The Church in Malta is committed to strengthening and revitalizing Media Education. It firmly believes that, today, more than ever before, this in indispensable for the holistic education of our children and youth. In this light, the Secretariat for Social Communication and the Secretariat for Catholic Education organized a seminar for all teachers of PSD and Media Education in Church schools. This seminar was held on Friday 27th April 2012 at Dar il-Hanin Samaritan, St Venera. Among those who attended were Archbishop Paul Cremona OP, who addressed those present; Fr Charles Tabone OP, the Archbishop’s delegate for Social Communications gave an introduction to the seminar. The main speakers were Fr Joe Borg and Prof Maryanne Lauri, two pioneers on the subject who have extensive experience in this field.
In his concluding message, Archbishop Cremona stated that it is to his great satisfaction that the Church was one of the pioneers of the Media Education movement in Malta. The Archbishop explained how the Church realized from early that media is the language with which children and youth speak; for this reason it was decided that not only should this subject be taught as an academic discipline in Church schools, but the students were also to be trained to evaluate critically any messages which are transmitted through the media. Mgr Cremona stated that the Church is fully committed to carry on providing Media Education in its schools. He explained that this included teaching students about the influence which the media message has upon people and how one should be capable of transmitting this message for the good of mankind. Archbishop Cremona augured that this subject may continue to grow in importance in all schools in order that children and youth in Maltese society may benefit from this education.
Media Education includes a critical evaluation of the media, based upon a set of values that contribute to the holistic good of the person. In 1981, the Church introduced this subject as part of the curriculum in four of its schools and since then, it has spread to all Church schools. In a world which is replete with different means of media commmunication, students are taught to become computer literate and to reflect upon and evaluate critically the messages which are continually being relayed through the media.
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