(ANS – Quito) – In these days (30 May - 1 June), in  Cumbayá, the “Sacred Heart” Salesian Province of Ecuador is holding the Ist Provincial Congress on Salesian Education. One of the main contributions was a videoconference by Fr Miguel Ángel García, a member of the Youth Ministry Department on the subject “Keys to understanding the Salesian  School as a platform for evangelisation.”

Taking part are about 110 people representing the  centres in the Province of Ecuador. The aim is “to set the scene for the Salesian School to respond to the current challenges facing education and to create an effective  platform for evangelisation.”

On the morning of the first day  Fr Alejandro Saavedra presented the challenges which society brings to the Salesian school and the insights of philosophical anthropology to arrive at a educational project for the future. In the afternoon Fr Luciano Bellini gave a reflection on “The challenges to education in a digitalised society.”

On the second day, in his talk via skype, Fr García emphasised that : “it is possible to form Christians through education given that to evangelise means re-shaping the personality of the young, providing them with an  all-round education which implies a constant  accompaniment on the journey they make to come to know Jesus.” Therefore, teaching is not simply a matter of giving youngsters skills, but also of forming their values, opening them to new possibilities and consolidating their personalities.

Fr García indicated some strategies: educate through teaching and the formation of an identity; work starting from the individual’s situation; build up the attitude of the Institute so as to arrive at a shared educational strategy; attend to the ongoing formation of the staff; train the lay staff and give them responsibility, as they are co-responsible for the Salesian mission of evangelisation; make the school into a platform for evangelisation.

At the end of the second day the experts María Elena Ortiz and Elena Arcos spoke about the Assessment of the Salesian Project of Educative and Curricular Innovation (PROSIEC).

Today the last day of the meeting a  Delegate from the Ministry of Education will explain the Organic Law regarding Intercultural Education (LOEI), the relevant Regulations and the Management Model. The new Law implies new approaches to education at National level.

Published 01/06/2012