AMMAN (JT) - Her Majesty Queen Rania on Friday visited the Mulberry School for Girls in London to discuss educational programmes supported by Mosaic, a Muslim mentoring network launched in 2007 by the Prince of Wales.
Accompanying His Majesty King Abdullah on an official visit to the UK, Queen Rania arrived at the school to meet with HRH Princess Badiya, who chairs the programme, according to a Royal Court statement released yesterday.
During a tour on Friday, Princess Badiya explained that the Mosaic programme, which was launched in November 2007, was designed to support young Muslims and their peers growing up in disadvantaged areas in the UK by matching volunteer mentors with young Muslims and others at schools and via local community groups.
While most mentors are Muslim and operate in areas of Muslim populations, all young people can participate in the programme, according to the statement.
The programme also aims to raise the aspirations of young people from deprived areas through mentoring, enterprise and leadership development, providing access to opportunities otherwise not available to them.
During the visit to the school, Queen Rania also attended a formal mentoring session with a group of 10th-grade students and was briefed by Lipena Begum, Mosaic London regional manager, on the functions of the mentoring scheme.
Students also shared with Her Majesty ways the mentoring programme has positively impacted their lives and future outlook.
Also on Friday, Queen Rania witnessed a demonstration of the Mosaic Enterprise Challenge in which teams of students are challenged to develop and market new products.
The game aims to introduce the concept of enterprise to teens under a realistic business scenario through interactive computer software.
Other initiatives launched by Mosaic, which targets both primary and secondary school Muslim and non-Muslim children, include employability support schemes for young offenders, "World of Work" visits to major private sector companies and community media workshops.
The Mulberry School, located in the heart of Tower Hamlet's multicultural community, enrols approximately 1,400 students between the ages of 11 and 19, 98 per cent of whom are Muslim, according to the Royal Court statement.
Since 2008, Mosaic provided a total of 5,376 mentoring experiences in local communities through the work of 500 active volunteers engaged throughout the UK.
In addition, the Mosaic International Summer School brings together 90 young Muslim leaders hailing from 14 different countries.
Also during Friday's visit, Her Majesty met with Vanessa Ogden, head teacher at the Mulberry School, John O'Brien, managing director of Mosaic and Khawar Mann, Mosaic board member.
© Jordan Times 2009
