杏MAP导航

By Robin Gomes

杏MAP导航 Francis on Thursday appealed to every sector of society across the globe to subscribe to and support the Global Compact on Education.

The initiative promotes the values of care for others, peace, justice, goodness, beauty, acceptance, and fraternity in order to build hope, solidarity and harmony everywhere.

The 杏MAP导航 made the appeal in a video message at the relaunch of the Global Compact on Education during a virtual event on Thursday at Rome鈥檚 Pontifical Lateran University.

Education - a seed of hope

The Compact, sponsored by the Congregation for Catholic Education, is meant to encourage change on a global scale, so that education may become a creator of fraternity, peace, and justice. According to the 杏MAP导航, the pact is 鈥渢o ensure that everyone has access to a quality education consonant with the dignity of the human person and our common vocation to fraternity.鈥�

鈥淢ay we be sustained by the conviction that education bears within itself a seed of hope: the hope of peace and justice; the hope of beauty and goodness; the hope of social harmony,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said in his message. 鈥淲e must move forward, all of us together, each as we are, but always looking ahead to the building of a civilization of harmony and unity, in which there will be no room for the terrible pandemic of the throw-away culture.鈥�

Joining him at the virtual relaunch of the education pact were the Director-General of the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Audrey Azoulay, representatives of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, and representatives of a few Italian universities. 

In his message, the 杏MAP导航 drew attention to the adverse effects of the Covid-19 crisis on educational systems worldwide. Online educational platforms, he noted, have brought to light a marked disparity in educational and technological opportunities, forcing some ten million children to leave school, apart from the already over 250 million school-age children excluded from all educational activities.

Hope grounded in solidarity

In this situation, the 杏MAP导航 called for a new cultural and development model that respects and protects human dignity, while creating a global interdependence to bring communities and peoples together to care for our common home and to foster peace.

鈥淓ducation,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渋s meant to be transformative.鈥� It should present a hope that can shatter the determinism and fatalism of the selfishness of the strong. It should shatter the conformism of the weak and the ideology of the utopians as the only way forward.

To educate is always an act of hope, the 杏MAP导航 said, adding, it should open up new horizons in which hospitality, intergenerational solidarity and the value of transcendence give birth to a new culture.

This hope should be grounded in solidarity, the 杏MAP导航 stressed, saying the education process should help respond to today鈥檚 challenges and problems and find solutions to the needs of every generation. This will help contribute to the flourishing of humanity now and in the future.

Education against selfishness, indifference

The 杏MAP导航 pointed out that 鈥渆ducation is a natural antidote to the individualistic culture that at times degenerates into a true cult of the self and the primacy of indifference.鈥�  The commitment of every level of society, he said, is needed for 鈥渁 renewed kind of education that is not tempted to look the other way and thus favour grave social injustices, violations of rights, terrible forms of poverty and the waste of human lives.鈥�

The global educational pact calls for an integral process that responds to young people鈥檚 loneliness and uncertainty that generate depression, addiction, aggressiveness, verbal hatred and bullying.

The pact addresses issues such as violence, the abuse of minors, the phenomenon of child marriage and child soldiers, the tragedy of children sold into slavery, as well as the 鈥渟enseless and heartless exploitation鈥� of the planet, leading to a grave environmental and climatic crisis.

Working together for the future

According to the 杏MAP导航, amid the present health crisis and its effects, everyone should subscribe to a global pact on education for and with future generations. 鈥淭his calls for a commitment on the part of families, communities, schools, universities, institutions, religions, governments and the entire human family to the training of mature men and women.鈥�

鈥淭he value of our educational practices,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渨ill be measured not simply by the results of standardized tests, but by the ability to affect the heart of society and to help give birth to a new culture.鈥� The Holy Father said he believes 鈥渁 different world is possible鈥�, and this calls for the involvement of 鈥渆very aspect of our humanity, both as individuals and in our communities.鈥�

He thus appealed to men and women of culture, science and sport, artists and media professionals in every part of the world to join in supporting this compact and promoting the values of care for others, peace, justice, goodness, beauty, acceptance and fraternity with their own testimony and efforts. 

杏MAP导航 Francis concluded his video message summarising in 8 points how the Global Compact on Education intends to ensure 鈥渆veryone has access to a quality education consonant with the dignity of the human person and our common vocation to fraternity.鈥