Minister of Education: Qatar committed to supporting education in least developed countries

HE Minister of Education and Higher Education Buthaina bint Ali Al Jabr Al Nuaimi, affirmed the commitment of the State of Qatar to support the least developed countries by strengthening comprehensive and effective national education systems, whether in distance classes or in direct educational sites, and improving curricula that respond to the dynamic nature of education and training and labor market.
Her Excellency stressed the importance of strengthening local contexts, including country-specific challenges, capacity development of teachers, especially in rural areas, improvements in basic infrastructure, and provision of adequate supplies to suit the learning requirements of all children.
Her Excellency said in an interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA) that the issue of education is one of the main pillars of the country's development programs, as education is the guarantee for building sustainable societies that are able to withstand challenges, as it contributes to increasing the productivity of individuals, and the promotion of economic growth, and it also ensures the development of vocational skills necessary to achieve sustainable development in various fields of life, which contributes to improving the health and living conditions of people.
Her Excellency also stressed that Qatar is committed, in this context, to supporting the least developed countries in increasing school enrollment rates, reducing dropout rates, providing school feeding programs that support healthy diets, water and sanitation facilities, vaccinations, various school health services, and improving the quality of education , especially core learning competencies.
Her Excellency added that Qatar is also striving to ensure access to the Internet in less developed countries, significantly increase access to electricity, provide digital literacy skills and lifelong learning systems, as well as distribute educational equipment and materials, whether in physical or digital form, with focus on the poorest and most vulnerable families.
Her Excellency expressed Qatar's belief that education plays a fundamental role in building sustainable and resilient societies, and contributes to increasing the productivity of individuals and enhancing the potential for economic growth, in addition to developing the vocational skills necessary to achieve sustainable development in various fields of life, such as: clean energy, water, and the preservation of natural resources, and it also contributes to improving the health and living conditions of people.
Her Excellency said that the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, which Doha will host from March 5 to 9, will be an opportunity to highlight the importance of universal access to quality and comprehensive education at all levels, eliminating the gender gap in school enrolment and completion, and promoting quality education for all in the least developed countries.
Her Excellency noted that through the conference an increase in the number of places and scholarships available globally for students and trainees from least developed countries would be pursued, particularly in the fields of science, educational technology, business administration and economics, and full utilization of available scholarships would be encouraged, and significantly increase access to the Internet, electricity and school meals that support healthy diets, and basic services necessary to support the educational process, and conduct feasibility studies to explore the possibility of establishing a virtual university or equivalent platforms for least developed countries, with the expansion of vocational training, and good training opportunities, and promoting other active labor market policies to facilitate a smooth transition from school to work for both sexes, as well as urging the international community to unite efforts to get children back to school in the aftermath of Covid-19, and to ensure safe and quality education for all children.
Her Excellency explained that Qatar has undertaken many initiatives and programs that support education for children in conflict zones, including the initiative of the Education Above All Foundation, by making available its educational program in emergencies, which supported more than 1.5 million children in Ukraine who were forced to become refugees, adding that the educational program produced by the Foundation was developed in the Ukrainian and Russian languages, as part of the bank of free electronic educational resources, and was awarded the "crisis and conflict" category by the Learning Alliance.
In the field of protecting education, Her Excellency said, Qatar is an effective and influential factor for bringing about positive transformations and creating a world where peace, prosperity and human dignity prevail, where financing education in emergencies for Qatar is a priority in development aid, which the state is keen to provide to countries, whether due to armed conflicts or natural disasters, more than 78 countries have benefited from the initiatives of the State of Qatar, whether through the Education Above All Foundation, or with the support of the Qatar Fund for Development. The State of Qatar also submitted a draft resolution to adopt an international day to protect education from attacks, as the resolution was unanimously adopted in May 2020, and became Sept. 9 of each year the International Day to Protect Education.
HE Minister of Education praised the ability of the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries to face the challenges related to education in the least developed countries, as she emphasized that this comes by calling on all countries to take more exceptional measures, and calling for strengthening international and multilateral cooperation to face the challenges affecting least developed countries, based on the concept of human security, to ensure that no one is left behind.
Her Excellency said: "We are aware that the least developed countries, despite the many challenges and obstacles they face, abound with huge potentials of human, cultural and natural resources, which can be harnessed to achieve sustainable economic growth, well-being, peace, prosperity, food and energy security."
