By Noimot Olayiwola/Staff Reporter
Member states of the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States (ABEGS) yesterday held their seventh consultation meeting with focus on the bureau’s strategy for 2015-2020.
In attendance at the one-day event hosted by the Supreme Education Council (SEC) were ministers of education from the region, including Qatar’s Minister of Education & Higher Education and SEC secretary-general HE Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi, ABEGS director-general Dr Ali al-Karni and ABEGS general conference chairman Dr Majid al-Nuaimi, who is also Bahrain’s minister of education, as well as a number of dignitaries.
The ABEGS strategy for 2015-2020 was the result of the general conference resolution specifying the bureau’s policies, procedures and operational mode for the coming period.
The meeting also tackled a number of issues pertaining to the growth and development of the educational sector within ABEGS member states, besides reviewing some of their case studies and country experiments in the field as well as showcasing standards and measures to be adopted in their information and communication technologies (ABEGS-ICT).
Delivering a speech, HE al-Hammadi described the ABEGS strategy as one of the most important documents towards ensuring qualitative and quantitative co-ordination and implementation of good educational goals among member states.
The official highlighted Qatar’s achievements in the education sector, which he described as very important for the country in achieving its National Vision 2030.
“Qatar has covered a long distance and still walking to achieve the set objectives of the National Development Strategy 2010-2016 with more than 20 projects involving education being executed,” he said.
HE al-Hammadi stressed the need for the region to walk with international organisations in order to develop the pathway and start implementing and evaluating the strategy, which should be aligned to international standards.
He mentioned that in its efforts to boost and raise the standard of its education, Qatar has provided a group of electronic services, including providing iPads to students in order to customise their study.
The official also said the SEC has applied the national school accreditation in preserving quality among private schools besides approving a set of procedures and standards to strengthen the accreditation system.
During the consultation meeting, International Society of Technology in Education executive director Brian Charles Lewis gave a presentation around a programme that aims to enhance teacher performance by utilising the benefits of e-learning and taking it beyond computer literacy.
