Under the patronage of the Director General of Education Mr. Fadi Yarak, represented by Mr. George Daoud, Director of Primary Education, the Lebanese National Commission organized with Youth for Peace, in collaboration with the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) on February 21, 2020 at the Ministry of Education, the closing ceremony of the pilot project for ASPnet on“Developing skills of ASPnet students in responsible governance towards active citizenship”.
The ceremony included speeches by the Secretary General Dr. Tala Zein, and the President of Youth for Peace Fr. Joseph Sleiman, in which they both commended the schools’ efforts in implementing projects that responded to the needs of the community, as well as interventions from Youth for Peace Project Director Dr. Lina Bitar, from Dr. Mouna Reslan, member of the Education and Culture committee at the Lebanese National Commission, and from Ms. Christiane Jeitani, the National Coordinator of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network.
The project aimed to develop high school students’ skills in governance, and highlight the importance of their participation in public affairs projects under the supervision of their teachers, such as: environment, respect of law, accepting the other different, dialogue skills, or fighting corruption. Two training workshops addressed to the teachers were previously organized, on February 13, 2019 and on March 20, 2019 at UNESCO Beirut Office, and tackled the concepts of governance, leadership, project management skills, linking them to education (planning community-based projects related to governance), observation, evaluation, event planning, engaging local and national social organizations, and how to organize global cafés.
At the end of the ceremony, certificates of participation were distributed to schools that only implemented the first phase of the project (training the students) due to time constraints: Ahliah School, My New College – Amhaz Educational Insitutions, and Saint Roch College – Kleiat member of the Lebanese Maronite Order (OLM). Certificates of appreciation were distributed to schools who implemented more than 1 phase of the project: Omar Bin Al-Khattab School – Makassed, Al Murabi Fadl Al Moukaddam Public High School for Girls – Tripoli, Azm School – Tripoli, and Collège Notre Dame des Soeurs Antonines – Hazmieh and Jamhour. And schools that completed all the phases of the project were awarded certificates of excellence: Al-Afaq Development Institute – Imam Sadr Foundation, Bilal Fahs High School and Mostafa Shomran High School.
