PROMOTING TOLERANCE THROUGH INTERFAITH EDUCATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Nindyah Rengganis and Dian Fikriani
ECCD RC Yogyakarta
Early Childhood Care and Development Resource Center
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Abstract
An inclusive classroom is not only about building respect towards children with special needs, it is also about building respect towards children with various background, including children with different religion. Every child, in this era of global interconnection, would benefit from learning about the religions in their community. By implementing interfaith education with pupils from different religious backgrounds, children will learn to critically reflect on their own thoughts and experiences relating to religious identity and differences and learn to interact with others on these matters. The implementation of interfaith education in ECE promote a dialogue between children and also indirectly influence their parents, where in the end this will build a more tolerance community. This research article comes from the best practice of interfaith education in ECE practiced in Labschool Rumah Citta. By qualitative method through documentation of best practices study, the result showed how schools can negotiate the tension between the demand from parents to develop their child-s religious identity where in the same time building a dialogue between children with different faiths. This article also will discuss the effects of interfaith education on children from majority and minority religions and how the interfaith education can reduce religious intolerance.
Keywords: interfaith education, religious tolerance
Topic: Character Education for Early Year Children