Tony Blair Faith Foundation to support training of Palestinian teachers

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBFF) and the Palestinian Authority have entered into a two-year agreement to train 200 teachers.

The agreement was signed into being during a meeting between the foundation's founder, former British Prime MinisterTony Blair, and Palestinian Education Minister Lamis al-Alami.

The teachers will be trained across 100 schools as part of the foundation's global schools programme, "Face to Faith".

During the meeting, Ms Alami complained of "endless constraints" on student-teacher movement and the construction of schools.

“The TBFF is a window of opportunity for Palestinian children under siege to open up to the world and tell their story in their own words," she said.

“Palestinian children will have a special opportunity through technology, to learn more about other cultures and accept and respect other views leading to dialogue and negotiation.

"It is a new experience for Palestinian children to be affiliated globally, but not overlooking their national aspirations.”

The meeting was also joined by the Deputy Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Dr Mohamed Abu Zied, Chief Executive of the TBFF, Ruth Turner, and Face to Faith's local coordinator, Dr Ghassan Abdullah.

Speaking from the Ministry of Education's offices in Ramallah, Mr Blair welcomed the agreement.

“Education is the key to fostering a tolerant and peaceful world," he said.

"Face to Faith equips young people with conflict resolution skills and encourages students to become genuine global citizens, open minded, outward looking, respectful of other's rights, and most importantly enriched with mutual understanding.”

The Face to Faith programme gives young people the opportunity to learn about the attitudes of different religions to global issues such as the environment, health, art, poverty and wealth.

The programme will be adapted to fit the Palestinian national curricula and seek to support the communications skills, problem solving and critical thinking of teachers through the help of digital technology.

Dr Abdullah said: “This agreement helps us to reach even more young Palestinians at a crucial time. It is important that they are able to tell their stories to the world, to articulate their views on global issues, and to hear directly about the experience and opinions of others.”

Ms Turner said: "This agreement is an important milestone for the programme. I am delighted that we will work closely with the Ministry on this important initiative. We want to help to promote communication skills, conflict resolution through applying education technology, and critical and analytical thinking.

"We welcome the seriousness, openness and readiness of the Palestinian Ministry and Palestinian schools to participate in this international programme.”