World ORT and Pope Francis sign new deal to extend Scholas World Youth Encounter

Pope Francis has met Dario Werthein, World ORT Board of Trustees Chair, and Avi Ganon, World ORT Director General and CEO, to sign an agreement which will see the fourth Scholas World Youth Encounter take place in Mexico City later this year.

The event – which will bring together hundreds students from around the world to share their passion, experience and ideas for a more tolerant and peaceful society – is a joint project between World ORT and the Pope’s Scholas Occurrentes Foundation.

This year’s youth encounter will begin on October 28 in the Mexican capital, running until November 1.

It is expected around 60 World ORT students from across the network – including from Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Spain, South Africa and Israel – will attend. The theme will be ‘Encounter and Exchange’, with the goal being to generate a framework for 15-to-17-year-olds from different nationalities, religions and socio-economic backgrounds to start a dialogue to promote education and to encourage a more humane, tolerant and peaceful world.

Following the meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on March 21, Dario Werthein said: “We are very excited to work again with Scholas at the World Youth Encounter. 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.”

The full article is on the site of ynet:

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5483703,00.html

• World ORT is a global education network driven by Jewish values. We reach 300,000 people a year, in 35 countries, and World ORT is one of the largest educational charities in the world. We provide a combination of high-level science and technology education with strengthened Jewish identity to bridge the gap between ability and opportunity – and to ensure the continuity of Jewish life worldwide.

• Scholas is an international non-profit entity driven by Pope Francis that is present in more than 190 countries and brings together more than 446,000 schools and educational networks around the world. It works with public and private schools and educational communities, of all religious and secular backgrounds.