"By awarding this prize and with our schools campaign, we aim to put the issue of integration on the agenda of education politics in Germany", explained Dr. Thielen ahead of the award ceremony in Gütersloh. "At the same time, we want to raise awareness of the fact that there actually exist outstanding examples, internationally, for successful integration of children and young people of migrant origin. The campaign and competition should encourage teachers and students to actively address the issue in Germany, which is the lack of fairness in our education system."
Project ideas can be submitted and uploaded to the website e.g. as text, in pictures or in video format. The winners will be invited to project days with the celebrity ambassadors for the campaign, who are of migrant origin themselves. Among the ambassadors are the footballer Mario Gomez, the actress Susan Sideropoulos and TV presenters Daniel Aminati and Shary Reeves.
In the presence of about 600 guests from business, politics and media at the Stadthalle Gütersloh, Liz Mohn presented the €150,000 Carl Bertelsmann Prize to the Director of the Toronto District School Board, Gerry Connelly. At the award ceremony Mrs. Mohn, the Vice Chair of the Bertelsmann Stiftung emphasized the winner's exemplary commitment to integration and equal opportunities in education. The District School Board, which is responsible for more than 550 schools in and around Toronto, had achieved outstanding successes regarding the integration of children and young people from immigrant families. Disadvantaged students and schools in areas of social deprivation received targeted support. Consequently, Canadian schools had closed the attainment gap between children and youths of migrant origin and their native peers.
"The school system in Toronto shows us what actions we have to take, considering the challenges we are facing from globalization, migration and demographic change", commented Dr. Johannes Meier of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board in his laudatory speech. "Germany is an immigration country just as Canada, but, regarding the education system in our country, we have not learned the necessary lessons from this reality. In Germany, educational success still depends too much on the social and ethnic background of students. In that respect, we would do well to take guidance from a country like Canada and a city like Toronto."