Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, approved yesterday (Tuesday) the 2015-2021 plan of the Ministry of Education, in which innovation is a key aspect.
Shaikh Mohammad ordered the quick implementation of the plan, and stressed the importance of developing the educational system in the UAE as part of a wider concept which uses modern science as a basis to drive innovation in the education sector through the use of innovative methods and tools that can achieve the primary goals of the National Agenda 2021.
Shaikh Mohammad launched the strategy in the presence of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Hussain Ebrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, and other officials.
Shaikh Mohammad said that thanks to the close attention provided to education by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the sector will witness a complete transformation in the educational system, which will primarily depend on innovation. He added that the plan’s content is developed from the recently launched National Innovation strategy, which focuses on integrating knowledge in the field of science, engineering, technology, mathematics and other specialisations to ensure future graduates meet the requirements and needs of a knowledge-based economy.
“The future of Emiratis is always on our minds. We want our citizens to have an output of knowledge that adds value to the UAE’s march of development, which therefore necessitates a qualitative shift in the education sector. Our ambition is for our citizens to possess advanced skills and excel in them,” said Shaikh Mohammad.
“The era of traditional teaching methods is over, and these no longer have a place in UAE education. We are looking towards the future. We are preparing our citizens and building a generation of innovators by consolidating a national culture that encourages creativity and ways to benefit from modern technology,” he added.
“I am overjoyed when I see or hear of the achievements accomplished by Emirati students, which is not restricted to university or higher education students. There are innovative Emirati students in primary schools who have been honoured on an international level for their inventions. We want every Emirati student to be a role model for achieving innovation and creativity that benefits and serves the people of the UAE and the world,” said Shaikh Mohammad.
Shaikh Mohammad pointed out that the education sector is one that he keenly and directly follows up on, and said that the government will provide all means of support and financial and moral backing for the sector, and called on officials in the field to harness all this support for the purpose of developing the sector.
The Vice-President urged education staff to look after talented students, and to adopt a methodology that helps discover these talents, guide them, and focus on them as future projects that provide a unique imprint on the map of innovation. He emphasised the importance of developing education plans in a way that complements development in other sectors, so that a new generation of Emirati graduates can meet the current and future needs of the national knowledge-based economy.
Shaikh Mohammad also called on continuously setting up creative labs and brainstorming sessions in all educational institutions, which will contribute to the development of curriculums, teaching methods, bolstering national identity and preserving the Arabic language.
