Model curriculum increases understanding of Human Rights

When Fleur D’Souza arrived at her family home one evening in September 2006 she noticed Sangita Malusare looking ‘visibly depressed.’

Ms Malusare’s sister was in hospital suffering from 70 per cent burns. She had attempted to commit suicide by pouring kerosene over her body because she could no longer face continued beatings and harassment from her husband. Ms Malusare, who cleans Dr D’Souza’s house, was frightened and believed that if she approached the police, they would look unfavourably on her sister and make a formal charge against her.

Although neither Dr D’Souza nor Ms Malusare had ever been to a police station before and were nervous about the potential outcome, they decided to make a formal complaint.

“The police gave us a lot of encouragement and advice. They reacted with great sensitivity, took down a full statement and subsequently arrested the husband,” said Dr D’Souza, who lives in the city of Thane in Maharashtra, India.

Six months before this incident, Dr D’Souza, who has taught History at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai for the last 23 years, attended a course on ‘Women’s Rights as Human Rights.’ She argues that this course prompted her to help Ms Malusare’s injured sister and has given her courage to stand up for women’s rights in many other situations.

One such occasion was shortly after completing the training in March 2006, when she noticed that all candidates applying for a position on the school’s advisory committee were men. Despite being “apolitical” Dr D’Souza decided to apply for the role and was successful, because of the “encouragement” she received.

The course, held at SNDT University in Mumbai, was modelled on a curriculum created by the Human Rights Unit of the Commonwealth Secretariat. The curriculum provides a recommended structure and offers teaching methods and ideas for law schools, colleges and other faculties interested in offering courses on human rights.

“As a History teacher and a woman, it was very important that I increase my understanding about women’s rights as human rights. After completing this course I also began to introduce the ideas I learnt into my History classes. Whether I am teaching the French Revolution, or discussing the situation in the Middle East with my students, I now make sure that I incorporate all aspects of human rights into my lessons,” Dr D’Souza added.

Dr D’Souza attended a course that was developed by the Secretariat and Veena Poonacha, Director of the Research Centre of Women’s Studies at SNTD University. Building on the original model, the aim was “to make the course applicable to the daily lives of those who attended,” noted Ms Poonacha, who is currently preparing for the start of her next course on 15 November 2007. 

Academic experts, lawyers and campaigners all participated in the course, addressing political theories about human rights as well as looking at specific case studies such as the riots in the state of Gujarat in 2002. Discussions on what prompted these riots and what can be done in the future to prevent them were led by the experts.

Similar themes were introduced at human rights courses set up at YCM Open University in Nashik, India, where Nagarjum Wanjarwadkar is the Human Rights Programme Co-ordinator. These courses, which also use the Secretariat’s model curriculum, target police and government officials, teachers, journalists and NGO employees. Having already set up a one week intensive programme and a six month distance learning course, Mr Wanjarwadkar is currently working on a one year programme which will begin in 2008.

400 police inspectors and 60 government officials have completed the YCM Open University courses. One of these police inspector’s is fifty year old Dilip Nikam. He believes that it is ‘crucial’ for police officers to have a good understanding of human rights because “a major part of our role is looking after people.”

Writing a model curriculum to increase the quality and quantity of human rights programmes available to individuals like Mr Nikam was undertaken by the Human Rights Unit to realise one of the Secretariat’s core mandates of raising awareness of the subject in Commonwealth countries. It was created to assist the establishment and development of courses and contribute to increasing the number of human rights debates.

“Not everyone is equally aware of the extent of their rights, or how to articulate access to these. And not everyone is equally enabled to understand the nature of their duty to provide for the protection of others. There is a pressing need for education about rights, which is why we put together a model curriculum,” said Rabab Fatima, Head of Human Rights at the Secretariat

Ms Fatima hopes that the curriculum will lead to human rights perspectives and principles also being introduced in other subjects, such as Dr D’Souza’s History classes.

Michael O’Flaherty, Professor of Applied Human Rights at the University of Nottingham, agreed that education is an essential way of increasing understanding of human rights.

“Knowledge is the most fundamental building block to a human rights culture. If people aren’t aware of their rights then they have no capacity to demand them. It is absolutely crucial that more people understand their rights as human beings through education which must target those in the classroom, on the street and all other levels of society,” he stated.

Key Links:

• Human Rights section