Khalaf al-Mereikhi, a physical education teacher at Qatar Leadership Academy (QLA), has been recognised at the 15th Education Excellence Award ceremony Wednesday. He received a Platinum Medal in the Distinguished Teacher category – marking the second consecutive time that an educator from QLA has received an award in this group.
Al-Mereikhi began his career at QLA, part of Qatar Foundation’s Pre-University Education, eight years ago, and has become a role model to the students, encouraging them to become health and fitness advocates.
Al-Mereikhi praises QF's efforts to instill a culture of sports among young people. Highlighting that it reflects the overall goal of the country, with Qatar striving to embed it within local society, he explains how exercise can play an instrumental role in addressing health challenges, such as obesity and diabetes.
"At QLA, we monitor our students’ lifestyles, and training programmes have been developed to promote health and fitness,” he said.
Pointing out some of the issues students have that prevent them from exercising, al-Mereikhi said: “Sometimes students are interested in playing sports, but they struggle to because they’re obese. And in the past two years, obesity rates have increased due to Covid-19.”
Al-Mereikhi explained that there has been an increase in awareness among community members about the importance of exercising, and that QLA aims to build a generation of young people passionate about sports.
“We have student athletes enroled in various sports, and we help them refine their skills by enabling them to play in local and international tournaments from a young age.”
QLA houses many sporting facilities, from basketball, tennis, and volleyball courts to a multipurpose hall and an outdoor swimming pool. And students are encouraged to practice sports during school hours, as well as after.
“This achievement is the culmination of years of work in the field of education. In my opinion, winning this award is not because of one person – I would not have had this experience, academically and professionally, had I not been at QF or had the constant and continuous support of my colleagues,” al-Mereikhi added.
Al-Mereikhi praises QF's efforts to instill a culture of sports among young people. Highlighting that it reflects the overall goal of the country, with Qatar striving to embed it within local society, he explains how exercise can play an instrumental role in addressing health challenges, such as obesity and diabetes.
"At QLA, we monitor our students’ lifestyles, and training programmes have been developed to promote health and fitness,” he said.
Pointing out some of the issues students have that prevent them from exercising, al-Mereikhi said: “Sometimes students are interested in playing sports, but they struggle to because they’re obese. And in the past two years, obesity rates have increased due to Covid-19.”
Al-Mereikhi explained that there has been an increase in awareness among community members about the importance of exercising, and that QLA aims to build a generation of young people passionate about sports.
“We have student athletes enroled in various sports, and we help them refine their skills by enabling them to play in local and international tournaments from a young age.”
QLA houses many sporting facilities, from basketball, tennis, and volleyball courts to a multipurpose hall and an outdoor swimming pool. And students are encouraged to practice sports during school hours, as well as after.
“This achievement is the culmination of years of work in the field of education. In my opinion, winning this award is not because of one person – I would not have had this experience, academically and professionally, had I not been at QF or had the constant and continuous support of my colleagues,” al-Mereikhi added.
