Elham.ps
Ar|Eng
Elham.ps Elham.ps Elham.ps
Home » What's New »   29th December 2014Print

Elham Celebrates the Conclusion of Its 5th Cycle

As a culmination of the 5th cycle of Elham, and under the Patronage of the Prime Minister Dr. Rami Al Hamdallah and in presence of the Minister of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) Dr. Khawla Al Shakhshir, a ceremony was organized on 6th December 2014 in Al Khadouri University to appreciate 53 new initiators who were recognized as laureates and their educational initiatives were identified as inspiring ones. The ceremony was attended by a number of dignitaries from the ministries, universities and organizations in addition to teachers, school principals and students.

The 53 recognized initiatives reached this level out of 1169 which were submitted to Elham Palestine at the beginning of this cycle. The initiatives went through a series of phases of evaluation starting with the initial review and ending with an interview in the final phase of evaluation.19 out of the 53 initiatives received the Palestine Award for Excellence and Creativity which was provided and covered finically by the Prime Minister office. The remaining 34 initiatives were provided the awards at the national level (categories A & B). These 34 awards were provided and covered financially by Universal Education Foundation.

Dr. Al Hamdallah commended Elham Palestine as it embodies a real and tangible exemplary of the successful partnership that includes Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, UNRWA and Universal Education Foundation. This partnership fostered Elham and underpinned it as a genuine part of the culture of the education community in Palestine. He also praised the inspiring laureates who excelled and succeeded in presenting a number of initiatives that addressed various needs under the themes of teaching methods, safe and stimulated learning environment, holistic health of children and youth and finally the students’ participation and entrepreneurship. He added that these endeavors came to surface despite the dearth of financial resources, the Israeli occupation practices that hinder the development of the Palestinian society and violates children rights to education.

Dr. Al Hamdallah continued by saying that his government embarks on improving the quality of education and harnessing this education to make it more responsive to our needs to development and more conducive to the engagement of citizens in the areas of knowledge, creativity and coping with the scientific and technological progress. He also underscored the government efforts to ensure education for all and provide a learning environment that is conducive to the well-being of children and young people. Lastly, Dr. Al Hamdallah commended the teachers and talked about their crucial role in education and the development process of the society. He concluded his word by calling for more commitment to learning and creativity and to convey a clear message to the world that Palestine is a creative and inspiring society despite all challenges and constraints.

In her speech, Dr. Al Shakhshir, the Minister of Education and Higher Education and the Chair of Elham Partners’ Council, described the products of the five cycles of Elham Palestine as a distinguished education wealth that must be effectively mainstreamed and integrated in the education system. Then she brought attention to the quality leap in Elham journey that was embodied in signing a memorandum of understanding between MOEHE and the Universal Education Foundation to integrate Elham program in MOEHE plans and strategies. This integration comes in harmony with the ministry goals to foster the creativity and excellence in the school community and to motivate the creative and distinguished teachers, school principals, school counselors, school health tutors and students.

At the end of her word, Dr. Al Shakhshir thanked the Prime Minister for his support for Education, excellence and creativity and for patronizing this ceremony. She added that the great support of the Prime Minister is embodied clearly in the provision of Palestine Awards for Creativity and Excellence and the yearly patronage of this important event. The Minister also thanked the Universal Education Foundation, the Elham partners, Khadouri University, the steering committee, Elham coordinators in the districts, Directors of Education in districts, Elham executive team and all evaluators.

Then, Dr. Awartani, President of Khadouri University and Secretary of Elham Partners Council, welcomed and commended the laureates from both West Bank and Gaza who took the initiative to work hard to make a better place for learning. He added that despite the long siege on Gaza and the nefarious Israeli war against it, 9 initiatives succeeded in challenging this siege and deserved the Elham awards. He also expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister for his steady support to Elham and for patronizing the ceremony for the second time and providing Palestine Awards for Creativity and Excellence to the laureates. He added that this support to the laureates will have a great impact on legitimating and rooting and promoting the culture of creativity and entrepreneurship amongst the education community in Palestine. Dr. Awartani continued by thanking all partners of Elham.

In relation to hosting Elham ceremony by the Khadouri University for the second time, Dr. Awartani mentioned that this hosting embodies the deep belief and steady commitment of the university to be an incubator and leverage for all national creative initiatives that contribute to enhancing the pillars of the Palestine state and to build a community based on the economy of knowledge.

Then, the steering committee word was given by Dr. Basri Saleh, Assistant/ Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education. He talked about Elham journey in its 5th cycle and briefed the audience on the phases of the Elham process starting from promotion and nomination and concluding by recognizing and appreciating the inspiring initiatives.

The last word in the ceremony was given by Alya Abu Thaher on behalf of the 5th cycle laureates. She said: I am a Palestinian refugee and I teach in a school in one of the refugee camps and I am honored to represent my creative and inspiring colleagues from both West Bank and Gaza and from both Governmental, UNRWA and Primate sectors of schools. She added: I am privileged -from this podium- to declare to the whole world that Palestinians are a people who love life and hope and their children deserve to live in dignity and peace.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the laureates were invited to the stage to be appreciated and the awards were given to them by the Prime Minister.

 

Elham.ps Elham.ps Elham.ps Elham.ps
Developed By