Country Office News
Loyola Campus- Sri Lanka envisions a society educated, empowered and transformed though it might be a challenging task. To educate a child in a classroom is relatively easy and it does not take much effort and time. But to conceptualise an education that combines both the inculcation of fundamental skill-sets in students that will make them more relevant and transform them into agents of change and justice will be quite an uphill task.
Nevertheless, Loyola Campus together with its partner Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL) hopes to realise this dream. From a humble beginning in June 2017, for the almost last year, the Institute strengthened its capacity in journeying with the youth who are at times most vulnerable in our societies today. Although Loyola Campus- Sri Lanka has not been able to develop the Centres in terms of the infrastructure, a community of learners bound by a common learning experience and journey has come alive. It is not merely a Loyola Campus community or a group but a group of individuals who are in search of something greater and much more challenging.
During this short span of operation Loyola Campus- Sri Lanka has been able to obtain the institutional registration for its Centre in Vavuniya and Mannar from the Tertiary Vocation Education Commission of Sri Lanka. While Vavuniya Centre received its Centre registration in 2017, Mannar Centre was registered in May 2018. They are currently registered as TVEC Training Centres and are authorized to issue a number of certificate courses. The next step in this line would be to obtain the course accreditation under the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) scheme.
Loyola Campus- Sri Lanka hopes to break into new pathways with the community of learners who are passionate about contributing and changing their own lives and the world.
Facilitator Training- May 2018
Loyola Campus- Sri Lanka organized a three-day training programme for the Facilitators across seven Loyola Campus from 4-7 May 2018. The Facilitator Training programme was in Fatima Retreat House, Kandy. Twenty-Four Facilitators who are involved in English and Computer classes, two Directors from Vavuniya and Hatton as well as two more staff from the Centre for Social Concern, Hatton took part in the training programme.
The training programme had three main sessions. The first session was entirely dedicated for a more introspective look at the current state of our engagement as teachers in three main dimensions. They are namely Personal Perspective, Group Perspective and the Institutional Perspective. The main area of discussion was in becoming affective teachers through the engagement of Loyola Campus. The first session was conducted by Thiranjala Weerasinghe, the Manager for Academic and Financial Operations of Loyola Campus- Sri Lanka. The second session conducted by Dr Susanna Ablewhite, the Manager of Global English Language (GEL) programme of JWL provided an introduction into the engagement of JWL and specially about the GEL programme. Rev Fr Peter Ballais SJ, the Executive President of JWL also addressed the Facilitators. The third session which lasted for a comlete two-days was on mastering the skill of non-violent communication, an art of human communication that sustains and strengthens relationships and better forms of communication. The session was conducted by Rev Fr Anthony Pillai SJ.
The training programme has provided the teachers who refresh themselves and learn new skills and techniques that will help them personally and in their classroom engagements. The bond between facilitators coming from different Centre also was strengthened providing a way forward to work together.
