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QNA DohaMinister of Education and Higher Education HE Buthaina bint Ali Al Jabr Al Nuaimi has said that despite the progress made by Qatar in basic and higher education, and the recent reforms and commitments to improve learning processes and outcomes, there is need to discuss the ways to transform education in order to achieve the objectives of the 4th goal of sustainable development and the comprehensiveness and quality of education.“We must now, in light of the recent challenges that education faced in Qatar and the rest of the world, to move towards reviewing our plans and policies to discuss ways of transforming education in order to achieve the goals of the 4th goal of sustainable development and the comprehensiveness and quality of education, and to consider what should be changed, what should be strengthened and what should be developed,” she said.The minister made the remarks at the opening of the national consultative meeting for Qatar in preparation for the Education Transformation Summit, which was organised by Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science and Education Above All Foundation, over two days, in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).The Education Transformation Summit seeks to renew the global commitment to education as a priority public good, in addition to mobilising ambition and solidarity for joint action and finding solutions towards forming a new concept of education, as well as its goal of accelerating efforts to recover from learning losses resulting from the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).The minister reviewed the task of the consultative meeting to identify priority areas to achieve the transformation in education, including transformational measures to enrol all children in schools, ensure their acquisition of reading, writing and arithmetic skills, and appropriate psychological and social skills, and pay attention to the needs of the most marginalised groups, including children with disabilities.According to her, the task of the consultative meeting also includes discussing how to enhance the capabilities of teachers and providing them with the necessary tools and capabilities to enable them to teach according to the highest quality standards, whether in Arabic or any of the many other languages used in teaching in Qatar.She noted that the objectives of the consultative meeting include supporting the achievement of the goal of the Education Transformation Summit, which aims to develop a common vision, achieve international commitment, harmonise the measures to be taken at all levels to transform education from now until 2030, and identify and document the experiences of Qatar in a comprehensive.Nuaimi said that the national consultative meeting brings together more than 50 stakeholders under one roof to discuss the urgent measures needed “to recover and transform our education system in ways that restore hope to an entire generation of children and youth whose future may be challenged, especially in the context of the coronavirus pandemic”.She added that the most important objectives of the national consultations revolve around the exchange of innovative ideas and strategic plans to develop a common vision in developing education for Qatar in a manner that suits the 21st century from now until 2030 and beyond, and to work on designing appropriate programs to raise the level of educational outputs, and to improve educational systems to ensure comprehensive foundations that help achieve Qatar National Vision 2030.The Ministry of Education and Higher Education, represented by Director of Educational Policies and Research Department Dr Nouf Al Kaabi, participated in the plenary session of the consultative meeting entitled ‘Education Transformation in Qatar’, and was. Dr Kaabi pointed out that the coronavirus pandemic has significantly increased absenteeism and dropout rates, not to mention the challenges faced by the most vulnerable students such as speakers of a non-native language, students with disabilities and students from economically disadvantaged families. She added that it also affected the economies of countries, marginalized entities and low-income families.She cautioned against many practices and misconceptions that must be abandoned, such as the idea that learning takes place only in the classroom.
