Rabat – Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Asmaa, President of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation for Hearing Impaired Children and Youth, chaired, here Monday, the Foundation’s graduation ceremony of the 2023-2024 school year.
On this occasion, HRH Princess Lalla Asmaa followed a presentation on training trainers in « bilingual education for the deaf » via videoconference, led by Dr Cheryl Shahan, clinical assistant professor and bilingual specialist in education for the deaf at the University of Tennessee.
The presentation was attended by Ali Randy, USAID Mission Director at the US Embassy in Rabat, Romeu Rafel Barriero, President of DevTech/USAID, and Siham Bojji, DevTech/USAID Program Director.
Her Royal Highness then visited the CE3 pure sign language and vocalization class run by Meryem Haddadi and Amal Chorfi, teachers at the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, a classroom where « bilingual education for the deaf » is put into practice.
HRH Princess Lalla Asmaa also visited the audiometry room, accompanied by Richard John Brook, CEO of Cochlear – Australia.
Her Royal Highness was then given a presentation by Dr Majda Frendy, Provincial Delegate for the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, on the van equipped to raise awareness of deafness among young mothers in rural areas.
Speaking on the occasion, Karim Essakalli, Coordinator of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, said the day was of particular importance as it marked a key moment of assessment, not only for the Foundation’s students but also for all its staff.
He expressed his pride in the extremely positive results achieved by the Foundation this year, with more than 400 cochlear implants in the Kingdom and over 120 in Africa, in addition to the academic successes achieved (18 primary certificates, 8 middle-school diplomas, 7 high-school diplomas, 8 bachelor’s degrees and 2 master’s degrees).
These figures demonstrate the potential of every child to benefit from a course of academic excellence.
HRH Princess Lalla Asmaa then chaired the signing ceremony of two partnership agreements. The first agreement, signed by El Houssaine Hsini, Acting Director of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, and the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohammed Mehdi Bensaïd, is meant to enable the children of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation benefit from vacation camps organized by the Ministry of Youth at national and international levels.
The second agreement, signed by El Houssaine Hsini, Acting Director of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, and Latefa Ahrrare, Director of the High Institute of Theatrical Arts and Cultural Animation (ISADAC), provides for supervising all the Foundation’s artistic workshops by ISADAC teachers and students, and integrating the Foundation’s graduates into the Institute’s university curriculum.
On this occasion, Her Royal Highness attended a choreography performed by the Foundation’s students, mentored by ISADAC staff, before awarding diplomas and awards to the class valedictorians.
Upon arrival arrival at the Foundation’s headquarters, HRH Princess Lalla Asmaa reviewed a section of the Auxiliary Forces who were performing the honors, before being greeted by Abdellatif Ouahbi, Minister of Justice, Chakib Benmoussa, Minister of National Education, Preschool and Sports, Khalid Aït Taleb, Minister of Health and Social Protection, Mohammed Mehdi Bensaïd, Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, and Aawatif Hayar, Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration and Family.
Her Royal Highness was also greeted by Mohamed Yacoubi, Wali of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra Region, Saad Ben Mbarek, 1st Vice-President of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra Regional Council, Fatiha El Moudni, President of the Rabat Municipal Council, Abdelaziz Derouiche, President of the Rabat Prefectural Council, Abdelillah El Idrissi El Bouzidi, President of the Agdal-Riad District Council, Karim Essakalli, Coordinator of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, Rachid Mouatassim, Educational Director at the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, as well as other Foundation partners.
