Don Bosco’s System of Education
(Preventive System)
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- Don Bosco’s System of Education
Don Bosco was born at Becchi, in Piedmont, Italy, on 16th August, 1815. He was acutely sensitive to the needs of his times. From a very young age, he was convinced that he had been specially called to work for the marginalized and the poor youth of that era. It was the time Europe was under the grip of the Industrial Revolution and youngsters were easy victims of exploitation, social evils and moral degradation. After being ordained a priest of the Catholic Church in 1841, Don Bosco came to the rescue of these poor youths with his novel method of education through total dedication and personal involvement in their lives and problems.
To ensure that this total commitment to their cause shone through his actions, Don Bosco envisaged his method of education on the Preventive System, basing his education on the three great principles of Reason, Religion, and Loving Kindness. He dedicated his whole life as a caring and concerned father, doing everything for the welfare of his youngsters. Being a gifted and able educator, he did not visualize education in isolation from the society within whose parameters it functioned. For him, education was a sacred and divine means for the positive and constructive transformation of human beings and for building up of a more just and humane society. He was convinced that an education that was alienated from the needs and aspirations of the society, emphasizing merely technical proficiency and creation of insensitive intellectuals, had no relevance for the humanity.
