By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter



The projects shortlisted for the 2015 World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Awards represent a number of dynamic and innovative programmes being undertaken in the education sector around the world.
They throw light on a number of programmes that are revolutionising the global education scenario as well as on how they contribute to children’s education even in the most remote areas and in challenging conditions.
Fifteen projects have been shortlisted for the awards, including one from Qatar.
WISE, a global initiative of Qatar Foundation, honours six innovative educational projects annually with the awards. This year, the finalists are from 12 countries and the awards are expected to be announced in September.
WISE maintains that the projects provide innovative solutions to education challenges and have a “tremendous positive social impact”. They join the WISE Awards community of projects, supporting the replication of cutting-edge practices and encouraging new collaboration around the world.
What is particularly special this year is that two of the shortlisted projects are from the Middle East. Al Bairaq, a Qatar University project, aims to increase the number of students enrolled in science and engineering in Qatar and has benefited 2,988 students and covered 78% of Qatar’s independent secondary schools.
The other one is Egypt-headquartered Nafham, a free online K-12 educational video platform that provides students with 5-15 minutes of free crowd-sourced educational videos covering their national curriculum. Its geographical reach includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria and Syria. Nafham has around 450,000 visitors monthly.
Other projects such as The Lab on a Bike (LOB) are examples of revolutionary ideas taking place in the educational arena. The India-based LOB aims to make hands-on education increasingly accessible in rural areas. Each LOB travels to remote schools with hands-on science models covering topics in physics, chemistry, biology and maths for grades five through 10. It has benefited more than 5mn children and 200,000 teachers so far.
The US-headquartered Talking Book Programme produces and records relevant, timely and practical audio lessons on sustainable farming methods and key health practices in Ghana. The messages take the form of interviews, songs, dramas and audio stories that are loaded on to a Talking Book, an affordable audio computer designed for people who cannot read and who have no access to electricity.
Spain-headquartered Lights to Learn is a joint effort of the public and private sectors in education, energy and ICTs. The project  provides electricity through the installation of photovoltaic solar systems, offers Internet and IT equipment to the community’s schools, teacher training, community development and sustainability via basic training for members of the community. Its geographical reach covers various countries in Latin America.
Videobooks for Deaf Children, another of the shortlisted projects, promotes reading opportunities for deaf children through a free, online video library and has benefited more than 12,000 children. It is based in Argentina.


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