Glenford Lowe sdb
MUMBAI, JULY 16, 2009: At the Annual ABE General Body meeting held at St. Michael’s, Mahim on July 16, 2009, Fr. Boniface D’Souza SDB, Director of DBYS once again renewed the Salesians’ commitment to the Archdiocese of Mumbai in the setting up of AVEC. The Archdiocesan Value Education Centre is set up at DBYS Matunga. The main objective of the AVEC is to provide animation services in the area of Value education to the Archdiocesan Schools.
As a way forward, Fr. Glenford Lowe SDB presented the AVEC strategic plan to the ABE for the next triennium (2009-2012). He focused on four key areas: Structure, Animation, Capacity Building and Networking
- The Structuring of AVEC on the lines of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre in Catechetical Animation
- Making AVEC as a Hub of Animation and Resources for Students and Teachers
- Empowering the Teachers and students through various Training Programs
- Networking with various NGOs and likeminded people in the area of Value Education
It is hoped that the AVEC will be able to motivate schools to become more ‘Educational Living Environments’ , in 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.
Value Education, more than just seen as another subject within the curriculum, must be owned by all as the guiding ethos of education: an ethos that emphasizes the importance of creating Educative Learning Environments that are characterized by values that are deeply religious rather than secular.
In his concluding speech, His Eminence Gracious Cardinal Oswald thanked the Salesians and reemphasized once again on the joint need to promote value education in our institutions. “Students, long after they have left school, remember the values they caught rather that the sciences or languages they studied”, said the Cardinal.