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ABOUT MEEI

Mar Elias High School has for 20 years been the flagship of MEEI. In its 19th year 1350 students were enrolled in years 9 through 12. After sitting the official Bagrut (matriculation) exam of the Israeli Department of Education, 330 students graduated in June 2002. Throughout the high school students take classes which range across the fields of Technology, Carpentry, Bio-technology, Computing Science, Environmental and Social Sciences as well as Hebrew, Arabic and English languages. MEHS has a 98.7% rating from the Ministry of Education and is ranked among the top four high schools in Israel for academic excellence.

Planning and working towards peaceful coexistence:
This year MEEI and Tel Hai Rodman College at Kiryat Shemona, were the venues for a Conflict Resolution program involving junior high school students from throughout the Galilee region. Israeli Jewish and Israeli Arab students engaged in discussion, think-tanks, role-play and creative arts. Through these learning experiences students were introduced to a range of principles, methods and skills in problem solving, negotiation and creative compromise towards understanding and co-operation.

Together with other local schools, MEEI participated in the ongoing "Encounter Program" with Neve Shalom/Wahat Es Salaam (School for Peace). The project brings together young Jewish and Arab women at the personal, social and political levels. Facing current issues and fears, listening compassionately to the lived reality of each other, and developing positive human relationships are key outcomes of this creative project.

MEEI also participated in a series of 2 and 3 day encounters between Jewish and Arab students. The "Face to Face" program at Givat Haviva fosters positive attitudes in an environment where students are able to explore notions of stereotyping and to examine their fears and feelings of hatred, alienation and xenophobia, often deeply internalized after growing up with years of conflict.

During the summer groups of students participated in the "Seeds of Peace International Camp for Conflict Resolution" where Jewish and Arab young people experience interdependence through teamwork, communication and group process skills. Developing trusting peer group relationships and bridging the historical divide empowers the young people with leadership skills and values of honesty, mutual respect and acceptance.

MEEI was also a participant in the Israel wide "Education for Peace" Project developed by the Israeli Palestinian Center for Research and Information. As well as training a group of MEEI teachers to be agents of change the project involved three year 10 classes in workshop encounters between Israeli and Palestinian participants. The strength of this program lies in its focus on developing Peace Education curricula integrated with existing subjects in the school curricula. Thus MEEI has access to a range of human and curricular resources which are complementary to its ongoing projects and goals of mutual understanding and building skills and attitudes for peaceful coexistence.

© 2002 by Mar Elias Educational Institutions