BIS #1557 VALUE EDUCATION SEMINAR

Natasha Almeida
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 18, 2009
: September 15- 16, 2009, marked a major event for the Archdiocesan Value Education Centre (AVEC), headed by Fr. Glenford Lowe, as 88 teachers from 51 ABE schools of Mumbai attended the Value Education Seminar 2009, held at Don Bosco Youth Services, Matunga.
Preparations for the seminar began during the early weeks of August. The first day saw a total number of 41 teachers from Central Suburbs, Borivli, Andheri and Bandra deaneries. Whilst 47 teachers form North Mumbai, South Mumbai and Kurla deaneries attended the seminar on the second day. By way of the seminar AVEC aimed to motivate schools through the teachers to become more ‘Educational Living Environments’ of which values must be seen to lie not only at the heart of the educational content, the “what” of education, but also at the heart of the educational process, the “how”, the way in which education is conducted.
Over two days the value education teachers enjoyed sessions by Fr. Ian Doultan and Fr. Glenford Lowe. Both the days saw Fr. Boniface D’souza deliver the welcome address. Fr. Ian in his session dealt with the Approach, Focus, Method and Goal of Moral Science, Community Living and Value Education. He mentioned the importance of ‘drawing out values’ from the child and not teaching them but ‘educating’ them. Throughout his session Fr. Ian stressed that the value is not important but the person is and that the goal of value education is the ‘Education to Becoming’. In the second half of his session he underlined the role of a Value Educator. He went to explain how value education goes on constantly: the four walls of the classroom are not the limit.
Fr. Glen explained to all present the aims and goals of AVEC. He made the teachers aware of the long term plans that AVEC has in store for the schools and how the teachers can help in making Value Education as the guiding ethos of education.
After a sumptuous meal, a movie named ‘God Lives in the Himalayas’ was screened. The film, opened recently at the Cannes film Festival and selected in various international film festivals, delved deep into the minds of four children who live in the Himalayan Mountains. The four of them have questions for God, questions that have remained unanswered since the evolution of man. The film focuses on the epic journey of these children who defy all odds to get their questions answered. The second day of the seminar was graced by the presence of the director-writer-producer of the movie Mr. Sanjay Srinivas.
At the end of both the days, the teachers had an open forum discussion about taking the sessions ahead to the schools and their principals. The motivated teachers promised not to look at value education as just another subject in the curriculum but to synergize their efforts and resources to lead the children on ‘the valued path’.