Reconstruction of the Global Education Compact and the Piarist Order: A conversation with Father Pedro Aguado Cuesta, General of the Piarists:

On this page, we are collecting documents, reflections and experiences that can help drive the GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL COMPACT of our educational communities. The P. General is the chairman of the USG and UISG (Union of Superiors and Superiors General) education committee. Since the launched this educational challenge, the institutions of have taken it up with enthusiasm and above all, with concrete proposals. In his interest, we reproduced an interview they gave to Fr. Aguado on the occasion of a recent visit to the Cristóbal Colón University in Veracruz (Mexico).

Why is there talk of the need for reconstruction? "I'm glad you ask, because insists a lot on the verb rebuild, the goal is not only the compact but to rebuild the Global Education Compact. This means that the compact is weak, broken, and the pope has reported what fractures they are. He says there are three fractures, one is between the person and God, the ability we have to live from a faith. A second fracture is between the person and the one who is different from us, that difficulty that we have in so many places in working or welcoming the different, and the third fracture is between the person and nature, all that has to do with the ecology and care of the planet. Pope Francis believes that these fractures break the educational dynamics and must be reconstructed, so he proposes a Global Educational Pact, in which all the people who believe in education work in that direction to rebuild what has weakened. I find what is being raised very intelligent and very exciting."

One issue that comes to mind is how to turn this Global Education Compact into something tangible, concrete and palpable, once its objectives are understood. "The answer would be very long and the question you ask is very concrete, but very strong, very deep, I would like to answer with an example. One of the keys to rebuilding the Global Education Compact is education in what we would call global citizenship for all students to grow in their sense of belonging to a world to be transformed, to grow as people who understand what is a commitment to social change. This in particular 1 has to be part of the educational projects of the schools, in ours it is, but it would have to be very strong, we need that in the educational project of this university, in the educational project of the whole Center for Christopher Columbus Studies, of all the Piarist Schools and of all educational institutions is the point. We want to train citizens committed to a change of the world in line with justice and solidarity, this is very concrete has to do with the educational project, with the training of educators, with the training of parents, with the experiences from which we enrich the lives of students; and any of these great values when it becomes the axis of the educational project becomes concrete and then translates into programs, activities, resumes... We're talking about a big transformation of the school."

How do The Pious Schools drive this reconstruction of the Global Education Compact? "I like to recall that the one who initiated the Global Educational Compact was St Joseph of Calasanz: he was the driver of public education for all and especially for those who were most disadvantaged and the one who introduced the concept of a comprehensive education, capable of transforming the world. That is why we piarists when the Pope invites the reconstruction of the Global Educational Compact we feel at home, we feel in our project, fully identified and that is why we turn to this project, and we work in all instances to carry it forward. Logically we mark our main points; the whole theme of the centrality of the child, the attention of the most disadvantaged, the creation of an awareness of global citizens belonging to a world that we have to transform and place everything that is a Christian proposal, we understand that the Christian faith, if understood well is an engine of social change, we give it our charismatic tone, the profile that Calasanz gave to his school and our deep commitment. We believe in education because somehow the Pious Schools is the first Religious Order dedicated to education. So, we believe in the project and our main contribution will be to do everything we can to carry it forward."

Pope Francis has invoked an architecture of peace with the non-exclusion participation of the various institutions and people of a society, how to promote the active incorporation of the various social actors in order to articulate this reconstruction of the Global Educational Compact? "That education serves as truth for the transformation of society is the goal of education, transforming people to transform the world, and we cannot do it only Catholics, we have to do it the whole school, but we have to do it with all the people who believe in the same thing. All that unites us that are values such as justice, freedom, ecology, solidarity, attention to those most in need, all this can be promoted by Christians, non-Christians, public institutions, politicians, churches... The Pope seeks us to be able to create networks of collaboration in what is common to us; obviously everyone contributing their own. We do not renounce our values and convictions. But we come together with many institutions and people to make a better world. The call is impressive. On the other hand, we have to try to reach everyone. The educational project has to be as comprehensive as possible. And it has to reach all dimensions, all areas and all the spaces in which children and young people are... Non-formal education is a formidable educational alternative. Formal education is obviously a priority, but insufficient. We also need many elements of students' free time to be cared for by this project so that we reach them in all aspects of their lives, including the informal and social networks. Obviously, it is very studied what is the level of influence on the lives of social media students, it is very high. It influences family a lot, friends influence a lot, social networks greatly influence, it influences education a lot, but sometimes social networks influence in a stronger way, even sometimes not good. So, we need to work on this, when we talk about the compact, we talk about global, all the educational instances and all the instances educate or un-educate, they all have to be part of this project. That's why it's not a short-term project, it's a long-term project. You have to work slowly, without haste, but clearly.

