37 Catholic teachers now able to teach Religious Education
Lessons were delivered by Archbishop Peter Loy Chong
Thirty-seven Catholic teachers will now be able to teach Religious Education in schools come 2018. The Catholic Church’s Archdiocese of Suva conducted a theological course for teachers at the Pacific Regional Seminary last week.
Lessons were led by Head of the Catholic Church in Fiji, Archbishop Peter Loy Chong.
Topics covered in the course included: Introduction to Theology, Liturgy and Sacraments, Church Stages of Growth, Introduction to Scripture and Evangelisation. Also included in the course were classroom co-operative thinking strategies to help teachers talk about what they learn each day.
These classroom thinking strategies can be used to teach other subjects, apart from Religious Education.
Director Catholic Education, Nemani Drova, said the Catholic Teachers Religious Education Course was the first of its kind to be conducted by Archbishop Loy Chong.
Most of the teachers are already in Catholic schools and they would be able to teach Religious Education.
Mr Drova said the Catholic schools do emphasised the teaching of the Catholic faith and approval has been given by Government to teach Religious Education in formal classes both in primary and secondary schools.
Of the 37 commissioned on Friday, three were from non-Catholic Schools. The church will seek approval from the Ministry of Education to get them transferred to Catholic schools in 2018.
Rosi Saunivalu, of Namosi Primary School, said the course was an excellent programme for all Catholic teachers to renew their spiritual knowledge and reawaken their spiritual commitment as Christians.
“I feel ‘reborn’ and now have a deeper understanding of the purpose of my creation, and I am so glad and fortunate to be in this wonderful workshop.”
The one-week course was co-ordinated and assisted by officials of the Fiji Catholic Teachers Association.