Assessment Meeting for the Trainees of the National Committee for the Follow-up on Women Issues

The National Committee for the Follow-up on Women Issues held an assessment meeting for the teachers and coordinators, from all the Lebanese regions, who took part in the series of training sessions on gender-related terms in the schoolbooks in Lebanon for the elimination of discrimination in the Arabic reading book, as well as in the national education and civism books for the intermediate classes. The meeting was held in cooperation with the Educational Center for Research and Development on April 24, 2009 at the Holiday Inn hotel-Verdun.
The president of NCFWUI, Dr. Aman Kabbara Chaarani, welcomed the audience, the representative of the minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Layla Maliha Fayyad, the representative of the minister of State for Administrative Reform,  Ms. Youmna Chakr Ghoraib, the representatives of educational and women institutions and of international and political organizations.


    
She praised the efforts exerted and the assistance provided by the Educational Center for Research and Development as well as its participation in and follow-up of the four-day sessions organized by NCFWUI for the teachers of primary and intermediate classes.
Dr. Chaarani said “there are challenges that should be faced today on the local, regional and international levels, generated by the rapid changes and the conflicts. One of the most important solutions is to adopt a new educational policy based on the freedom to practice our legitimate rights, on social justice and on equality; because women are still suffering from injustice in our societies. Hence, the family, the society, but also the schools contribute significantly to defining the social roles, by providing alternatives to the content of the school curricula and schoolbooks.
She called once again upon the minister Bahia Hariri and the decision makers to integrate a vision in the school curricula and schoolbooks related to the social role and gender, in order to reflect the national strategic goals that focus on women’s political, social and economic rights in compliance with the international conventions related to women.
Ms. Youmna Chakr Ghoraib talked about the importance of discussing the educational matter in general and in Lebanon in particular, which does not require a specialized knowledge rather a comprehensive vision.



She also noted that the committee’s projects come within Afkar program for many reasons, most importantly because they meet the goals of Afkar which aims at enhancing the Lebanese civil society for the respect of the political and civil rights.
She stressed the importance of cooperating and working with the different to broaden and consolidate the effective partnership with the stakeholders through the cooperation with the educational center for research and development, to be able to have an impact on the public schools. She furthermore expressed her appreciation to the efforts made by the NCFWUI as well its seriousness, considering it to be among the active associations that advocate the respect of human and women rights. She also noted that the cooperation between the Educational Center for Research and Development and NCFWUI is very important and valuable for the nation and for the citizen.

As for Mr. Nizar Ghoraib, he took the floor on behalf of the Educational Center for Research and Development. He expressed his deep belief in the cooperation with NCFWUI and stressed the importance of the studies that aim at making a change towards the better, noting that the objective of the Educational Center for Research and Development is to build a citizen and a civism that are based on the principles of partnership and the respect of the rights.
The representative of the Minister of Education and Higher Education, Bahia Hariri, Dr. Layla Maliha Fayyad, the president of the Educational Center for Research and Development took the floor.  She underlined that the project is on the right track, and that each step and each stage is being assessed to make sure of the quality of the performance and that the transition from one step to the other is being smooth.
The training sessions contributed very much to the improvement of the trainees’ capacities and competences. They also created an analytical and reflexive nucleus that would allow them avoid any gender-related discrimination in the school books. The studies and the remarks given in this regard have been taken into consideration.
Ms. Nayla Al-Masri presented the most important proposals and recommendations presented by the participants which were debated by the stakeholders, reflecting thus the importance of the sessions.   
At the end of the meeting the certificates were given to the participants in the sessions.