Her Excellency stressed the need for action by all actors in favor of least developed countries to target challenges in a sustainable manner, and to take advantage of opportunities to catalyze maximum positive impact on development; Therefore, it is important during this conference to promote a global and comprehensive partnership that effectively addresses the special needs of the least developed countries, and contributes to supporting education and sustainable development issues for all.
Her Excellency revealed that Qatar will present during the conference proposals to protect education and its role in adhering to these initiatives, including, for example, the State of Qatar will commit to conducting feasibility studies to explore the possibility of establishing a virtual university or other equivalent platforms; To support online STEM education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in least developed countries and newly denominated countries to provide political support for the promotion of distance education and open education at undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the fields of science, technology and engineering mathematics to ensure gender balance at all levels, taking special measures to reach the poorest and people in vulnerable situations, as well as to create a virtual network of educational institutions within and outside the least developed countries, and to assist in the design of courses, the development of curricula and the expansion of education system and achieve sustainability, taking into account all pre-existing initiatives, developed by the relevant partners in a comprehensive manner.
Her Excellency reaffirmed that Qatar is working to ensure that all girls and boys complete equitable, quality and comprehensive primary and secondary education in the least developed countries, which leads to achieving appropriate and effective educational results, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and ensuring equal access for all learners of both genders.
Her Excellency noted that Qatar, through financing education in emergencies to more than 78 countries, has provided initiatives through the Education Above All Foundation, with the support of Qatar Fund for Development, to help provide appropriate learning opportunities for all ages in crisis situations, including pre-school, primary and secondary education, vocational education, higher education, and adult education.
Her Excellency pointed out that the "Education Above All Foundation" is working for its part to ensure that all children in the developing world enjoy their right to education, especially those children who are not enrolled in schools, who currently number 59 million children around the world, where the Foundation addresses education issues with a special commitment towards the most deprived groups from education, through capacity building, resource mobilization, and the establishment of multi-sectoral partnerships, as the Foundation has worked on several international programs.
Her Excellency indicated that the Foundation is carrying out internal partnerships, including its conclusion of an agreement with Qatar University, through which it provided 120 scholarships for students from outside the country, to provide higher education opportunities to ensure that the most disadvantaged groups have access to higher education, which will contribute to building a prosperous future.
Her Excellency stressed that the State of Qatar, with the support of the international community, has a very important role in building stronger systems capable of facing challenges in the least developed countries to achieve sustainable development, and help these countries to design resilient systems, face risks, and design infrastructure in the fields of transportation, communications, information technology, health system, and food system.
In this context, Her Excellency said that the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries aims to involve all local, regional and international bodies to develop solutions that meet the needs of individuals and guarantee their rights, especially that the State of Qatar believes in equal opportunities, especially that those countries have human resources that allow them to catch up achieving prosperity and economic growth and sustainable development.
Her Excellency noted that the conference enhances the role of Qatar as an active member of the international community in supporting education, and the belief that it is the main means for building and prospering societies, and achieving sustainable development.
Her Excellency added: ""We seek to continue efforts in urging the international community to support least developed countries in gaining access to educational tools and digital technologies, and using them effectively to improve education outcomes for all learners, with a focus on the poorest and most vulnerable households, especially for girls, and support large-scale national efforts to use all forms of distance learning technology, especially low-cost technology, to support distance learning and online education."
Regarding the role of the United Nations Organization in Support of Education in the world, Her Excellency said that HE Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, drew attention to the challenges that education faced against the backdrop of the Coronavirus pandemic, and called for serious action with regard to the quality of education, as he stressed in his message on the occasion of the International Day of Education that education is one of the most important public benefits, and it is a key factor for achieving all the goals of the sustainable development plan in the least developed countries. Therefore, the State of Qatar shares the vision of the United Nations General Assembly, that without ensuring quality, comprehensive and equitable education for all, and by promoting lifelong education opportunities for all, countries will not succeed in achieving gender equality and breaking the cycle of poverty, which will leave millions of children and youth behind.
Her Excellency added that HE the Secretary-General of the United Nations stresses the need to protect the right to quality education for all, especially girls everywhere, to achieve sustainable development, and for schools to become safe and healthy places, where there is no place for violence or intimidation, noting that this will only happen through global solidarity, protection of education budgets, and increases in resources for each student to achieve better educational results, which is what the United Nations Conference aspires to.