Moral education in a post-conflict context: the case of Burundi

Burundi, like the rest of the Great Lakes region, has been shaken by widespread inter-communal divisions and violent conflict. It is commonly believed that the troubled history of Burundian society has been due to the lack of a consistent moral dimension in school curricula. It is this obvious gap that the Catholic Church, through its Moral Education Programme initiated in 2005, sought to address. The new curriculum, implemented gradually in Burundian schools, takes inspiration from traditional human values. The programme is community-and situation-based and places emphasis on an active participatory approach, in which learners try to appropriate and apply in their daily lives the moral precepts they learn in the classroom. In a post-conflict context, it is incumbent upon parents, teachers and the churches (preferably in partnership) to erect the pillars of peace by teaching moral values to the younger generation which will prevent future conflict.