The following is the draft mission statement for a proposed Law for the Promotion of Education and a Culture

of Peace in Paraguay: This Law is based on the conviction that humanity can live together in peace and that our nation can be an example of this principle. Our democratic system and the Constitution are instruments which oblige us to participate actively in the construction of a harmonious society; a society that promotes values, tolerance, solidarity and the peaceful resolution of conflicts by means of education and discussion. Our Constitution provides clear guidelines and commitments for the development of a Culture of Peace Law. Furthermore, the present reality of the society in which we live obliges us to orient new laws towards the realization of a culture which supports, promotes and strengthens the objective of building a peaceful and harmonious society. This Law is the result of a collective effort that recognizes the cultural, social, political and territorial diversity within our nation, including each of its community groups, collectives and minorities that live and share a common history. The final objective of this law is that its components and their implementation be useful to the individual and to the society in general. The Law for the Promotion of Education and a Culture of Peace is based on the premise that our nation can only achieve its objectives, in accordance with the aspirations of todays global and more humanitarian community of nations, by means of a legal framework. Furthermore, in line with the UN proclamation of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace (2001-2010), this law recognizes the essential role of education in society and is intended to be a starting point from which a new culture of peace will substitute the culture of violence that has characterized the 20th century. In this sense, it is truly important and necessary to educate our children and young people based on values and principles rooted in faith, hope and love, which transcend our being and lead us towards internal peace, as without this, it will be impossible to attain a true Culture of Peace that may be reflected in a better society. A Culture of Peace takes into account all values, behaviors, attitudes, practices, feelings, beliefs, etc. It opposes desequality and discrimination in all their forms. It is also fundamental to highlight the rights of our children, the promotion of social development and the reduction of economic and social disadvantages, with a view to eliminating poverty as well as generating solutions that guarantee the security of

property, individuals, and the environment for present and future generations. This Culture of Peace can only be implanted by means of an education oriented towards peace, non-violence and human rights, and through the promotion of dialogue and the practice of non-violence in the management of conflicts, guaranteeing each person the full rights and resources to participate in the development of the society. This law is being proposed under the provisions of subsection a.2 of the Program of Action for a Culture of Peace, approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1999. It establishes a series of actions directed towards the areas of education and investigation, with the objective of promoting a culture of peace and nonviolence in our society. Education law is the area of law relating to schools and that deals mainly with schools, school systems and school boards charged with educating our children. Who is Responsible for Public School Systems? The states and local subdivisions are primarily responsible for operating the nation's public school system. Many state constitutions make the public schools a responsibility of the state or local government. Each state develops, maintains and operates its own school system within its own state boundaries, which is why there are significant differences among the states in the management of schools and the mechanism for financing public schools.

Education has a great social importance especially in the modern, complex industrialized societies. Philosophers of all periods, beginning with ancient stages, devoted to it a great deal of attention. Accordingly, various theories regarding its nature and objective have come into being. Let us now examine some of the significant functions of education. 1. To complete the socialization process The main social objective of education is to complete the socialization process. The family gets the child, but the modern family tends to leave much undone in the socialization process. The school and other institutions have come into being in place of family to complete the socialization process. "Now, the people fell that it is "the school's business to train the whole child even to the extent of teaching him honesty, fair play, consideration for others and a sense of right and wrong". The school devotes much, of its time and energy to the matter such as co-operation, good citizenship, doing one's duty and upholding the law. Directly through textbooks and indirectly through celebration of programmes patriotic sentiments are intimates and instilled. The nation's past is glorified, its legendary heroes respected, and its military ventures justified. (2) To transmit the central heritage

