Safe Spaces Human Rights Education in Diverse Contexts

CORNELIA ROUX
patriarchal system has been accepted for centuries, embedded in cultural and
religious stories, principles and values. Sen (2009:112) argues that the “emphasis
on the role of individual and public reasoning on family decisions and social
processes is well reflected in the theoretical underpinning of ‘social choice theory’
as a general approach.” I question the notion that girls have choices and we have to
accept gender disparity in society and regard it as a normal phenomenon (Sen,
2009:166). Cultural and religious practices seem to be supported by the processes
of traditionalism and the notion of enculturalism. Education should be the agency
for social change and, as argued by Christie (2010:8) “a socio-cultural practice,
where young people are given access to formal knowledge codes in mediated
relationships by others.” The group or community’s relationships with one another
become a united force against the individual’s rights and/or fear, in this instance, of
girls. When Sen (2009:166) states that “group relations can be called cooperative
conflict,” I argue that this is a reason why the opaqueness of violent discrimination
in practices and rituals against girls seems to be accepted and supported in
communities. Nussbaum (2010:39) also alerts us to the “silent crisis and the lack of
humanities and the possibility to teach children critical thinking and critical
approaches to their daily life on cultural issues.” The demands for social justice in
this case are a conceptual problem in the face of an inadequate idea of social justice
on the demands of social choice and fairness.
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HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION?
Human Rights Reports on South Africa (2010) indicate that there is a huge problem in
South African schools regarding human rights discrimination and human rights
education. The implementation of the Policy of Human Rights across the Curriculum
(2003) and the teaching-learning discourses of democratic values outlined in the
Manifesto of Values, Education and Democracy (Department of Education, 2001) and
Policy on Religion in Education (Department of Education, 2003), seems to fail many
learners in the South African school system. Teachers’ knowledge of these policies in
classroom management and the critical discourses for human rights education is a
concern amongst researchers and stakeholders alike (Du Preez, 2008). The discourses
on democratic values and human rights education need to identify discriminatory
practices and the violation of human rights. The violation of children’s rights reported
in the media and the report of the then DoE’s Director-General Duncan Hindle on the
Priorities and state of readiness (2009), indicated clearly that a culture of violations is
prevalent in SA schools and most of these violations are against girls
(http://www.search.gov.za/info/previewDocument D+Hindle%3A+Department+of
education: March 2009). Human rights violations in schools are still being submitted
to the South African Commission of Human Rights, whilst media reports on learners’
behavior and respect towards one another portrays a lack of knowledge that includes
lack of respect for human dignity. The question this raises is: Why is there still very
little progress on upholding human rights even though policies in schools are in place
and INSET 1 programs have been introduced to promote a culture of human rights in
education and to support human rights education?