By Fr Soroj Mullick, SDB –
One needs to have a clarity about the great purposes and goals of education. Christian purpose of education is to make it into a mission project in today’s context: personal development and social transformation by “Learning – The Treasure Within,” (UNESCO 1996). In the context of the growing violence in society, there is every reason to place renewed emphasis on the moral and cultural dimensions of education that provide a deeper harmonious human development and builds relationships among individuals, groups and nations.
Education reduces the gap between the rich and the poor for access or denial to quality. On the contrary education has proved a brutal divider – superior and inferior. It is an engineered cultural myth (caste system). Knowledge through education opens the road to freedom.
Christian education as a mission can contribute to re-designing India according to the Constitution, with equality, justice and freedom for all. It will develop young minds of “character, compassion, competence and conscience, committed to contribute to the evolution of a counter culture to the present ruthlessly competitive model, by promoting collaboration and cooperation for the growth of all, in a climate of mutual trust and sharing of available resources.“ Education becomes an encounter with God of love, justice, peace and unity – a spiritual adventure.
Those who built up Republic India was sure that “India will not be defined by single religion” (Ramachandra Guha). The Church in India has to continue spreading the message of plurality and diversity in educational institutes. We don’t need single religion and single language to unite the nation. Against polarisation, the civil society feels the need of plurality and diversity.
What makes India unique is its religious and linguistic diversity. We have to acknowledge this reality. Every school has an important role to play in spreading the message of plurality and practice plurality. Each principal and teacher is the ambassador of the principle of pluralism. The teaching staff as a whole has to explain and propagate the message of plurality no matter what curriculum one follows or whatever instruction one gets from a board/ body.
Catholic school is for all, “with special attention to those who are weakest” (The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, 1997, 15) with a firm belief in evangelical inclusion in education with resources and most qualified persons placed at the service of the least (cf. Consecrated Persons and their Mission in Schools, 2002, 70). Educational activity, therefore, has to be planned to suit the least, proposing the contents of the social doctrine of the Church through educational projects (cf. CEP 6.2. footnote 1).
Christian education promotes communal harmony, mutual trust, solidarity and peace among various religious communities, and preserves unity in diversity of religions, languages, regions, etc. and fosters pluralism. Small measures can be taken e.g. explain to the students the previous day about the significance of these occasions be it Eid-Ul-Fitr or Easter, and make it relevant to schools that have children from various castes, religions and communities. Schools need to foster five kinds of pluralism: pluralism in the student body, in the teaching faculty, in disciplines, in approaches within a discipline and of funding sources. Pluralism has to be promoted in the faculty by recruiting teachers and admitting students as well, from various communities and even from outside the state.
To be continued…
Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB is a Salesian priest from the Kolkata Province. He has a Licentiate in Catechetics and a Doctorate (Christian Education) from UPS, Italy. He has number of years of teaching experience in college and in the formation of future priests. Besides, he has written number of research papers and articles, and has 25 years of Ministry in India and abroad as Educator, Formator, Retreat Preacher, Editor and engaged in School, Parish Catechetical & Youth Ministry. He is now an assistant priest in Bandel Basilica, rendering pastoral and catechetical ministry to the parishioners and to the pilgrims. He can be contacted at [email protected].