Some 250 teenage students from around the world, including Israel, will gather in Mexico City at the end of October for the Scholas World Youth Encounter. The meetings are the result of a partnership between World ORT and the Vatican.Last week at the Vatican, Pope Francis and World ORT representatives, board of trustees chairman Dario Werthein and director general and CEO Avi Ganon, signed an agreement to renew the partnership for the fourth consecutive year.
The theme this year will be ‘Encounter and Exchange’ and the 15-17 years old students will engage them in a variety of activities involving music, art and sports. The meetings promote tolerance and inclusion among students from different nationalities, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds while emphasizing education and a humane and peaceful world.
Werthein expressed his excitement in seeing the World ORT-Scholas project renewed for another year. “We share a common goal, that is to create a collaborative environment and promote lifelong education to achieve the socio-economic development of the young students.”
Ganon is pleased that World ORT takes a leadership role “in promoting universal values, such as tolerance between religions and understanding between people.”
Scholas Occurrentes president Jose Maria del Corral agreed, adding: “We create the space, but [the students] fill it – they are the content, they are the ones who continue to dream our dreams.”
About 60 of the youth will be from World ORT schools in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Israel. ORT is a global non-profit educational organization based on Jewish values. Pope Francis’ Scholas Occurrentes Foundation is an international non-profit educational network operating in over 190 countries.