Press release on behalf of the Bi-communal Technical Committee on Education

NICOSIA, 2 June 2017 - The pilot application of the joint education project IMAGINE, taking place under the auspices of the Bi-Communal Technical Committee of Education and implemented by the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research (AHDR) and the Home for Cooperation (H4C) has just been successfully completed on June 2, 2017. The pilot phase of IMAGINE, which was supported by the United Nations, took place in May with the participation of 160 primary school children ages 9-12, coming from 4 Turkish Cypriot and 4 Greek Cypriot schools. The Coordinators of the Bi-communal Technical Committee on Education, Mr. Michalinos Zembylas and Ms Meltem Onurkan Samani, attended the closing event at the H4C.

Grounded in a holistic understanding of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence, the project was implemented in two stages: in the first stage, experienced trainers visited the participating groups of students in both communities to facilitate activities that dealt with stereotypes, extremism and intolerance and prepared them for bi-communal contact at the H4C. Then, in the second stage, groups of students from the two communities were paired and met in the buffer zone where they participated in either peace education workshops with the AHDR or sports activities with PeacePlayers International. The project will continue in the following school year (2017-2018) to include more primary and secondary school students from the two educational systems.