All societies maintain themselves, by exploitation of a culture. Culture here refers to a set of beliefs and skills, art, literature, philosophy, religion, music etc. that are not carried through the mechanism of heredity. They must be learned. This social heritage (culture) must be transmitted through social organizations. Education has this function of cultural transmission in all societies. It is only at the under leaves of the school that any serious attempt has been, or now is, made to deal with this area. (3) For the formation of Social personality Individual must have personalities shaped or fashioned in ways that fit into the culture. Education everywhere has the function of the formation of social personalities. Education helps in transmitting culture through proper molding of social personalities. In this way, it contributes to the integration, to survive and 'to reproduce themselves. (4) Reformation of Attitudes Education aims at the' reformation of attitudes wrongly developed by children already. For various reasons the child may have absorbed a host of attitudes, beliefs and disbeliefs, loyalties and prejudices, jealously and hatred etc. these are to be reformed. It is the function of education to see that unfounded beliefs, illogical prejudices and unreasoned loyalties are removed from the child's mind, though the school has its own limitations in this regard, it is expected to continue its efforts in reforming the attitudes of the child. (5) Education for occupational placement An instrument of livelihood. Education has a practical and also it should help the adolescent for earning his livelihood. Education has come to be today as nothing more than an instrument of livelihood. It should enable the student to take out his livelihood. Education must prepare the student for future occupational positions; the youth should be enabled to play a productive role in society. Accordingly, great emphasis has been placed on vocational training. (6) Conferring of Status: Conferring of status is one of the most important functions of education. The amount of education one has, is correlated with his class position. This is four in U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Japan, Germany and some other societies. Education is related to one's position in the stratification structure in two ways. (1) An evaluation of one's status is partially decided by what kind of education one has received and (2) Many of the other important criteria of class position such as occupation, income and style of life are partially the result of the type and amount of education one has had. Men who finish college, for example, earn two and a half times as much as those who have a grammar school education. (7) Education encourages the spirit of competition The school instills co-operative values through civic and patriotic exhortation or advice. Yet the school's main emphasis is upon personal competition. For each subject studied the child is

compared with the companies by percentage of marks or rankings. The teacher admires and praises those who d- well and frowns upon those who fail to do well. The school's ranking system serves to prepare for a later ranking system. Many of those who are emotionally disappointed by low ranking in the school are thereby prepared to accept limited achievement in the larger world outside the school. Other Functions of Education Peter Worsley has spoken of a few more functions of education. Some of them may be noted, Education Trains in skills that are required by the Economy. The relation between the economy and education can be an exact one. For example the number and productive capacity of engineering firms are limited by the number of engineers produced by education. In planned economy, normally it is planned years in advance to produce a definite number of doctors, engineers, teachers, technicians, scientists etc. to meet the social and economic needs of the society. Fosters Participant Democracy: Education fosters participant democracy. Participant democracy in any large and complex society depends on literacy. Literacy allows full participation of the people in democratic processes and effective voting. Literacy is a product of education. Educational system has this economic as well as political significance. Education Imparts values: The curriculum of the school, its extracurricular activities and the informal relationships amongst students and teacher communicate social skills and values. Through various activities a school imparts values such as co-operation or atmospheric, audience, fair play. Thin is also done through curriculum that Is through lessons in history literature etc. Education acts as an integrative force: Education acts as Integrative force in society by communicating value that unite different sections of society. The family may fail to provide the child the essential knowledge of the social skills and value of the wider society. The school or the educational institutions can help the child to learn new skills and learn to interact with people of different social backgrounds. Values and orientations, which are specific to certain occupations, are also provided by Education: For example, the medical students are socialized and educated in a particular way in medical college. This may help them to become proper medical practitioners, other values and orientations relevant to the functioning of industrial society are also provided by education.

Periyar propagated the principles of rationalism, self-respect, womens rights and eradication of caste. He opposed the exploitation and marginalisation of the nonBrahmin indigenous Dravidian peoples of South India and the imposition of, what he considered, Indo-Aryan India. His work has greatly revolutionised Tamil society and has significantly removed caste-based discrimination. He is also responsible for bringing new changes to the Tamil alphabet. However, at the same time, Periyar is also held responsible for making controversial statements on the Tamil language, Dalits and Brahmins and for endorsing violence against Brahmins. The citation awarded by the UNESCO described Periyar as "the prophet of the new age, the Socrates of South East Asia, father of social reform movement and arch enemy of ignorance, superstitions, meaningless customs and base manners".[17]

Thoughts on Thirukkural
Main article: Thirukkural Periyar hailed the Thirukkural as a valuable scripture which contained many scientific and philosophical truths. He also praised the secular nature of the work. Periyar praised Thiruvalluvar for his description of God as a formless entity with only positive attributes. He also suggested that one who reads the Thirukkural will become a Self-respecter, absorbing knowledge in politics, society, and economics. According to him, though certain items in this ancient book of ethics may not relate to today, it permitted such changes for modern society.[74] On caste, he believed that the Kural illustrates how Vedic laws of Manu were against the Sudras and other communities of the Dravidian race. On the other hand, Periyar opined that the ethics from the Kural was comparable to the Christian Bible. The Dravidar Kazhagam adopted the Thirukkural and advocated that Thiruvalluvar's Kural alone was enough to educate the people of the country.[74] One of Periyar's quotes on the Thirukkural from Veeramani's Collected Works of Periyar was "when Dravida Nadu (Dravidistan) was a victim to Indo-Aryan deceit, Thirukkural was written by a great Dravidian Thiruvalluvar to free the Dravidians".[74]