Liberia, focusing particularly on the nation’s youth. Partnering with the International Forgiveness Institute (IFI) based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, CAI seeks to instill the “moral virtue of forgiveness” as a key element of peacebuilding and reconciliation.
Dr. Robert Enright of the International Forgiveness Institute, an expert in forgiveness education, highlighted the long-term benefits of the initiative, stating, “It is our contention that if we can educate a majority of students in a community in the fine art of forgiving, then that community is likely to become more peaceful in the decades to come as the children enter adulthood and apply forgiveness to family, work, and other community contexts.” Dr. Enright, head of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the author of the concept “Renewing Communities through Forgiveness Education: A Prospect for Peace,” written in September 2017, which serves as the foundation of the program.
The official launch took place on Friday, October 4, 2024, at the Mother Tegeste Stewart Apostolic Pentecostal School in Brewerville, led by Bishop Kortu K. Brown. In his remarks, Bishop Brown emphasized the urgency of “healing hearts and building peace” in Liberia, highlighting the transformative power of forgiveness as a means to reconciliation. He explained that the pilot program will target up to 50 public and private schools, involving volunteer teachers trained with instructional guides developed by IFI. The initiative seeks to promote reconciliation through the teaching of forgiveness and the creation of school and community clubs to foster peaceful coexistence.
Bishop Brown noted that as part of the 2024/2025 updates, Forgiveness Education Clubs (FEC) will be established to actively engage students in promoting forgiveness among their peers. Additionally, the program will provide refreshers for volunteer teachers involved in the forgiveness education project through Training of Trainers (TOT) sessions. In-school instruction will continue to expand, bringing the curriculum to both new and established schools while engaging local and national educational authorities for greater involvement. The After-School Awareness Program (SAP) will also help increase community knowledge of forgiveness, and Community Awareness Clubs (CAC) will be organized to bring together religious, civic, and community leaders to spread forgiveness education.
Bishop Brown urged Liberians, both at home and abroad, to adopt forgiveness as a guiding principle in their daily lives, calling for reconciliation to be embraced at the community level. A new field coordinator will soon be appointed to guide the implementation of the expanded activities.
The “Back-to-School” Campaign aims to create a lasting impact by embedding the values of forgiveness within Liberian schools and society, laying the groundwork for sustained peace and reconciliation across the nation.
