Teaching pluralistic practice demands infusing daily lessons into incremental, habit-forming activities. It also needs to be tested alongside other subjects, not integrated or mainstreamed, so as to measure learning outcomes. ILLUSTRATION | JOHN NYAGAH | NMG

In 2007-2008, Kenya had a post-election crisis that resulted in alarming ethnic violence. On April 30, 2009, parliament passed a motion to adopt the nominees of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).

The mandate of the Commission, on which I served, is to mediate ethnic- and race-related conflicts and promote peaceful and harmonious coexistence in Kenya.

The mandate of the Commission, on which I served, is to mediate ethnic- and race-related conflicts and promote peaceful and harmonious coexistence in Kenya.

Preventing ethnic violence across Africa remains core to my work. Ten years since Kenya set up the NCIC, we have had gains and reversals in the search for national cohesion. Kenya still faces major challenges.

The notion of citizenship in particular continues to be eclipsed by competitive electoral politics mobilised around ethnic groups, inter-communal tensions, and the rise of ethnic and racial identities.

At the NCIC, we told educators that they would succeed in promoting pluralism by fostering national identity over ethnic identity.

At the same time, they could help culturally diverse groups to develop their self-esteem and identities by increasing their awareness of their own cultural, linguistic, and historical heritage.

The Global Centre for Pluralism has simplified all that by defining pluralism as an ethic of respect for human differences.

What today is the role of the educator in shaping a cohesive society that is at once plural and cosmopolitan, prosperous and inclusive, fair and responsible?

This is the question posed by the organisers of the Oxford Symposium on Comparative and International Education.

I am reminded of the words of Katerina Tomasevki, the first UN Special Rapporteur, on the right to education: “Education can be a means to retain as well as to eliminate inequality. As it can serve two mutually contradictory purposes, two opposite results may ensue.” She was talking about the role of education in apartheid.

The Kenyan state and many others in this age of uncertainty seem to stand on the verge of a transition to national cohesion that is yet to be fully defined.

I am often struck by how the themes of inequality, inequities, and ethnic violence walk hand in hand. Conversely, there is an absence of educational material on how to address these themes in the many African countries.

While I believe the education sector is crucial in building the relationships needed to address ethnic conflict, the sector cannot do it alone.

In divided societies, peace is political and so is pluralism. It takes both political leaders and educators to unwind the harmful dynamics of competitive ethnicity and build towards peaceful pluralism.