DUBAI, 14 December 2021 – It takes a village to raise a child, and this, His Excellency Ali Al Yafei, Advisor to the Minister of Education for Technical Affairs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said is how the future of education in the country will be, where all stakeholders are brought together to make programmes, innovations and collaborations work in the digital age.
Speaking at a forum held in DP World Pavilion on the third day of Expo 2020’s Knowledge and Learning Week, HE Al Yafei said: “The future of [education] will be more personalised, where you are actually providing learning that is suitable to the individual, giving them the flexibility of moving vertically or horizontally between college, university and vocational studies. A flexible and personalised learning fit for the student’s capability and wellbeing is our key aspiration for the future.
“Also, in addition to that, adding to the whole community – the institutions, the parents, the private sector – for them to be part of the learning ecosystem. So we want to put in more initiatives, more programmes, more collaborations to achieve that goal.”
HE Al Yafei said the UAE had become a global leader in education because “we look at it holistically”.
He added: “We check the best practices around the world and we bring it back, then we put it into our context and we always try [to bring it to] the next step. Our aim is to grow the economy, grow the individual, make sure they are ready for future jobs – what those will be we don’t know – and to make sure they have the skills to create their own job. We are looking at the complete holistic [learning] ecosystem. We collaborate, we experiment, and we take calculated risk, that is why we are ahead.”
HE Al Yafei said the UAE “has been closing all the difficult obstacles” with regards its 2030 education masterplan. “We have reached our goals, and we are adding new goals,” he said. “Now we are looking at 2050.”
He also said it was the harmony among the private sector, the government and other stakeholders that enabled the education sector to weather the pandemic. “What we have learned from the pandemic is that the collaborations between these groups is the key that really made the [transition] very smooth and easy,” he said. “Also, planning ahead, as we have been ready since 2012 on digital education, that helped us a lot to overcome the pandemic.”
In another forum, held on the second day of the Knowledge and Learning Week at Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), HE Jameela bint Salem Al Muhairi, Cabinet Member and Minister of State for Public Education, in her keynote address, said it is important to “identify key barriers to innovations” in the field.
HE Al Muhairi said: “Innovation plays a crucial role in facing the complex and unprecedented challenges of the world today, both at an individual and societal level. While there is a broad consensus around the need for innovation in education, from policymakers, teachers and other educational professionals, the question to be contested is how to identify the key barriers for innovations. Whether it is found at the policy level or the implementation level, or elsewhere.”
She said the session aimed to “discuss the courage and bold actions it would require from global leaders and decisionmakers to address the key structural challenges to innovate in education worldwide.”
The panel discussion, which focused on the need to innovate in the field of education, and what it takes to do so, was participated in by HE Mohammad Al-Sudairi, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Education for Universities, Research and Innovation; HE Liina Kersna, Estonia’s Minister of Education; HE Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Government, Delhi, India; HE Patrizio Bianchi, Italy’s Minister of Education; and HE Bangladesh’s Minister, Dr Dipu Moni MP.
The 45-minute panel saw a lively exchange of ideas, hindsight, experiences and proposals regarding the global effort to further improve educational systems through innovations in light of the pandemic and the digital age.
HE Mohammad Al-Sudairi said that Saudi Arabia has embarked on a human capital improvement programme at the behest of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, which includes 28 initiatives focused on the development of students and teachers. “Today, we have to go further in the education of our children,” he said.
HE Liina Kersna said that Estonia’s road to innovation puts an emphasis on the country’s teachers: “The Estonian educational system has always been based on equality, regardless of economic background. We also highly value teacher education. Teachers must have a master’s degree. We have to educate teachers, because we have to trust them.”
HE Minister Dr Dipu Moni MP said it is all about mindset, as she cited the challenges her country, Bangladesh, had faced during the pandemic: “Digital transformation complexities are huge, and even more for a country which has a huge population. People did not believe that it was going to happen, but the younger generation believed in us. Now, digital education is a reality (in Bangladesh). But we have challenges, because digital technology changes so fast, and we have to cope fast.”
HE Patrizio Bianchi said the pandemic was a “dramatic opportunity” to change. “What we are doing now is redefining the organisation of education at the national level,” he said.
HE Manish Sisodia said that innovating is a matter of mindset: “We need mindset to teach. We also need to teach mindset in terms of the curriculum. The biggest challenge I see worldwide is that we are not using mindset as a tool.”
The panel discussion was led by Dubai Cares and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFAIC).