Khalid Tawalbeh
Doha
Education Above All Foundation’s programme, Reach Out to Asia, held the annual exhibition of school projects as part of the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN)-Qatar programme.
The 2023 iEARN-Qatar Open House was held on May 18 at The Fourth Assalam school showcasing projects from Qatar, as well as from Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen who joined virtually.
The event provided an excellent opportunity for students and teachers to present their hard work and accomplishments from the 2022-2023 school year, as well as to highlight their iEARN projects.
The event was attended by Ministry of Education representatives, Ali Abdul Razzaq Al Marafi, secretary-general of the Qatar National Committee for Education, Culture and Science, Abdulla Al Abdulla, executive director of ROTA Programme, and representatives from UNESCO and UNICEF.
This year, more than 30 teachers from schools in Qatar, Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen and Jordan participated in the digitised Arabic iEARN training and the workshops last February and implemented their iEARN-Qatar projects.
The teachers who attended iEARN training, implemented with their students, collaborative iEARN projects. More than 230 students completed their iEARN projects and presented them in the open house exhibition.
The participating schools from Qatar were: The First, The Second and Fifth Assalam schools, Al Ahnaf Bin Qays Boys’ School, Al Bayan Second Primary School for Girls, Abdullah Bin Ali Al Misnad School for Boys Abdullah bin Turki Al-Subaie Preparatory School for Boys. In addition, the following schools joined virtually. Al Hasaad, Al Tarbawi schools from Jordan; Hajj Bahaa Eddine Hariri School and Ali bin Abi Talib School – Makassed from Lebanon.
“This event is to showcase the students’ iEARN projects that contribute to improving the health and welfare of our planet and people worldwide. By integrating project-based learning and international collaboration amongst young people via the Internet, iEARN exemplifies a rich learning experience for youth to enhance life skills while contributing to community development and the Sustainable Development Goals.”, Said, Abdulla Al-Abdulla, Executive Director of ROTA programme.
By facilitating meaningful collaboration amongst peers from different countries of the world, iEARN projects contribute to ingraining social responsibility and leadership, which helps to raise civic awareness among young people, which in turn impacts social, economic and environmental friendly individual practices.
iEARN projects offer practical insights into real-world issues which compel students to become creative and critical thinkers, and hence transform learning into an enjoyably challenging experience for youth.
“Our 2023 edition of iEARN-Qatar programme has achieved remarkable success in integrating project based learning into formal education and extending the programme’s influence beyond Qatar’s borders, regionally and, soon globally. We have successfully trained over 2,550 teachers from various schools in Qatar, and more than 15,000 students have actively participated in numerous collaborative projects,” he explained.
“Our theory of change is that by digitising teacher training in both Arabic and English, we prepare a conducive environment to grow a critical mass of teachers and facilitators of iEARN in schools locally and regionally that would engage a larger number of students in iEARN projects aimed at making a positive contribution to the health and welfare of their communities.” Al-Abdulla added.
Acknowledging the significant role iEARN-Qatar has played in enhancing educational quality, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has endorsed ROTA’s programme proposition to extend the programme to every school across Qatar. Additionally, the elevation of iEARN-Qatar to the status of a Centre by the international network signifies that the coordinator from Qatar will join the influential ranks of the 25 decision-makers within the global network, which spans 140 countries.
