Beirut, November 18, 2016: On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the founding of the PASCH-Initiative in Lebanon, the Goethe-Institut and PASCH Colleges held a press conference at Station in Beirut, on November 17, 2016. The event was held in presence of the Director General of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Fadi Yarak, Cultural Attache of the German Embassy Peter Hofmann, and Regional MENA PASCH-Coordinator Hendrik Lux.
The press conference covered the goals that were reached in the past 5 years. The initiative’s scope of work included, not only introducing German as a foreign language to three exceptional public secondary schools in 2011 but PASCH-initiative has also served as an accelerant to inspire Lebanese schools and universities to follow suit.
General Director Fadi Yarak said, “We pride ourselves in a nation that is bilingual to say the least. It is very important to raise generations which are open to learning new languages as it helps in bridging the cultural gap between countries.”
On his part, the Cultural Attache Peter Hofmann said, “I am proud of this initiative as we witness success in the future of the young. 5 years ago, 3 schools from the state sector introduced German as a secondary-level subject for the first time. Today, we stand with 1,000 young students holding this special qualification as they will be sent out into the world of academia with the first class expected to graduate in 2017.”
The “Schools: Partners for the Future” (PASCH) initiative started in February 2008 by Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs. The initiative established a worldwide network of more than 1,800 partner schools so far, and as a result was able to awake young people’s interest and enthusiasm for modern Germany and its society.