KUWAIT, Feb 5 (KUNA) -- Five young students who creatively demonstrated what it means to them to be a global citizen are celebrating the news that they are winners in the British Council Connecting Classrooms 'I'm a Global Citizen' competition.
The Competition aimed to encourage students aged between 11-14 years in British Council Connecting Classrooms schools in the Middle East countries of the GCC, Yemen and Iraq to think about their role in today's internationally-connected world.
Five students and one teacher from the British School of Kuwait took the top prize in Kuwait. The winning team will now have the opportunity to travel to the UK in March to attend a workshop in London, followed by up to 4 days living and studying with students at their UK partner school - Ratton School.
This competition is just one way in which the British Council's Connecting Classrooms programme is working to improve trust and understanding between students living in different societies and help young people develop the skills and cultural understanding to live and work in our global society.
First prize in the State of Kuwait was awarded to the British School of Kuwait for submitting their winning entry - newspaper article. This article was prepared by the five students : Ishita Handa, Ankita Handa, Fenna Hasche, Simon Jensen, and Dario Gelevski.
The runners-up of the competition were The English Academy for their song entry and the Gulf English School for their poster entry.
Judges from the Ministry of Education (Private Education Department) and the British Council assessed the entries on the basis of creativity, originality, clarity and aiding understanding about the concept of being a global citizen. Entries were invited in the form of posters, songs poems, visual presentations, newspaper and magazine article.
Rafat Abutaleb, British Council Project Manager for Connecting Classrooms in Kuwait said:'Today we live in a world which is more connected than ever. We rely on different people from all over the world for the clothes we wear to the food we eat and the technology we use. This competition, under our Connecting Classrooms programme, aims to build students' awareness and understanding about how they can make a positive contribution to our world today.
The Director of the British Council, Stephen Forbes said, 'All the entries showed a creative, original and thoughtful approach to the subject of global citizenship and I congratulate the winners on their success. The students from the British School of Kuwait now have an exciting opportunity to spend time with students in their UK partner school and learn more about each others' cultures first hand.' The 'I'm a Global Citizen 'competition took place during the autumn term and closed on 31 December 2009.
For more information, the British Council can be accessed through the following website: (www.britishcouncil.org/connectingclassrooms). - Kuna