Our Pastoral Page – Together, We Can!!
Article n°1 - GLOBAL COMPACT IN EDUCATION
Sr. Paola Labella FMA
From Pope Francis an invitation for all institutions of the world!
A Global Compact on Education, I think it is the first time in our history that a Pope raises his voice in this way for education, environment, and fatherhood.
The video program was viewed on 15 October 2020. In Zway, the schools and colleges were closed. When we knew about this special invitation, we immediately thought to invite our management staff of the School and College and the person who is in charge of young women. They not only accepted the invitation but also were very happy they did.
The entire world is connected, this was the first marvelous impression I had. Pope Francis spoke as well as the people who belong to international organizations, teachers and young people. After Pope Francis had spoken, they interjected and explained in detail what the Pope wanted to promote.
Tenay, a young woman in charge of the Fashion workshop, who is following Women Promotion Projects reminded us of Pope Francis's speech; “We cannot create change without education.” An African proverb says that it takes a whole village to raise a child, but we have to create that village, a village of education first. We have to create a village where a global convergence leads to an alliance between the earth’s inhabitants and our Common House so that education might bring peace, justice, openness among people of the human family. We must have the courage to train individuals who will be ready to offer themselves in service to the community.
Teshome, IT teacher in the College, describes his feeling, “I am very happy to hear the pope Francis’ message about the global compact on education. It is very important message to the whole mankind especially for those who are forming and teaching youngsters to help them understand what is happening in our world, and how we should educate our students in different countries. So what I understood is how much the world is divided, how much the education system is in problem, how many people use social media in an improper way or for bad things, how much fake news is fabricated, so what is the reason for this all problem?
The answer is in an education system. I understand not all the problems are from the education system, but one of the problems is the education system. In my opinion, education means not only transferring knowledge but also shape students to understand the value of humanity, unity, global brotherhood, responsibility, peace, love, and how and for what reason we will use technology and social media. If we take responsibility in contributing to our education system, we can plant the seed of hope in heart of the young whom we educate, who will in turn learn to change the world. Thank you very much for encouraging me to watch Pope Francis and to participate in the discussion together.
By Hannah Arendt's words, quoted by Pope Francis, we thank all of you who read this article and we invite you to read the PPT and the document about Global Compact on Education!
“Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it and by the same token save it from that ruin which, except for renewal, except for the coming of the new and young, would be inevitable. And education, too, is where we decide whether we love our children enough not to expel them from our world and leave them to their own devices, nor to strike from their hands their chance of undertaking something new, something unforeseen by us, but to prepare them in advance for the task of renewing a common world”.