UAE | Education
Learning environment set for major overhaul
Effective learning environments fostered by technology and professional development are among the changes desired in the system, the education minister said.
- By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:40 January 22, 2008
Dubai: Effective learning environments fostered by technology and professional development are among the changes desired in the system, the education minister said.
During a speech at the Gulf Education Forum, which began at the Madinat Arena on Tuesday, Dr Hanif Hassan outlined the perspectives and challenges facing education from kindergarten to grade 12.
"It is very timely for such a conference to take place in the UAE as we are in the midst of bringing about major changes in our education system," he said.
The forum which ends tomorrow, is running with the Gulf Education Supplies Show. It will be addressed by leading education experts, including Professor Gerhard Preiss, Neurodidactics pioneer and Mike Lloyd, Education Marketing Manager of Microsoft UK, among others.
Among the challenges presented by Dr Hassan in the education system in the UAE is the need to adapt modern methods encouraging "students [to] be thinkers who are able to assess problems, who can think and understand information and data, and who will have the skills to implement and monitor actions," he said.
To him, these desired changes are enabled by effective usage of technology and providing the infrastructure responsive to the advances of technology and modern learning methods.
"We are working with our colleagues in the Ministry of Public Works to develop new designs for schools that will provide the kind of learning environment that fosters active and engaged learning by students," he said.
With an ambitious aim to bring changes to the education system, Dr Hassan, unveiled a series of partnership initiatives aimed at assisting the transformation of the country's educational landscape from a bureaucratic one to a student-centred learning environment.
Heading the partnership agenda is a planned launch next month of a web portal to be managed in conjunction with Microsoft. The partnership campaign will also see the launch of an entrepreneurship initiative in conjunction with the Young Achievers Injaz programme which is expected to cater to 50,000 students by 2013.
Other planned re-engineering moves include the launch of a gifted student scheme and of a new initiative, in association with the Emirates Foundation, which is planned to spread a volunteer spirit throughout the sector.
The challenges of education in most countries are common worldwide, said Mike Lloyd, Solution specialist, Worldwide Education Group.
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