Good evening everyone,..

After viewing the presented scenes, I am truly mesmerized by what I witnessed. I wholeheartedly endorse the opinions of the judging panel regarding the ranking of the participants. However, to be honest, what we saw fills us with pride to the extent that words fail to express. It transcends the customary platitudes uttered at such events and celebrations. Nonetheless, I kindly request that you allow me to convey a greeting through you to His Excellency, the Minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Abbas Halabi, the patron of the celebration, and a native of Ras Mten and Higher Metn in general. He sends his regards and apologizes for his inability to personally participate due to unforeseen circumstances. As evidence, I was urgently informed of his absence only an hour ago. I repeat His Excellency's greetings to all those present, individually and collectively.

I won't prolong this any further out of respect for the time of the announcement of the results by the judging panel and the distribution of awards, which is the most important aspect. However, what I would like to say is that, unfortunately, as self-criticism is in our nature, what we witnessed today in the theatrical performance is still considered in our schools, at least in the public and private ones, as extracurricular activities that are, regrettably, only offered by some schools. In the majority of schools, they are replaced by other subjects such as mathematics, chemistry, physics, and others. 

This is self-criticism because what we witnessed today deserves from us as educators and as an educational community to give more time to these extracurricular activities that are called "non-classroom" or as some call them, procedural subjects, even though we are against this label.

I can assure you, on behalf of the Minister, that within the framework of the curriculum development project, there is confusion about the terminology. Some people think that we are introducing entirely new curricula, but this is not the case. The curricula from 1997 are still in use, and our efforts are focused on updating and implementing them more effectively. As for the promise we make, we will take into account, during the curriculum development workshops, the "essential" classes and subjects that you and I agree should be present in our schools and high schools. We should have seen what we witnessed today in our schools and high schools, rather than in theaters or other venues.

From here, I would like to express my gratitude to The Higher Metn Artisan Foundation for the efforts they are making, especially for filling in the gaps in our responsibilities. As a Ministry of Education and a state, we are required to develop and improve these types of activities in schools and high schools, but unfortunately, we find that civil society and non-governmental organizations such as The Higher Metn Artisan and others are playing this role and taking our place. Therefore, I would like to thank them even more for their valuable contributions.

We believe that education is not just the responsibility of the Ministry, schools, and high schools. Education is a community effort and involves all institutions within a town, district, and even a country.

I would like to extend my greetings and sincere thanks to all of you, and our greatest appreciation to the generous school that hosted us in this celebration. We are also ready, as decided by Mrs. Inas Nowaihed, the president of The Higher Metn Artisan Foundation, to hold this competition annually. We confirm that The Higher Metn Artisan Foundation has the sponsorship of the Minister of Education for this activity every year.

Thank you very much and apologies for the long speech.