Four Filipino high school students participated in the weeklong International Baccalaureate (IB) World Student Conference at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) for young people to discuss the theme “Education for All: Moving Towards a Gender-Fair World” on 31 July – 6 August 2018.
Francesca Hilario, Klouja Reyes, Hanna Knill, and Julianna Lantape, incoming Grade 12 students at Brent International School Subic, engaged their peers from leading secondary schools around the world in discussing quality education and gender equality, two of 17 Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon by the United Nations.
During the Closing Ceremony held at the HKU Grand Hall on 5 August 2018, Consul General Antonio A. Morales praised the four students for their active participation in the conference, expressing confidence that the lessons they learned from their experiences in Hong Kong could be shared and implemented with their schoolmates and communities.
At the ceremony also attended by other members of the consular corps in Hong Kong, Prof. Peter Mathiesen, HKU president for 2014-18, introduced four of five selected HeForShe IMPACT Champion Scholars to present their diverse experiences in facing the challenges of gender inequality in trying to attain quality education.
Rabia Kaihan (Afghanistan), Aleena Khalid (Pakistan), Sophiemay Vongkhamsao (Laos), and Alaa Sleiteen (Syria) were awarded the undergraduate scholarships together with a Ethiopian student whose arrival was delayed as HKU’s way of helping reduce barriers against social mobility and promoting gender equity for access to higher education in developing countries.
The Conference participants listened to speeches and lectures, held sessions in honing such skills as creative writing, solutions design, app creation, and computational thinking in their engagement with thought leaders, teachers, and scholars, including both HKU faculty and alumni, in exploring solutions to alleviate the gender-related inequality still existing in the world.
Apart from addressing the problems posed by conference leaders, the young leaders also found time for excursions and recreational activities in order to encourage the formation of meaningful relationships with peers, develop international understanding and build leadership skills benefiting participants even after the conclusion of the conference.
The IB World Student Conferences, which were also held in June and July in Washington DC and Rotterdam, bring together IB Diploma Programme (DP) and IB Career-Related Programme (CP) students from around the world to explore and experience what it means to be globally engaged, and to inspire responsible action for making a better and more peaceful world.
HKU is the first university in the world to launch the UN Women's HeForShe Initiative to promote gender equality on campus. The UN HeForShe 10x10x10 Impact Group for this movement comprises 10 Heads of State, 10 CEOs of global corporations and 10 University Presidents. Prof. Mathieson, HKU's 15th President and Vice-Chancellor, is one of those ten.
