The Learning for Empathy project is a teachers’ exchange and support programme targeting educators (persons in charge of the ministry of education, principals and teachers of both religious and non-religious general schools) from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with the aim of building a peaceful and sustainable future in Asia through education.
From the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly target 4.7, the purpose of this project is to have visiting educators deepen their understanding of the importance of collaboration and activities between schools and regional communities, and have them, as well as the educators of Japan, learn from one another by sharing the experiences of their home countries.
Phase1 (2019- 20 school year)
Educators from Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan spent five days in Japan between July 10th to 14th, 2019, and visited Itabashi Municipal Hasune Dai-ni Elementary School, Itabashi Municipal Hasune Elementary School, Ota Municipal Oomori 6th Junior High School, Tokyo Metropolitan Mita High School and Setagaya Municipal Funabashikibou Junior High School.
After observing classes and interacting with teachers and students, the educators from the three countries exchanged opinions on how school curricula are designed and executed to achieve the SDGs, and how “empathy”, the project’s theme, is fostered in schools. There was also a lively discussion about collaboration between the schools and the local communities as well as school management.
On the last day of the project, each country group created an activity plan that reflected what they learned in Japan, to bring back to and implement in their home countries,.
Phase2 (2020-21 and 2021-22 school years)
2020-21 school year
In 2020, Sri Lanka joined the project. However, the visit to Japan which was scheduled for 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Hence, videos introducing the activities of the Japanese schools were created, in order to share their initiatives and approaches and to maintain dialogue and exchange with the educators of the four countries participating in the project, .
Videos introducing the initiatives of Itabashi Municipal Hasune Dai-ni Elementary School and Ota Municipal Omori 6th Junior High School, which the participants visited in 2019, as well as the videos “Overview of Basic Education in Japan” and “Promotion of ESD through whole school approaches” created by the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) can be viewed on the UNESCO Bangkok Office website.
https://bangkok.unesco.org/content/learning-empathy-videos-japanese-partners
2021-22 school year
Translation of the Silent Manga Catalogue Teacher’s Companion created by the UNESCO Bangkok Office
Silent Manga refers to manga stories told entirely through illustrations without the use of dialogue. This Silent Manga Catalogue Teacher’s Companion is intended for use by teachers (or parents) together with Silent Manga Catalogue, a compilation of Silent Manga entries selected from SILENT MANGA AUDITION® Round 13, which was based on the theme ‘Together for Peace’. The manga stories showcase different aspects of peace as envisioned by artists around the world, and based on various related topics such as out-of-school children, lifelong learning, anti-bullying, conflict, youth, learning to live together, refugees and shared histories. Through the power of Silent Manga, teachers can use such manga stories to spark a thought-provoking discussion among younger generations. The Silent Manga Catalogue Teacher’s Companion and Silent Manga Catalogue are both available on the UNESCO’s digital library. Teachers are welcome to use them in classes and other activities.
Silent Manga Catalogue Teacher’s Companion
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381273
Silent Manga Catalogue
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377413?1=null&queryId=2ab1c51d-bb27-44cb-933a-6dcb21729ed3