It focuses on two points. 1) It is an approach to teaching/learning that respects and recognises human diversity. 2) It promotes equality and human rights and challenges discrimination against other people on the basis of gender, race, age, religion, language, political opinion, disability, health status, custom, ethnic origin, rural or urban background, birth, socioeconomic status, being a refugee or any other status.
Alvino Fantini from the USA’s School for International Training, commenting on a book entitled “From Principles to Practice in Education for Intercultural Citizenship” says intercultural education offers educators an approach to developing ‘intercultural citizenship’.
He further says intercultural education shows ways in which teachers and learners can cooperate to develop openness and willingness to learn about others and to resolve conflicts peacefully. “The world today desperately needs more citizens competent to do just this,” he says.
We live in a world which challenges us to respect others and be open to them because of who they are and not because of our stereotypes. We are all equal in human dignity and each one of us counts.
Pope Francis in his Encyclical Letter ‘Fratelli Tutti’ (2020) speaks of human fraternity and social friendship. He says by acknowledging the dignity of each person, we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity between all men and women.
“We need a community that supports and helps us, in which we can help one another to keep looking ahead. How important it is to dream together…Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travellers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all.”
We are aware of xenophobic attitudes and their consequences. Some authors who have written on xenophobia like Mogekwu (2005) suggest that xenophobes presumably do not have adequate information about the people they hate and, since they do not know how to deal with them, they see them as a threat.
Xenophobes resort to acts of violence against the people they perceive as foreigners or strangers, some of who may be even their relatives, friends and colleagues. Each person is somehow ‘xenophobic’ in nature, but we only differ in the way we react when we feel threatened by the people we perceive as threats to us.
Hussein Solomon and Hitomi Kosaka in their article entitled “Xenophobia in South Africa: Reflections, Narratives and Recommendations” published in a journal “Southern African Peace and Security Studies (Volume 2)” suggest that xenophobia is embodied in discriminatory attitudes and behaviour, and often culminates in violence, abuse and hatred. They say its manifestation undermines social cohesion, peaceful co-existence, and good governance, and constitutes a violation of human rights.
Xenophobia may emerge where people scramble for scarce resources and job opportunities since it is often in situations like this that people easily turn against each other as a survival mechanism.
Ballyn in an article entitled “Lives in migration: Rupture and continuity” published in 2011 argues that people may flee their home countries to foreign countries in search of greener pastures or because of other reasons, including running away from social unrest, political violence, persecution and so on.
Yet, while in foreign countries there too they are subjected to heinous acts as migrants. The author further argues that natives often find it difficult to cope with foreigners, who migrate in search of greener pastures, and willing to accept lower remuneration for their labour and services, thereby leading to job losses for the natives.
“This often sparks a frosty relationship between the natives and the immigrants, leading to xenophobic attacks as a medium of communicating their discomfort and disapproval against foreigners.”
The author says although borders between countries are increasingly becoming loosened and multiculturalism is taking the centre stage of global human interactions, ethnic and identity consciousness exacerbated by xenophobia still define the basis of such cross-border and global human interactions.
This shouldn’t be the case. A feasible solution has to be sought to counter this social phenomenon for it tends to be self-defeating. But through intercultural education learners are exposed to cultural pluralism, engage in cross-cultural dialogue and are encouraged to become responsible global citizens.
A discussion paper called “International Migration, Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia” published in 2011 suggests that addressing the reality of increased diversity means finding political, legal, social and economic mechanisms to ensure mutual respect and mediate relations across differences.
Where intercultural education is practised children grow up seeing each other as different, but equal in dignity and interdependent and so they cannot easily turn against each other. Where it is not practised we are likely to expect acts of violence against foreigners as natives often regard them as a threat to them as they are thought of taking jobs for natives, businesses and land.
In trading markets which promote free movement of people, goods and services it doesn’t make sense to see others as a threat. Tanzania is a party to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose one of its general objectives is to create a single market for goods, services, facilitated by movement of persons in order to deepen the economic integration of the African continent and in accordance with the Pan African Vision of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa” enshrined in Agenda 2063. So, the coexistence of cultural diversity is a practice that is becoming more and more relevant in the 21st century.
Serena Sani in an article entitled “The Importance of Intercultural Education in Developmental Age” published in a journal “Procedia - Social and Behavioural Sciences” in 2015 says the multicultural reality, which is not yet accepted by all nor valued, needs to find those paths that can foster the development of an open-mind that embraces “who is different from us and evolves in a real intercultural dimension”.
UNESCO has formulated three principles of intercultural education. Principle I emphasises respect for the cultural identity of learners through the provision of a culturally appropriate and responsive quality education for all.
Principle II emphasises respect for cultural knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to achieve active and full participation in society. Principle III emphasises respect for cultural knowledge, attitudes and skills that contribute to respect, understanding and solidarity among individuals, ethnic, social, cultural and religious groups and nations.
It is through intercultural education that we can be sure of maintaining social cohesion, the coexistence of cultural pluralism and responsible global citizenship. This is the direction we must all take.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948 states in Article 26(2) that “[Education] shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.”
Therefore, intercultural education can serve as a panacea for heinous acts against foreigners or strangers because a native in his or her own country is a stranger or foreigner in another country and so turning against each other is against our shared vision of becoming global citizens and living in peaceful coexistence. Tanzania can embrace this approach to teaching/learning as it cherishes and nurtures cooperation and friendship with other people across the world.
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