A Discussion with Emile Dally Diouf, Retired Catholic School Teacher, Mbour, Senegal
With: Emile Dally Diouf Berkley Center Profile
July 21, 2015
Background: As part
of the Education and Social Justice Project, undergraduate student Sabrina
Khan interviewed Dr. Emile Dally Diouf, a retired teacher and social worker in
Mbour, Senegal. In this interview, conducted in July 2015, Diouf discusses challenges
to the Catholic school system.
What do you like the
most about your work?
I really like the relationship one forms with students, seeing their progression and their desire to learn. That allows me to collaborate with students who ask many questions when we are in the classroom.
Why are you interested in social work?
I like social work because it allows me to work with the most disadvantaged populations. I realized that our country has a lot of poverty. We have to help the less fortunate to live and to have, quite simply, the minimum. It is not easy, especially during a period of poverty in Senegal.
What is the importance of Catholic education for little children?
The importance of Catholic education is the humanism it transmits. Even Muslims seek Catholic education for the humanistic education that goes on within our schools; that is to say, we are interested in the behavior of the individual. We are also interested in transmitting important social values, which public schools do not always do. Public schools tend to be limited to instruction, that is, passing exams. While Catholic schools provide students with the knowledge they need to pass exams, we also provide them with social values that the individual needs to evolve within society. Teaching these values, along with the behavior of teachers that demonstrates these values, leads the population to like Catholic education.
Do you think there is a link between knowledge, education, or even literacy, and religion?
Of course. There are links between education and religion. Teaching, even if it's in mathematics, is influenced by the humanist values we have. Humanist values include religious values that we learn and integrate within our personalities.
What is the greatest challenge facing the Catholic education system?
The greatest challenge, actually, is fundamentalists who think that Catholic teaching is a way to indoctrinate children. We have to show that in Catholic education, we teach children to live well without wanting to attract them to another religion, contrary to what fundamentalists think. It is true that there is prayer in our schools. Some Muslim children hear the prayers and even manage to recite these prayers. When they say the prayers at home, their parents are afraid. But we do not impose the prayers. It's a choice. Parents think this negatively influences their children, but they do not have any evidence for this.
To clarify, do you believe that parents who are fundamentalist believe that Catholic schools try to evangelize, but that is not in fact the case?
I did not use the word “evangelize” because that word causes confusion. Catholic works evangelize. However, there is a difference between evangelization and Christianization. Evangelizing is exposing someone to the good news of Christ and greeting people. Christianizing means making Christians. We do not seek to make Christians. We spread the good news through our works. When Caritas [a Catholic NGO] comes to see the poor, that is evangelization. When a school offers education, it is evangelization. However, we do not try to convert people. It’s a choice. We are obligated to give the good news, teach social values—that is, universal values—to live together.
Is there something you would like to add that we have not discussed?
It is a good thing that these schools exist. It’s desired by the state, which supports our schools, even if it does not financially support them. The state provides us with moral support. The state proclaims that Catholic education is a need in Senegal. Nearly 20 percent of Senegalese children are enrolled in Catholic schools.
I really like the relationship one forms with students, seeing their progression and their desire to learn. That allows me to collaborate with students who ask many questions when we are in the classroom.
Why are you interested in social work?
I like social work because it allows me to work with the most disadvantaged populations. I realized that our country has a lot of poverty. We have to help the less fortunate to live and to have, quite simply, the minimum. It is not easy, especially during a period of poverty in Senegal.
What is the importance of Catholic education for little children?
The importance of Catholic education is the humanism it transmits. Even Muslims seek Catholic education for the humanistic education that goes on within our schools; that is to say, we are interested in the behavior of the individual. We are also interested in transmitting important social values, which public schools do not always do. Public schools tend to be limited to instruction, that is, passing exams. While Catholic schools provide students with the knowledge they need to pass exams, we also provide them with social values that the individual needs to evolve within society. Teaching these values, along with the behavior of teachers that demonstrates these values, leads the population to like Catholic education.
Do you think there is a link between knowledge, education, or even literacy, and religion?
Of course. There are links between education and religion. Teaching, even if it's in mathematics, is influenced by the humanist values we have. Humanist values include religious values that we learn and integrate within our personalities.
What is the greatest challenge facing the Catholic education system?
The greatest challenge, actually, is fundamentalists who think that Catholic teaching is a way to indoctrinate children. We have to show that in Catholic education, we teach children to live well without wanting to attract them to another religion, contrary to what fundamentalists think. It is true that there is prayer in our schools. Some Muslim children hear the prayers and even manage to recite these prayers. When they say the prayers at home, their parents are afraid. But we do not impose the prayers. It's a choice. Parents think this negatively influences their children, but they do not have any evidence for this.
To clarify, do you believe that parents who are fundamentalist believe that Catholic schools try to evangelize, but that is not in fact the case?
I did not use the word “evangelize” because that word causes confusion. Catholic works evangelize. However, there is a difference between evangelization and Christianization. Evangelizing is exposing someone to the good news of Christ and greeting people. Christianizing means making Christians. We do not seek to make Christians. We spread the good news through our works. When Caritas [a Catholic NGO] comes to see the poor, that is evangelization. When a school offers education, it is evangelization. However, we do not try to convert people. It’s a choice. We are obligated to give the good news, teach social values—that is, universal values—to live together.
Is there something you would like to add that we have not discussed?
It is a good thing that these schools exist. It’s desired by the state, which supports our schools, even if it does not financially support them. The state provides us with moral support. The state proclaims that Catholic education is a need in Senegal. Nearly 20 percent of Senegalese children are enrolled in Catholic schools.
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