Daily Frameworks for 06 February 2023

Kamál, 19 Sultan (Sovereignty), 179 B.E

The Nine Year Plan: 2022-2031

Educational endeavours and the training institute

The importance of education to a Bahá’í conception of spiritual and social transformation can hardly be overestimated. “Consider”, Bahá’u’lláh states, “the revelation of the light of the Name of God, the Educator. Behold, how in all things the evidences of such a revelation are manifest, how the betterment of all beings dependeth upon it.” ¹ The significance of education in the work of community building is unmistakable, and in the field of social action the provision of education remains the signature contribution of Bahá’ís in most parts of the world. Pre-eminent among the structures and agencies created by the Bahá’í world to offer education is, of course, the training institute. Indeed, the network of national and regional training institutes operating with such proficiency around the globe is among the choicest fruits of the previous series of global Plans. Building capacity for service within communities by enabling ever-increasing numbers of individuals to benefit from the institute process will continue to be a central feature of the Plans in the present series. The capacity for community development that has already emerged, represented by hundreds of thousands of individuals who are able to serve as tutors, animators, or children’s class teachers, is a resource of historic consequence. ^{2 3}

Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá

Every child is potentially the light of the world—and at the same time its darkness; wherefore must the question of education be accounted as of primary importance. From his infancy, the child must be nursed at the breast of God’s love, and nurtured in the embrace of His knowledge, that he may radiate light, grow in spirituality, be filled with wisdom and learning, and take on the characteristics of the angelic host.

Since ye have been assigned to this holy task, ye must therefore exert every effort to make that school famed in all respects throughout the world; to make it the cause of exalting the Word of the Lord. ⁴

1. Bahá’u’lláh. Gleanings from the Writings of Baháʹuʹlláh. Translated by Shoghi Effendi. Rev Ed. 1952. Reprint, Wilmette, Ill: Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1971, 189. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/gleanings-writings-bahaullah/5#790841058 ↩
2. Universal House of Justice. The Nine Year Plan: 2022-2031. 1st ed. Wilmette, Illinois: Baha’i Publishing, 2022, 58-59. ↩
3. Universal House of Justice. “30 December 2021 – To the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors.” Bahá’í Reference Library, December 30, 2021. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20211230_001/1#758524497. ↩
4. ’Abdu’l-Bahá. Selections from the Writings of ʻAbduʼl-Bahá. Translated by Marzieh Gail. Reprint. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1996, 130-131. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/selections-writings-abdul-baha/3#870801451 ↩