Children's education is the first and best response to poverty. “A child who goes to school will have tools and opportunities for the future. He will acquire knowledge that will help him find a better job and a better quality of life. He will marry later, will be a more responsible parent, and will want his children to go to school. He will also know his rights and will not let them be abused, and he will participate in decision-making in his community, town or country. It is a virtuous circle that begins with a pencil, a blackboard and a school,” explains Fr Eusebio Muñoz, Head of “Misiones Salesianas”, the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid.
"Education is at the service of that path so that every human being can be the architect of his own destiny" warns Pope Francis in his latest encyclical Fratelli Tutti.
"Misiones Salesianas" believes that education means to foster dreaming of a future full of hope. "We are committed to and work for the integral education of children, especially the most vulnerable, so that they have opportunities in life," adds Fr Muñoz. For this reason, the Salesian institution adheres to the Global Pact for Education proposed by the Pope, which invites us to look beyond. Because education has a dimension of global citizenship to create a world where everyone has their own place and where people and the Common Home are cared for. "Never before has there been such a need to unite efforts in a broad educational alliance to form mature people, capable of overcoming fragmentation and opposition and rebuilding the fabric of relationships for a more fraternal humanity," said the Pope when he launched the proposal for a Global Education Pact.
The pandemic today constitutes a new immense challenge in the fight against poverty and for access to education. More than 100 million people will fall into extreme poverty as a result of the health crisis. Millions of people will no longer have opportunities for their future. "Misiones Salesianas", once again, claims and reiterates the power of education to fight poverty and change the future of millions of people.
Mamadou, Raj, Grace, Tonmoy, Elena, Jon… They know the power of pencils and books. These are some of the more than 2.3 million children and young people who receive education in Salesian educational centers around the world. But, above all, they are children and young people who look to and at the present with hope.
