TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Stating that since 50% of our population is below 25 years of age and over 65 per cent is below 35, Governor Bharat Vir Wanchoo argued that the populace needs to be educated, trained, enskilled and guided in order to make them capable to take up the challenges facing our country.
“All of us together need to ensure that the youth power is converted into a demographic dividend and not allowed to turn into a demographic liability,” Wanchoo said while speaking at a two-day “Education and Social Justice” conference, organized by St Xavier College, Mapusa in collaboration with the Council for Social Justice and Peace, the Archdiocese of Goa, and the Centre for Global Development, St John’s University, New York at the International Centre, Goa, Monday.
“Education is a powerful instrument that brings change and teaches young people how to think,” the governor said. He also opined that India has the third largest educational system in the world and there is a prime need to impart quality education for all, as education contributes to the intellectual wealth which in turn leads to national progress. He argued for educational system with strong values and creation of a youth force, as today India has the largest bank of youth power in the world that need to be educated and skilled.
Earlier Dr (Fr) Walter de Sa in his welcome address stated that the topic selected for the conference was of great relevance and petitioned stakeholders to take education to greater heights by considering education as a serious endeavor by bringing in social justice.
Dr Basilio Monteiro of St John’s University, New York, in his introduction explained the relevance of the conference and highlighted the neo-liberal economy of globalization and its repercussions.
“Globalization is inevitable which has led to human exploitation and greed is camouflaged as commodity,” he said adding that those in the field of education have to be conscious and sensitive on matters of social justice and therefore public discourse becomes essential.
Dr Kevin Rioux from the Centre for Global Development, St. John’s University, New York in his key note address spoke on Social Justice: An integrative meta-theory for education, in which he applied critical methods to understand social justice.
The inaugural function was followed by session on Foundations: Religious and philosophical perspectives for education and social justice, Moderated by Dr Basilio Monteiro. Shefali Kamat presented a paper on ‘Social Justice: Reflections from the Eastern and Western thought,’ Craig Baron spoke on ‘Veritas et Aequitas: Philosophy, Theology and the Catholic University’ and Eulalia Fernandes & Fr Jeronimo D’Silva presented paper on ‘Does religious orientation influence social justice? A Study of school teachers in Goa.’
The second session on Select topics in education for social justice was moderated by Dr Ubaldina Noronha. Andrew White presented a paper on: Pedogogy & Technology: Questions of social Justice, Dr Janet Fernandes and Annie Fernandes in their paper spoke about incorporating issues of social justice in the Classroom. Whereas Caitlin Conklin presented a paper on the topic: Creating an institute for social action in higher education and Barrett Brenton spoke on food, water and environmental justice as the foundation of sustainable integral human development.
