Convert gifts to cash, priest tells Christians

From Peter Adi Fonte in Kumbo  
 

One of the reverend fathers of the Kumbo diocese, Cornelius Safe has cautioned Christians to refrain from offering gifts to priests but to rather convert the gifts to cash and give them as alms to the church.

The Reverend Man of God made the statement recently during the graduation ceremony of some catholic primary school teachers who had undertaken a six-week crash course in-service training. Cornelius cautioned that any gift meant for the priest should be converted to alms so that the whole church could benefit from it.

The yearly crash in-service training course that spanned for a period of three years was organized by the catholic education secretariat of Kumbo diocese.

In his speech at the graduation ceremony, the pedagogic adviser in the Kumbo catholic education secretariat who doubles as the coordinator of the in-service training course, Marius Berinyuy described a catholic teacher as an embodiment of integrity and social justice and one who leads his pupils, parents and community to heaven. A Catholic teacher, he added is not just any kind of teacher but one who teaches more by personal life examples than by words.

Marius Berinyuy said the training was aimed at reinforcing and building their capacities to make them more performing in their various teaching assignments. He said the objective was to make them effective in accordance with the standard requirements of the schools. He stated that the in-service training will give them the opportunity to realize or start realizing their vision of becoming nursery and primary school teachers.

Berinyuy underscored that the in-service training course will help them to know their selves better, the environment and how to lead their communities. He said the training they received was theoretical and practice teaching will be done in their various schools. He urged the graduates to emulate the example of their predecessors by demonstrating exceptional performance and exploiting further training opportunities in teachers’ training colleges.

He advised them to set up anti corruption committees in their schools to minimize the incidents of corruption in the school milieu and to promote integrity and social justice. He extolled the facilitators and participants “for work well done.”

Rev. Father Cornelius Safe who in lieu of the bishop of Kumbo diocese, George Nkuo presided over the graduation ceremony said the church needs teachers for their own salvation and that of the children. He reminded them that the course was meant to sharpen their teaching skills while advising them to be satisfied and contented with what they have and to avoid wrangling amongst themselves.

Cornelius thanked the student teachers and facilitators for the tremendous work and encouraged them not to relent in their efforts in that direction.

The disciplinary committee of the in-service training noted a difficult start and stressed the need for collaboration between facilitators and the student teachers during the course. Lukong Onorine who spoke on health conditions of the trainees expressed satisfaction, pointing out that all went well except of cases like malaria, gastritis and tooth ache that occurred during the training.

According to the head of the academic deans, Wandon, a total of 118 participants took part in the course. 22 out of 28 candidates in group one succeeded with Melo Elizabeth Yengla emerging first while 21 out of 29 student teachers successfully passed in group 2 with Berinyuy at the top.

Meanwhile, Lontum Mildred came first of the 50 amongst the 61 candidates who sat for the examination and succeeded in group three.

Prizes were however awarded to the best candidate in each group while the most clean candidate as well as best baby sitter also went home with rewards.