July 31, 2008 – Miami, Florida…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
Thousands of children attending hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist elementary schools throughout the Inter-American Division territory have brand new Bible class textbooks today.
“There was a great need for Bible textbooks to be updated and make them more appealing to children today,” says Dr. Moises Velazquez, director of the Office of Education for the church in Inter-America. “These textbooks will help the children capture the biblical lesson they need for their spiritual growth.”
The new textbooks replaced ones that were decades old.
The project took a team of faculty from Montemorelos University, an Adventist institution in Mexico, three years to complete. The team was led by Dr. Raquel Kornijczuk, vice president of academics affairs. The educators completely updated the content, design, and layout of the books as well as teacher’s guidebooks, which range from kindergarten through fifth grade levels. There are more than 93,000 students enrolled in those levels across Inter-America’s elementary schools.
The initial printing of 100,000, which was in Spanish, was distributed by the Inter-American Publishing Association.
According to Dr. Velazquez, the English and French translations are scheduled to be completed next year.
“We are very excited and grateful to have these textbooks available for children attending our schools,” Velazquez says. “What comes next will be new Bible textbooks for grades 7-12, which we hope to have available in the near future for our secondary schools.”
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America owns and operates 681 primary schools, 305 secondary schools and 13 universities throughout its 17 regions.
For more information on how to order Bible textbooks for children grades K-5, contact your local conference office or union office, or Inter-America’s Office of Education at 305.403.4700.
