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Doha Events 2011

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With The Morning Coffee


2010 WISE Summit

Give ideas we can use, experts told

 

 

H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned with Zorka Parvanova, First Lady of Bulgaria, at the opening plenary session of WISE.

By Huda N V

DOHA: Reflecting on the worldwide need to raise the standard of education with  new ways to improve both access and quality, and inspiring practical initiatives which will help build a future of education, Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani, Chairman of WISE, opened the second edition of World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), in the presence of H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, here yesterday.

Sheikh Al Thani challenged the audience of more than 1,200 global education experts and thinkers to zero in on action-oriented education approaches that can be adopted and adapted worldwide.

“Our aspiration is to bring together multiple stakeholders and to connect theory with practice, because this kind of collaboration is critical in facing the most urgent and complex issue of our time – Building the future of education- because it means building our future world,” he said.

“WISE should be a year-round platform for innovative initiatives not a yearly summit alone. With the situation becoming increasingly pressing, we urgently need to move beyond an annual summit to action. We have always believed in drawing upon existing experience and so it seemed natural to gather expertise from round the world. The strength and success of WISE is in the partnerships that create a network across global community to voice and discuss education. The combined experience and talent will spark innovative solutions in education and contribute to building the future of education.”

The second edition of the high-profile event, WISE 2010, aims to raise the status of education on the global agenda through five plenary and 20 breakout sessions, featuring 100 speakers.

To generate clear outcomes is a priority for WISE, the event will be under three sub-themes. Sessions on “Improving Education Systems” looked into looks at how existing structures and systems in education can be continuously enhanced, “Exploring Innovative Trends” will highlight the search for entirely new ways of thinking, skill sets and delivery methods that modern-day education requires and an additional plenary session on “Funding Education” will deal with new ways of financing and sustaining education systems in this period of economic uncertainty.

One of the most important breakout sessions was devoted to “Education and Reconciliation,” covering the issues on educating children in conflict zone.

Addressing this issue in the openning session, Lakhdar Brahimi, former Algerian Foreign Minister and veteran UN Envoy, said, “When dealing with a new generation of conflicts around the world and trying to help a country establish and consolidate peace after conflict, education is always a key component of any peace process.” He highlighted the crucial link between education and reconciliation drawing examples from the society around us. “In Gaza, students at UNRWA run school take their lessons sitting in UN cargo containers. This is the situation of those who go to school. But there are many thousands of children left out. They spend their days playing in the streets or doing manual labour and hence get drawn in to all kinds of social-ills. It is also a problem if quality and defective education is given. Apart from the 3 ‘R’s in education, children should be taught tolerance, acceptance and respect of others’ thoughts and ideas.”

In a special video message contribution for the WISE Summit, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, stressed on empowering the youth through education for bright future.

“From its inception, WISE has understood that knowledge is the foundation of personal success, strong communities, thriving economies and peace, prosperity and progress for all nations. WISE knows that the challenge we face in the 21st century is to unite technology with our humanity and to ensure that our newest technologies advance our most cherished values,” she said.

The Peninsula

Education needs sustainable funding

 

By Fazeena Saleem

DOHA: Plans on innovative solutions in education through collective ideas of the delegates will be announced at the end of the second WISE summit.
“Share your ideas with our moderators and they they will report it to the WISE organisers. When we meet again on Thursday, I hope we will have some new plan which can be turned into ideas,” said Dr Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani, Chairman WISE, addressing a press conference held on the sidelines of the summit.
He also stressed the need of responsibility and contribution of policy makers in enhancing and progressing education in needy countries by funding and supporting, to make basic education a right to all.
During the past year, WISE has also held many other meetings with decision makers and educators form developing countries to for an action oriented approach to enhance sustainable education.
WISE held an unoffical meeting with the education ministers of the Gulf region and announced a Doha Declaration on Education. In an initiative to help others to learn, WISE also held discussions with 20 presidents of universities from developing countries and expertise, said Dr Abdulla.
Foreign universities were introduced in Qatar to motivate Qatari students to study within the country and to exchange expertise.
“Qatar University is reformed with high quality programmes to attract students. We have campuses of foreign universities in Qatar as it is the right model for us.....Through this expertise and knowledge too is exchanged,” said Dr Abdulla.
He also said when students study within the country, brain drain is prevented, otherwise many students who study abroad don’t come back.
Answering a question on free education, Dr Abdulla said: “We need to have innovative ways to find sustainable funding on education.”
The education standards in the Gulf region and in Arab countries were also discussed at the press conference.
Arab countries have elementary education, but the quality of education should be improved, said Lakhdar Brahini, former Algerian Foreign Minister and veteran UN envoy.
“The Arab nations will reach the millennium goals of education in 2015 in quantity but not in quality,” he
said.
Further, he said that teachers in the region are not adequately qualified to impart quality education.
With his experience as a diplomat in many conflict zones, Brahini said child labour cannot be stopped through legislation but by making the families economically stable. “The family should not need to pull out the child from school,” he said.
He further explained the difficulties faced by children in Afghanistan and Gaza to access education, because of lack of funds for education.
The Peninsula

