The celebration of the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development 2022 proposed by UNESCO for Saturday May 21 has a clear purpose this year: to claim culture as a source of resilience and connection between cultures at a time when , due to the pandemic and mass confinement, billions of people turn to it as a source of comfort, well-being and connection.

El Limonar International School in Murcia has joined this initiative with the celebration of Cultural Diversity Week. During the last days, the students have participated in different activities and thematic proposals, for which they have had the involvement of relatives of students and associations of the Region of Murcia.

«We educate in diversity, not to racism and the appreciation of other cultures. In addition to the fact that we have an ever-increasing percentage of foreign families at the school, our status as an international school brings together the deepening of subjects such as global citizenship, languages ​​and knowledge of other realities. It is something that is also linked to our current accreditation process with the Council of International Schools”, explains María Dios Zetterlind, director of Infant and Primary Schools.

According to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the number of foreigners registered in the register of the Region of Murcia increased by 4,107 people during the last year, with a total of 226,431 people, which already represents 14.8 % with respect to the total of the community.

«South Africa, Spain, France, China, Italy, Venezuela, Mexico, the United Kingdom or Romania are some of the countries represented during a week full of workshops, crafts, dances, thematic classes or gastronomy, in which our facilities have become a world stage”, says Jessica Boutcher, professor and coordinator of this initiative. The participation of parents of the students has been key, as well as the assistance of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, which has installed a traveling exhibition in the center with real testimonies of children and young people from disadvantaged areas of India in which the power of sport is promoted as a tool that facilitates integration, equality and respect.

As UNESCO points out, since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in the creation and access to cultural content online, from virtual tours of museums and galleries, streaming of films and even community choirs through networks. social, showing its fundamental role as a source of resilience for communities. "Great crises throughout history have often given rise to a renaissance of culture and an explosion of new forms of creativity, so vital to human progress," they note. Something that ELIS Murcia has wanted to ratify.