ORT South Africa is sending thirteen South African high school pupils from both public and private schools around Johannesburg to join their counterparts in Argentina for the Pontifical Foundation Scholas Occurrentes’ third International Meeting of Youth taking place in October 2018.
Mother body, World ORT signed a historic agreement with the Vatican’s educational organization Scholas Occurrentes which allows young people from all over the world to participate in an open, multicultural dialogue. The collaboration will draw hundreds of teenagers from diverse cultural and social backgrounds from across the globe to the conference.
Pope Francis was present at the signing ceremony of this agreement, held at the Vatican, along with Chairman of the Board of World ORT Darío Werthein and President and World Director of Scholas, José María del Corral.
The event seeks to provide a platform for multicultural and inter-religious dialogue, with the aim of generating mutual respect. Ariellah Rosenberg, CEO of ORT SA said, “Students will be required to ‘pay it forward’ and become ambassadors to the programme upon returning home. We anticipate that the programme will help them initiate productive and inspiring projects in their own communities.As we work closely with high schools in Alexandra and Ivory Park, ORT SA has identified three pupils who would benefit tremendously from this type of experience and we have raised money for their air tickets. The other 10 pupils are from King David Schools.”
Scholas was founded by Pope Francis in August 2013, with the aim of linking technology with art and sports to promote social integration.
