HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE the Education Minister Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed al-Hammadi, leading Qatari businessman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, HE the Energy and Industry Minister Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada and other dignitaries at the opening of the education conference at the Qatar National Convention Centre yesterday. Picture: Shaji Kayamkulam
Inset: HE the Education Minister Dr al-Hammadi interacting with students at the expo yesterday.
By Ramesh Mathew
Staff Reporter
Qatar is committed to build an educational system that conforms to international standards in line with the objectives of the Qatar National Vision 2030 , HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed al-Hammadi said yesterday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the first International Conference on Education 2015, the minister hoped the convention would set a futuristic vision on the development of education with its focus on excellence.
He said that recent developments in the technological field had made it necessary to adopt creative strategies and innovative practices in education and promote a culture of excellence in educational institutions. This, he said, would make them incubators for creativity and innovation.
Earlier HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, who is also chairman of the Supreme Education Council (SEC), inaugurated the conference. It is organised by the SEC in collaboration with Qatar University’s College of Education under the theme “Partners in Excellence”.
Al-Hammadi said education was a social responsibility that contributed to bettering every individual’s knowledge and creativity and aimed at people’s overall improvement.
Highlighting the necessity of building better partnerships at different levels for improving the quality of education, the minister said the arrival of a number of international universities and other educational institutions in the country had given people several advanced opportunities in a little more than a decade.
Terming the conference as a platform for exchanging educational experiences and practices from different regions, the minister said the presence of a number of educational experts from different parts of the world in meetings held as part of the conference would help in highlighting the reforms, advances and achievements in the educational sector in Qatar in recent years.
The minister lauded HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani for allocating a special budget for scientific research.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Qatar University President Dr Sheikha Abdulla al-Misnad called upon all stakeholders to work together “in genuine partnership and take advantage of the strengths of each other to produce a generation of educational pioneers”.
The conference will discuss a number of topics such as the axis of education reform, educational leadership between theory and practice, leadership and policies of education, learning, policy and educational issues, in addition to the development of education, research, evaluation, curricula, practice of different growth stages and contemplative practices.
After the opening session, al-Hammadi opened a student research fair in which 64 independent and private schools presented research in scientific and literary fields.
A number of ministers, senior officials and academics from Qatar and GCC countries attended the opening session along with representatives of specialised international and regional organisations in the areas of research and education.
