Founded in 2001, the ETVTC in Ramallah, Palestine, is one of the youngest educational ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. The Center provides quality technological education for 420 students in grades 7 – 10 from five private schools and two government schools. Students are provided with guidance counseling to explore vocations and educational opportunities suited to their aptitudes and abilities. The Hotel School provides a comprehensive course of study for 60 students in the 11th and 12th grades, including a complete vocational preparation for work in hotel service and management.
The ETVTC serves both Christian and Muslim young people from Ramallah and the surrounding area. Young people in the West Bank suffer from the social and psychological impacts of occupation, and the hopelessness occupation engenders. Due to these negative influences, students need extra encouragement but instead they often have to cope with under-resourced educational institutions. The ETVTC provides young Palestinians with hands-on problem-solving skills, technological know-how, and hospitality service and management training that will prove valuable professional skills. Our mission is to improve the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of Palestinian youth in Ramallah and the surrounding areas so that they can become creative and productive members of society through technological education, vocational training, music and arts instruction, communication skills development, and the building of intercultural understanding.
The Center also serves hundreds of community members each year through different activities. We offer after school classes in music, arts, ballet and karate. Each year we hold a technological, cultural and recreational summer camp. We organize special workshops to provide vocational training and other enrichment programs to community members. The Center provides a space for spiritual gatherings and retreats. It is our belief that all the programs and activities organized or hosted by the ETVTC help build intercultural understanding, confidence and a “can-do” spirit and, above all, give our youth a hope for the future.
Giovanni Anbar
Director