ADEPESIDI. EDUCATION A LA PAIX

L' ong adepesidi a organisé une journée de réflexion en date du 19/04/2024 sur le thème: "Accroître les ressources nécessaires en faveur des femmes et des filles dans la paix pour un Congo paritaire", afin de susciter aux femmes l' intérêt de s' intégrer dans la prise en charge et l' autonomisation dans différentes branches.

SOUTH SUDAN - The Comboni nuns are committed to education, integration and religious coexistence

The future of the country is in the hands of the new generations and a good preparation, not only academic, is the basis for building a society that respects the common good. This is what Sister Freweini Ghebreab, a Comboni missionary, contact person of the Omdurman's "Comboni Girls School" project, explains in a note sent to Agenzia Fides. In the city, which is a few kilometers from Khartoum, there are many displaced families, who returned back to the North due to the unrest and conflicts in South Sudan.
The aim of the "Comboni Girls School" is to guarantee an integral education that confirms the dignity of the person and gives security in life, as well as preparing them at an academic level, so that they can better understand their role in society and in the family. The school is attended by schoolgirls and Christian and Muslim students, aged between 5 and 17, about 100 primary school students and 25 high school students are helped to pay the annual school tuition, uniform and teaching material. The Comboni missionary nuns, who have been carrying out this activity for almost 100 years, offer the possibility of education for girls in the city and suburbs, believing that education is a right for everyone, poor and rich.
Already in May 2017, the Comboni missionaries had launched the "Education in Omdurman" project to "foster culture and increase the dignity of a people in living the human and Christian values of freedom, justice and human dignity". The project is aimed at poor families who do not have the money to send their daughters to school. Because of the war in South Sudan, in fact, many Christian families are fleeing to the North, looking for a Christian school for their children. (FG/AP) (Agenzia FideS) 

Refugee integration policy needs concerted effort

The need for concerted efforts at national and international levels to effectively integrate refugee children into education was highlighted at a seminar hosted by Education International. The seminar also focused on the need for action in education policy to reduce the risk of a lost generation of children.

Europe has a key role in promoting the inclusion and future prospects of newcomers. That was the message at an event in Brussels, Belgium, attended by academics, union delegates, and stakeholders. The event, held at the European Economic and Social Council (EESC), was organised by Education International (EI), the global education federation. It aimed to highlight what member states must do to effectively create opportunities and hope for newcomers through education.

The meeting also included the launch of the publication, ‘Education: Hope for Newcomers in Europe’, by Nihad Bunar, Dita Vogel, Elina Stock, Sonia Grigt, and Begoña López Cuesta. Martin Henry, EI research coordinator, summarised the key findings of the study.

Role of Europe and education

Public education has a significant role in the inclusion of refugees in their host societies, according to speaker Mario Soares of the workers’ group at the EESC. He highlighted the risk of producing a lost generation if refugee children were not integrated into national school systems. Europe has a key role in promoting the inclusion of newcomers and migrants can enrich host societies, he said.

National governments must ensure that education curricula are tailored to the needs of all children, teachers are trained accordingly, and resources are allocated appropriately, said Haldis Holst, EI Deputy General Secretary. “The integration of newcomers and refugees is a political, economic, and social challenge,” she added.

Social partners

Attendees also heard how social partners in education also have a role in making demands of policy makers. Susan Flocken, European Director of EI’s European Council (ETUCE), highlighted the case in the European Union, where ETUCE participates in negotiations with governments and employers. She also stressed the role of education in fostering democratic citizenship and countering right-wing extremism.

Flocken highlighted the ETUCE resolution on migration that focuses on the recognition of migrant skills and qualifications. In addition, she said that, after education, newcomers would integrate into host countries’ labour force – and be supported by trade unions.

More needed

The seminar also heard from Denitsa Sacheva, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Bulgaria, who said that Bulgaria was exploring an integrated approach to the education of refugee children. However, many newcomers are still outside of the education system or have only attended school briefly. She reasserted the need for psychological support of newcomers and their families, but also for the professional development of teachers.

Plenary sessions brought together academic and political perspectives and provided an opportunity to align actions at different levels to foster positive change. Teachers and education unionists also highlighted the need to listen to the actors on the ground in order to effect positive change for students.  

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TOWARDS A PARTICIPATORY SOCIETY: NEW ROADS TO SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INTEGRATION

 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Plenary Session 28 April-2 May 2017 – Since the beginning of his Pontificate, Pope Francis has asked our Academy to give more attention to the poor, the marginalized, the sick, the suffering, and to make a renewed commitment to fight all forms of social marginalization and exclusion. This Plenary will respond to his call by seeking to deepen our understanding and explanation of the reasons for social exclusion and, above all, to suggest practicable steps for promoting a thorough-going social and cultural integration, which we have termed the ‘participatory society’. Unlike other meetings that are focused on particular problems, this Plenary will address the topic from the broadest vantage point, emphasizing new ways to promote the full participation of people in society, meaning participation in all spheres of civil and political society.

The aim is not only to make the current structure of societies more participatory, but also to outline the characteristics of a participatory society capable of promoting the dignity of the human person in a context oriented to the common good and based on the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. One aspect has to do with dissatisfaction with existing ideas for progressive social transformation that are incapable of avoiding recurring processes of exclusion and marginalization of entire populations, generations and social groups on a world scale. The other aspect is the need to develop a genuine concept of participation in social life and highlight the best practices that can lead the society toward a good life for all in the different realms: in the economy, in the political institutions, in the cultural dynamics that are now heavily influenced by the spread of information and communication technologies.

Through such research, we do not pretend to be elaborating a new empirical model of participatory society. Instead, our aim is rather to highlight the structural elements that would enable any given social system to develop into a more participatory .....

Read: A PARTECIPATORY SOCIETY

POPE FRANCIS' MESSAGE