Teacher Ommo Hani, from Maharlika Integrated School, has experienced living in diverse communities. Having spent her childhood years in Manila, spent her college years in Marawi City and presently living in and teaching in a school in an interfaith community in Taguig, where most of the members of the community are Muslims.
With her exposure to several kinds of conflict growing up, including armed conflict, violences relating to religious beliefs, discrimination, and community conflicts such as RIDO, her understanding of conflict and peace has been shaped by those experiences – viewing peace as the absence of such conflicts and violences inflicted towards other people.
Taking pride in being an educator, she sees and understands her role in shaping the minds of children not just from learning in the classroom but also the way they relate with them. Admittedly, she mentions employing discipline methods in the classroom that are, in her words, “old fashioned.” When getting mad at her students for certain misbehavior, she did not know how to handle some situations in a calm manner which she says affects her physical health and mental well-being sometimes. Learning from the Peace Education Leadership Formation Course, she shared that she learned how to refrain from being mad as a reflex response whenever her students misbehave and that Peaceful Classroom management not only affects what’s inside the classroom but also life outside the classroom.
Aside from classroom management challenges before, she has also raised the concern in terms of the increasing vulnerability of children and exposure to many violent narratives. Teacher Ommo Hani shared that some children from Marawi City who experienced the devastating effects of the war have enrolled in Maharlika Integrated School. Being a close-knit Muslim community, Maharlika Village in Taguig was home for Muslims who seeked refuge and home after the Marawi Siege happened where many were displaced and children were greatly affected and vulnerable. Teacher Ommo Hani had some students in her class who were from Marawi City. Knowing and experiencing the cultural differences between Metro Manila and Marawi City, she has observed among the students some adjustment difficulties – she saw that the students felt fear and experienced challenges in connecting with other students. This has resulted in some bullying cases and fights among students in their school. She has seen this as possibly a way for children to defend themselves from feeling like they are “othered” which makes her believe that strategies in handling bullying and banter is not only essential for the school but also for the formation of the child and the child’s response to the difficult situations he/she faces. Teacher Ommo Hani shares her appreciation for Restorative Chat, she says “I’m always thinking about practicing the Restorative Chat ever since I have learned about it from the Peace Education Leadership Formation Course.
“That strategy not only is about resolving conflict but it more importantly empowers the children to resolve conflicts because they can voice out what they want and the resolution comes from them.”
Other than that, she also shared stories where other students can’t afford to go to school. This, Teacher Ommo Hani shares, has opened the opportunity for the children and youth in their community to be recruited by what she has termed “extremist groups” and offer the students money. Presently, she shared that she does not hear active recruitment from violent groups but she believes that anytime, it can happen again and children continue to be at risk especially in a difficult time in this pandemic.
Moving forward, she is motivated to share what she has been learning from the Peace Education Leadership Formation Course. Teacher Ommo Hani is looking at opportunities to immediately apply what she has learned and hopefully other teachers can also experience the formation course. She shares..
“I am thinking of ways how I can integrate my learnings when I teach, and I am ready to even conduct activities even once a month with my learners. And hopefully other teachers can do this too because we all have to be reminded that we need this not only for our school but more importantly, how we engage with the learners for them to also champion peace.”
