Unfortunately, it cannot be taken for granted in the Solomons to attend school, and illiteracy is a major problem, especially among girls. This is why education has been chosen as the spine of the project St. Vincent and Louise Centre. It is our aim to enable those unable to join the system of public schooling for various reasons, but mainly poverty, to gain at least basic education.
Fr Yohanes Agus Setyono CM, an Indonesian Vincentian working in the International Mission in Solomon Islands, has recently launched a new website from the mission in Tenaru to tell their story..
Run within the centre will be various programmes at several levels.
1. Multi level programmes of several months will provide basic knowledge integrated by the common denominator of literacy. Reading and writing aside, pupils will learn about computation and the English language.
2. Yearly programmes are oriented into educating those secondary school students that were unable to complete their education, to help them pass qualifying tests and thus enable them to continue their studies.
3. Special programmes for gaining craft skills, intended for girls that have previously been unable to attend school at all. This is because the population of girls is the most left out when it comes to schooling.
The site is still under construction, but already there have been short items on a variety of topics posted, along with video clips of life at the mission, and a photo gallery.
Thanks to the Australian CM site for drawing attention to this new site.
The graphic above is a screenshot from the header of the home page of the site.
Tags: education, Solomon Islands, Systemic change, Vincentian
