LEBANON: Students graduate with specialized job skills
Diplomas awarded to 135 students at Don Bosco Technique Technical High School
(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Technique Technical High School, located in Fidar, Lebanon*, handed out diplomas to 135 students, with 83 students completing technical studies and 52 obtaining their postgraduate specialization diploma. Graduate specializations were in sports-physical education, hotel school (culinary arts and management), car mechanics, computer-accounting, theatrical arts and fine arts.
School staff, as well as the graduates and their families, attended the graduation. A Salesian noted, “For the families it was a really exciting moment and they did not fail to applaud warmly every time the names were announced. The two best students of the year, in addition to the recognition, also received an award.”
Father Simon Zakerian, superior of the Jesus the Adolescent Province of the Middle East, which includes Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel and Egypt, urged the graduates to continue to develop their skills so they could accomplish great things in life.
He also announced that Joe Atallah, a Salesian cooperator, will lead the board of directors and become executive director to all three Salesian organizations in Lebanon, which are Don Bosco Technique, a Salesian reception center and oratory in El Houssoun and the Angels of Peace school for Iraqi refugees in Beirut.
Lebanon is in the middle of a deepening economic crisis that has pushed more than 80% percent of the population into conditions of poverty. Marginalized communities, including seniors, children and refugees, have been disproportionately impacted by the worsening economic conditions that are affecting public services, including education and health care.
Lebanon is also dealing with more than 1.5 million refugees who have fled the Syrian civil war, according to U.N. High Comissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Close to 90% of those are living in extreme poverty and don’t even have enough to meet their basic needs. Salesian missionaries have been working in Lebanon since 1952 and currently have two centers. The one center in Fidar has Don Bosco Technique and a youth center. The Salesian community in El Houssoun has an oratory and a reception house that has been housing Catholic refugees since the start of the war in Syria.
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Sources:
ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)
ANS – Lebanon – Distribution of diplomas to Don Bosco Technique in Al Fidar
UNHCR – Lebanon
World Bank – Lebanon
*Any goods, services, or funds provided by Salesian Missions to programs located in this country were administered in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including sanctions administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control.
