ALF Foundation general manager Abdullatif al-Yafei (left) announces the launch of DI in the presence of executive director Ali Mar’e. PICTURE: Thajudeen
By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter
Some 400 teams comprising 3,000 students from various schools in Qatar and other countries are expected to participate in the “Destination Imagination (DI) Qatar Invitational Tournament”, set to take place from February 25-28, 2016 at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
Brought to Qatar by AlFaisal Without Borders (ALF) Foundation in 2013, a non-profit organisation founded and chaired by HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, the programme aims to inspire and motivate students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders.
ALF Foundation general manager Abdullatif al-Yafei said yesterday that around 50 teams from the US, Poland, Mexico, the UK, Canada, South Korea, China, Morocco, Jordan, and India, among others will also take part in the tournament.
Supported by the Supreme Education Council, he said these kinds of initiatives provide innovative and creative experience to students – unlocking their potentials and help in achieving the Qatar National Vision 2030.
Al-Yafei noted that the teams will be given at least six challenges of their choice with a specific time frame to solve them.
“We want to take part in providing and promoting the most unique of educational programmes,” he said.
“We believe it is necessary to offer programmes that stem from the ethics of the Arabic Qatar culture and contribute to deliver its content to the world.”
ALF Foundation Arabic Educational programme manager Huda Hamdan echoed the statement of al-Yafei saying that DI is a unique, non-traditional but effective way of educating students.
Citing the experiences of students who participated in the previous competition, she said they learned how to work as a team and listened to the ideas of their team members.
“They don’t know about these challenges before so they have to come up with something very creative, focus on their respective work, respect each other, and forge their personal skills,” Hamdan said. “Using the strengths of each member, they learned how to plan well and collaborate to solve the problem.”
During a 14-week season of solving a complex challenge, participants must rely on their own knowledge from various academic subjects such as math, science, technology and literature – combine and apply them to achieve their goal.
Posting a 700% increase in the number of participants in its second year, the programme under the name “Wajjeh Wejhatak” has attracted 80 independent and 23 international schools this year. Registration remains open until the end of the month.
Winners of the state-level competition will qualify for the global finals which will take place in the city of Nashville, Tennessee in May 2016.
“We offer the students of Qatar a programme that attracts 200,000 participants worldwide annually, 38,000 volunteers, one and a half million alumni, and its activities are held in 30 countries globally,” al-Yafei noted.
Citing the benefit of the programme to students, parents and the education sector, ALF Foundation wants to expand DI and “go beyond the borders of Qatar.”