Govt change affects education reforms

 

DOHA: Inconsistent educational reforms by changing governments, lack of digitalisation and inappropriate evaluation system affect the idea of quality education for all, according to some opinion leaders in education .

Speakers at the breakout session on ‘access to quality education for all’ at WISE 2010, yesterday discussed various ways to raise the standard of education systems. With increasing number of children at the primary level, learners engaged in secondary education are also increasing. However, increasing students does not mean they have access to quality education. The session focused on how the quality of education is measured and implementing quality oriented reforms.

In the session moderated by Prof John Wood, Secretary General, Association of Commonwealth Universities (UK), Dr Jose David Weinstein Cayuela, Vice President of Education, “Fundacion Chile” and Former Minister of Culture (Chile) called for changing evaluation and assessment of education systems as a whole. Meanwhile, Dr Balint Magyar, member of Governing Board, European Institute of Innovation and technology and Former Minister of Education (Hungary) stressed on digitalisation as a solution to the issue.

“Today, digital literacy is important for all as everything from social interatcion has been digitalised. World is now divided as those who are ‘plugged-in’ and those who are ‘not plugged-in’. Hence digital literacy should be made a right and those who are ‘digitally-illiterate’ should be given free training on basics,” said Dr Magyar.

“Nations should not merely focus on introducing reforms in education, but rather invest in the system they already have in place,” said Jenny Lewis, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Council for Educational Leaders.

“If the change makers really invest in a system, the quality of education can improve. However, now with each changing governments, education system also change giving both students and teachers a hard time.

“Education can be made easier if teachers are able to buy into the system. Often we notice teachers being told what should be done and they do not know how it is to be done. People think that it is because the teachers do not want change that they stay with the traditional teaching system, however, in reality it is because they do not understand why the change is and how it can be done.

Hence, if governments invest in giving training to teachers, any reforms can be seamlessly introduced which can improve the quality of education,” she told The Peninsula.

The Peninsula

Foreign scribes to take a tour of Education City

DOHA: Foreign journalists in Doha for the World innovation Summit for Education (WISE) will explore the Education City and many other places today.

More than 100 journalists from across the globe in Doha for coverage of the summit will participate in an exclusive tour and a networking session at the Qatar Foundation.

They will be given the opportunity to meet key personnel from the field of education, science and research and community development initiatives at the Qatar Foundation and also will go around the Education City and see its architectural excellence.

The journalists will learn about the ongoing strategic partnerships including those with HEC Paris, University College London, Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, Doha Debates and Qatar Science and

Technology Park.

As Qatar is becoming a cultural hub with Qatar Foundation, the visiting journalists will experience the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar Music Academy Al Shaqab and The Quranic Gardens.

The healthcare innovations such as Sidra Medical and Research Centre, Qatar Biobank, Qatar Cardiovascular Research Centre, Virgin Health Bank and Qatar Diabetes Association will also be included in the media tour.

These journalists will visit all foreign university campuses at the Education city including the new partnerships.

The Peninsula

Education helps reconciliation in conflict zones

By Fazeena Saleem

DOHA: Education for children in conflict zones and the link between education and reconciliation was a special feature of the second WISE summit. The subject came under discussion at a breakout session — ‘Education and Reconciliation.’

Emphasising every child’s right to education, this session discussed the process, challenges, success and difficulties of education and reconciliation in the post-conflict zones.

“Education is central to shaping conflict transformation,” said Prof. Bradon Hamber, Director, The International Conflict Research, University of Ulster(UK). Prof Hamber, who has an experience in post-conflict zones, especially in Ireland said many studies have proved that education supports reconciliation in post-conflict zones. “More than 500 studies have proved inter group contact typically reduce prejudice.

Educating the young generation through a curriculum on human rights, and dangers of prejudice helps, he said.

The Peninsula

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