Doha’s build-up as intellectual city very striking: Zakaria

Thebuild-up of Doha as an intellectual capital is very striking, renownedjournalist and writer Fareed Zakaria stated in his keynote address atthe opening session of the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE)2017 yesterday.“I visited Doha several years ago. I am impressed bythe build-up of the physical capital such as the new buildings,skyscrapers and new hotels. What is more striking about Qatar is thebuild-up of Doha as the intellectual capital,” said Zakaria, a CNNpresenter.“To see a conference like this, an organisation like WISEand the great centres of education from the Western world, is trulyfascinating. This has been the result of a great and visionaryleadership and will leave an everlasting legacy,” he added. Inhis address, Zakaria stressed that education faces many enormouschallenges presently. “How to educate people in an age of technologicalrevolution? What should a student master in an age of computer that canoutsmart him in so many things? These are all important questions and Idon’t have the answers for them. The new era of digital tools presents anumber of opportunities but at the same time several challenges,” he noted.Quotinga doctor from India, Zakaria said that hospitals in India use computersfor diagnosis as they don’t have enough doctors. “So now computers candiagnose much better than human beings. The computers can remember somany more things than humans and the quality of the diagnosis is muchbetter,” he noted. “Education has to teach the human beings tobecome more human to emphasise the qualities that machines will never beable to emphasise. The education system has to be designed - radicallyredesigned- to highlight human and social skills,” he stressed.Theopening session was followed by a panel discussion that had Zakaria aswell as Prof Kishore Mahbubani, dean Lee Kuan Yew School of PublicPolicy, National University of Singapore. The discussion focusedon the topic ‘Education in the Post-truth World’, which highlighted howshould education respond to the challenges of the post truth world andbe reimagined to strengthen fundamental values and social cohesion. The panel was moderated by Yalda Hakim, international broadcast journalist, BBC World News, Australia.