The World Peace Day was commemorated on Saturday September 21, 2013 in Yaounde.

Youths from four different religious denominations in Cameroon have been schooled on the importance of peace in spite of their differences in worshiping God.

The event took place on Saturday September 21, 2013 at the Collège Vogt School in Yaounde to commemorate the World Peace Day under the theme "Education for Peace." The day was organised by the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, the Council of Protestant Churches, the Islamic Council of Cameroon and the Cameroonian Association for Inter-religious Dialogue.

A consultant with the Cameroonian Association for Inter-religious Dialogue, Vincent Hendrickx said the 2013 Peace Day is vital to engage larger numbers of people around the world in the awareness of peace and peace-building practices. According to Vincent Hendrickx, this year’s theme highlights education as an important path toward a more peaceful world as well as the crucial need for educational programming specific to the subject of peace.

This is why Vincent Hendrickx and his team targeted young people, teachers, school directors and people involved in education to discuss about peace. He explained that during a conference organised on the topic, “The school as a place for inter-religious dialogue and education for peace,” participants debated on the role of school in the issue of inter-religious dialogue given that schools have a great role to play in fostering inter-religious dialogue since they gather students from different denominations who study together.

Participants also learnt that in other countries, religion has become a reason for violence and that although Cameroon is peaceful, there is need to prevent religious conflict that could jeopardise the peace of the country. That is why the day gathered youths from the Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Muslim communities to discuss the need to maintain relations amongst people from different religious denominations.

Through an artistic workshop, young people were able to know that art is a very good means to express their desire for peace and also other issues that people cannot express in a conversation. An inter-religious choral concert with choirs from Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Islamic community graced the day.