HONG KONG, Dec. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 500 people attended the opening ceremony of the UNESCO HK Peacemakers' Day at The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd)'s Tai Po campus on 8 December 2012 to pledge their support to promote peace, cultural diversity and mutual respect for different traditions and customs.
Co-organised by the UNESCO Arts in Education Observatory for Research in Local Cultures and Creativity in Education (RLCCE) at HKIEd and the UNESCO Hong Kong Association, the ceremony was a highlight of the "Peace for All" programme, which provides a series of joint school activities to equip our students to become world citizens.
Officiating at the ceremony were Professor Samuel Leong, Director of the UNESCO Observatory RLCCE and Head of the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts at HKIEd, and Professor Patrick S. S. Lau SBS JP, President of the UNESCO Hong Kong Association, together with many guests of honour including Consulates representing around a dozen of nations, and representatives from supporting and sponsoring organisations.
Addressing the ceremony, Professor Leong reminded students in attendance of how the Peacemakers' Day was not an end in itself, but rather the beginning of a lifelong journey whereby the participants could, and should, strive to be active peacemakers. "Today is both a platform and a springboard. It is a platform for deciding what peace means to you and the springboard to enable you to transform that belief into positive action," said Professor Leong.
Recognising the importance of the programme, Professor Lau said he had high hopes for this meaningful event in promoting peace for all. "Working for the first year with RLCCE, this peace project aims to facilitate local and international communities in Hong Kong to foster intercultural and ethnic diversity. Above all, we would like to foster international exchanges locally to take advantage of the international metropolitan that Hong Kong can proudly represent," said Professor Lau.
The ceremony was followed by a whole day of workshops and creative activities for some 400 primary and secondary students from local and international schools in Hong Kong, and marked the start of an 11-week collaboration period between matched "pairs" of schools. To that end, participants made use of the campus facilities to start exploring ideas based around the themes of tolerance, intercultural dialogue, mutual understanding and respect for the traditions and customs of different countries and cultures. The programme will culminate in a one-day exposition of the students' work at the UNESCO HK Peacemakers' Celebration on 24 February, 2013 at the Hong Kong Science Park.
Photos are available on the HKIEd website:
Photo (1)
http://www.ied.edu.hk/upload_main/main/press/attach/peacemakers_03_ALL(3).jpg
Over 500 people attended the opening ceremony of the UNESCO HK Peacemakers' Day at HKIEd's Tai Po campus to pledge their support to promote peace, cultural diversity and mutual respect for different traditions and customs.
Photo (2)
http://www.ied.edu.hk/upload_main/main/press/attach/peacemakers_01.jpg
Professor Leong reminded students in attendance of how the Peacemakers' Day was not an end in itself, but rather the beginning of a lifelong journey whereby the participants could, and should, strive to be active peacemakers.
Photo (3)
http://www.ied.edu.hk/upload_main/main/press/attach/peacemakers_02.jpg
Professor Lau said this peace project aims to facilitate local and international communities in Hong Kong to foster intercultural and ethnic diversity.
For all media enquiries, please contact:
Miss Karmen Fung of UNESCO Hong Kong Association
+852-2312-7696