Family, school, friends, media, including certainly social media; there are several instances involved in the formal and non-formal education of children and young people, Father. What is the weight of the family in this process? "I believe that we must be aware that the family is the fundamental instance in the educational issue. Now on this pandemic theme we are seeing it, who are the ones who help the children stand in front of the pant;

2 they are being educated by the teacher, the mother and the father who strive to be with the children, to support them; families are of great importance and that is why we talk in the compact that families share the educational project and commit themselves to that project because that is good for children. I always say that you have to do what is best for children. And what's the best thing about families, school, educators, all agreeing on what we want to offer to grow those children the way we want them to. So, the role of the family is not simply to receive information from the school, it is to commit to the educational project of the school and for that you have to know it, you have to respond to the calls, collaborate, you have to offer your own ideas to enrich it... Beautiful project."

Not everyone is clear about what the term common good refers to, in the end implicit in this reconstruction of the Global Education Compact. "The common good term is theoretically clear, but when it becomes concrete and demand it complicates our lives. It's looking for what's good for everyone. Even if it makes me a little complicated, even if I suppose I make certain resignations, seeking one's good is one thing; seeking everyone's good is another. What is exciting is to make the pursuit of the common good the best way for your own happiness. People who have changed the world and fought for a different world have turned everyone's happiness into their own happiness. That is the concept of the common good. Obviously then you have to study it, articulate it, organize it, legislate it, provoke it, educate it; but the key is that we understand that if I want to be happy with my life, to be happy, I cannot do it alone, because I do not exist alone, and this is a deeply educational subject; sometimes we forget."

What impressions and experiences have you collected among educators and the challenges they have had to take forward during this year that we have almost already been pandemic? "I have seen many good things, for example, creativity, with which educators have developed in this situation, an impressive creativity, dedication, commitment to which they have worked. I have also seen the difficulties, for example what a young teacher who is starting out and has not yet physically seen his students, because he has seen them by the screen, told me an anecdote from one of the girls on the screen, who asked him, 'Hey teacher you know how much I measure - and the teacher stayed like this- , 'well I don't know,' he said, 'but I'm looking forward to meeting you' and the two got excited and they all got excited and it was hard to get on with the class. It's very difficult to educate without a physical presence. That's why I admire the work that's being done so much. I think we have to assume something very important: nothing will ever be the way it used to be Nothing. Everything technological applied to education has come to stay, but not to be the center, education has to be face-to-face, we have to embrace, get to know each other, but nothing is going to be the way it used to be. There are those who say that as soon as the pandemic passes and we return to the before, the better; sincerely this goal seems to me to be very short-term and poor. I don't want to live the way we used to, because I wanted to transform what we had before to do better. We cannot lower the aspiration level of education and convert what we aspire to be as we were before, forgiveness not; I used to aspire to something better. Nor do we have to convey to our students that the aspiration is to go back to what we had, because we will not have it, but to do much better than we did before, that is the challenge of post-pandemic for education. It will be complex, but that I honestly find extraordinary."

What do the works of the Presence in Veracruz mean to the Order? How do you relate to the Global Education Compact? "I have the pleasure of knowing all the works that we carry in the port and it must be recognized that the work of the piarists in the port of Veracruz is very plural, because it has a whole center of studies such as Christopher Columbus, with school and university; the Calasanzian School in Nuevo Veracruz, the Calasanz School, the , a social center with educational services... to take photography of the School mission in Veracruz, is to take photography of the global pact: popular schools, full schools, university, parish, social center, and all in relation to the same keys of the educational project, with the same common goal: to train

3 students that when they become young alumni and adults, are trained not only to develop their own project , but to make a better world. It's a beautiful photograph of the goal of the global pact."

To end the conversation, we reminded our interviewee of a phrase that we read to him in a previous interview, and which impressed us. In it the Superior General of the Piarists stated: "To be a piarist is to give life for something greater than oneself" "I'm glad you mention it because it's one of my most intimate convictions. Calasanz was a man who, when no one believed in education for all, promoted education for all, even begat a new and unheard-of vocation: that a priest should work in school and do so; was incomprehensible and did. He promoted the universal right to universal education all children and young people and four hundred years ago. This is something to recognize with all its value. But what Calasanz conveys to us is that he gave his life for a greater cause than himself, which is the education of all, and I always say, to give life for something that is greater than you, is wonderful. And to give it for something that's smaller, or that's like you, doesn't make much sense. We all know that changing the world and making a different world is something that will take a long time to come. And possibly you will die without seeing the dream fulfilled of a just and fraternal world, but I tell you something: to reach the end of the road and to be able to say, 'Say my life to work for a more just and fraternal world, although I have not seen it at all,' it is wonderful. This is what Calasanz did and what we need to try all and that is why the one who works in education in Veracruz, in any area, in the classroom, in the pastoral group, in the maintenance of the school, in communication, in cleanliness, is giving his life for a project that is bigger than him." Mtro. Edmundo Gómez Martínez Director of Institutional Communication and Image February 2021

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