Nearly 100 young people from more than 25 countries met at the São Paulo City Hall. The group, with flags of their countries, was received by a committee made up of Ramírez Lopes, Youth Policy Coordinator; Soninha Francine, Municipal Secretary of Human Rights and Citizenship; Marta Suplicy, Municipal Secretary of International Relations; and Aline Torres, municipal secretary of Culture.
During an inspiring speech, the municipal secretary of Human Rights and Citizenship, Soninha Francine, highlighted the importance of inclusion and individual initiative in seeking to celebrate diversity and promote mutual understanding.
The municipal secretary of International Relations, Marta Suplicy, shared information about the diversity of San Pablo and expressed her joy at welcoming young people to the city. “We are the fourth largest metropolis in the world, with 22 million inhabitants and 39 different municipalities in a single urban center. In San Pablo alone we have 12 million people. We are truly a global city; We are home to a hundred different nationalities among residents, with 86 consular representations and hundreds of thousands of foreigners living together in peace, such a precious and rare commodity on our planet today. Seeing them here today, coming from different origins, customs and languages, united by a culture of peace, fills us with hope,” said the secretary.
The visit was attended by José María Del Corral, global director of Scholas Occurrentes, and Darío Werthein, a Latin American entrepreneur with a strong commitment to education. Together, for seven years, they have joined forces with the conviction that education is the key to a more just and peaceful world.
Del Corral said: “Today, more than ever, the path to dialogue and Peace is the education of our young people through living an experience that harmonizes what we think with what we feel and what we do. “This meeting is a light of hope.”
Werthein, president of the Leo Werthein Foundation and of Vrio Corp., a holding company that controls the operations of SKY Brasil and DIRECTV Latin America, referred to young people as the key to this change that “through education and the exchange of experiences multicultural and religious, will allow us to work for respect and inclusion, in a world where it is imperative that peace and acceptance of diversity prevail.”
Likewise, he expressed: “It is essential that the public and private sectors work together in this direction and, therefore, it is an honor to be here, today, before the authorities of São Paulo with the will to collaborate and draw a horizon of common expectations for our young people.”
Inauguration of the Plus Congress School
Meanwhile, at the Hebraica headquarters, the inauguration of the V Escuela Plus Congress took place with the theme “Connecting Knowledge.” Government authorities and teachers from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile participated, countries in which the audiovisual educational program promoted by SKY and DIRECTV Latin America, through its parent company, is present.
The president of SKY in Brazil, Gustavo Fonseca, pointed out that the Congress, held for the first time in São Paulo, provides days of regional exchange to intensify reflection and debate of ideas on what practices can contribute to the evolution of education, with the firm and faithful objective of strengthening and encouraging steps towards a more equal and fair life in Latin American society.
In a deep and broad debate, regional authorities shared experiences in the panel on contextualization and challenges of digital literacy. Pedro Marino, coordinator of the Interculturality Area of the province of Córdoba, Argentina, participated; Pilar Riera, from the Educational Innovation Workshop with the Use of New Technologies in Colombia; Jesús Quispe, Executive Director of the Commonwealth of Los Andes, Peru; Karina Jáuregui, director of the Department of Education for rural areas of Uruguay; Cristina Catão, Secretary of Education of Jaguariúna, Brazil; and Katherinne Rojas, Digital Citizenship Coordinator of the Innovation Center of the Ministry of Education of Chile.