Educational Convention in Brazil Attended by 810 People
Those who Are Currently Teachers and Others Study Seicho-No-Ie’s Educational Philosophy
In Brazil, the First Seicho-No-Ie Education of Life Convention was held from August 24 to 26 at the teachers and school staff training center in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo. It was attended by 810 people, mainly principals and teachers.
With the objective to arouse the awareness that teachers can play a major role in changing education, the Convention was held under the theme, “Teachers Are the Voice of Education.” The lecturers included Rev. Yoshio Mukai (Ordained Minister, Bishop of Seicho-No-Ie Latin America), Rev. Marie Murakami (Ordained Minister, Chairperson of Brazil Missionary Headquarters), and Rev. Marcos Rogerio Silvestri Vaz Pinto (Assistant Minister, Head of Teachers and School Personnel Division).
In recent years Brazil is faced with the problem of students’ worsening attitude in classes. The Brazil Missionary Headquarters Teachers and School Personnel Division (established in 1985), an organization of teachers with the Seicho-No-Ie faith, has been propagating strongly to educators by annually holding a “Workshop for the Leaders and Project Heads of Seicho-No-Ie Education of Life Study Class” at each missionary branch since 2007.
It was decided at the Central Organizations’ Delegates Conference in May 2009 that this Convention be held with the objective of sharing with more people actual cases of Seicho-No-Ie’s education reported at the Workshop and also convey widely to educators the foundation of it, which is Seicho-No-Ie’s educational philosophy.
At the Convention there were six lectures, including, “If I Move, the World Moves.” In addition, nine people selected from each Missionary Branch presented actual cases of educational programs. The principal of an intermediate school in the State of Parana presented a case where through Seicho-No-Ie’s educational method, the ratio of students who could not advance to higher grades decreased from 20 to 2 percent and drop-out rate from 15 to 0 percent. Also, five workshops were held on such themes as the environmental problem and man’s coexistence with nature.
Comments from the attendees included: “I would like to bring back everything that I learned at the Convention to my school and put them into action and sow seeds of the Truth.”
Remarks by Rev. Yoshio Mukai, Bishop of Seicho-N-Ie Latin America
“We called upon every possible person to attend, including those concerned with education at the state, city, town and village levels. As a result, it drew many attendees and it was a great success. Since education has a direct impact on the culture of Brazil, I would like to work hard to enlighten the educational field even more.”