Nausori, Fiji—Students and teachers from 15 schools attended the first of six seminars in Values Education that will be given across Fiji this year.
The Fiji chapters of UPF and the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), an affiliated organization, conducted the seminar on February 6, 2016, for Nausori District schools.
A total of 115 students and teachers were present at the program. Mrs. Irene Anania, director of UPF’s Office of Values Education and HIV/AIDS Prevention for the Oceania region, was the main speaker.
After receiving the approval of the Fiji Education Ministry to conduct Values Education seminars in schools throughout the nation, FFWPU-Fiji designed a program to cover six education districts in 2016.
Mr. Manoa, the senior education director of the Ministry of Education, was the chief guest. Addressing the conference, Mr. Manoa emphasized the importance of living a life based on moral values. He has been a teacher for his whole life and understands the need for such creative programs for students and teachers. He congratulated UPF and FFWPU for organizing such a meaningful program on the national level.
Mrs. Anania’s passion for teaching Values Education, based on her knowledge and experience in the Pacific Island nations of Palau and Kiribati, was greatly appreciated by the teachers, students and the Fiji Education Ministry. Interactive activities involving teachers and students made the seminar more interesting.
Afterward, students and teachers revealed their heartfelt testimonies. One teacher said it was a wakeup call for her. Her methods of dealing with students’ issues at school and her family members at home needed to be reviewed, she said.
The testimony of Mr. Wasu Deo, one of the leading headmasters of high schools in Fiji, who is also the program coordinator of the Values Education national tour, was wonderful. Since he heard about Values Education, he has been getting the taste of the education system deeper in his heart, he said.
A Youth Ambassador for Peace certificate was awarded to Ms. Sheryl Mudaliar, 19, a second-year student at the University of the South Pacific who has a double major in economics and law. She also has participated in a national-level beauty pageant, where she was the second runner-up.
Mr. Santosh Neupane, the chair of FFWPU Fiji, presented the Ambassador for Peace certificate, thanking the speaker, the director of the Education Ministry, teachers and students. Mr. Neupane focused on the importance of living for the sake of others and the need for public-minded youth to raise other youth centering on Values Education. Mr. Neupane emphasized the importance for each individual of purity in mind and body.
On the next day, February 7, a special seminar was held for the teachers of the three schools administered in Fiji by Shree Saraswati Ramayan Mandali. This faith-based religious organization operates a high school with 500 students and two primary schools with 240 to 270 students each. After the president of this organization, Mr. Satya Narayan, attended a Values Education seminar on January 23, he was so impressed that he asked the teachers from his three schools to attend a seminar so that they could learn about Values Education prior to it being included in those schools’ curricula.