goodmorningpapua.com – A Catholic Director General of Community Guidance (Dirjen Bimas), Yohanes Bayu Samodro, has returned for a fourth working visit to Papua. This time, John visited Deiyai, a district in Papua Province.
The area was once part of Paniai Regency. To get to Deiyai, it can be reached by air travel via Nabire and continue the road trip for approximately 6 hours by car. In Deiyai, the Awedabi Catholic High School (SMAK) was established.
SMAK Aweidabi is one of 45 SMAK under the guidance of the Directorate General of Catholic Community Guidance. In addition, in Deiyai there is a College of Touye Paapaa, one of 23 colleges in Indonesia under the guidance of the Directorate General of Catholic Guidance. This college is the only Catholic religious high school owned by Timika Diocese.
According to Director General Yohanes, the presence of this school is a form of the state’s presence in equitable development in the field of education.
“Equitable development in Papua can be started with development in the field of education with a focus on character education through a religious approach,” said Director General of Catholic Guidance, Yohanes in his statement, Monday (11/8/2021).
“The Ministry of Religion, through services in the religious field, ensures that Papua is a part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. Through the presence of Catholic religious education, the Ministry of Religion is present for all people,” he continued.
Yohanes’s presence in Deiyai in order to attend the Bachelor Graduation of the Touye Papaa Catholic College
In his speech, Yohanes gave a message that the bachelors of this college are people who are academically and personally deemed worthy and capable of carrying out the task of educating and providing enlightenment to the community.
The presence of this college in the land of Deiyai is expected to be able to become a mouthpiece and role model for the religious moderation movement.
According to Yohanes, the Papuan community can strengthen religious moderation, one of which is by improving the quality of religious education so that it is hoped that the Catholic community will understand the values of diversity in the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.