Education more than keeping up with tech advances, says Shaikha Moazah

Manama: Education should be placed in its global context rather than simply be confined to keeping up with technological advances in order to meet market and competition demands, Shaikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, the Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, said.

 "As such innovation can be neither imported nor implanted in a foreign body; rather innovation is a social culture which appreciates the human mind, a culture which develops and grows when it meets the requirements of the hosting environment. This is how we have always understood major scientific and technological transformations, such transformations which shaped human history and which carried within, the winds of positive change for all of humanity," she said at the opening of the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha on Monday.

As innovation stems from society and is not imposed on it, it should be a part of the identity of the educational institution, strengthening its spirit of taking initiatives, and making way for students, teachers and parents in all educational levels to be partners in the decision making process in a democratic, transparent and responsible atmosphere.

Shaikha Mozah said that education was a key to building a culture of peace instead of a culture of despair for present and future generations.

"A culture by which we can safely and confidently unlock the doors of this small village - our world - and which enables us to preserve the world's population and fortify it from the scourge of ignorance, isolation and fragility… We hope to set the foundations for a forum which is able to expand dialogue and to encourage innovation in order to develop thought, create opportunities and come up with practical solutions that link educational solutions to the requirements of sustainable development," she said. "The possession of knowledge and its application to the progress of humanity must be at the core of our priorities and at the forefront of our commitments."

Education for All programme

However, Shaikha Mozah warned that the Education for All programme was not moving forward as expected and called for prompt and decisive action to overcome slow progress and challenges in meeting the Education For all goals

"We fear that indeed these goals will be discarded if we do not act decisively and quickly to resuscitate them."

The first step will be to admit and acknowledge the seriousness of the imminent crisis facing humanity.

"This is not an overstatement or an exaggeration but it is a reality we deal with at every moment. A reality which we often deny, unwilling to make true commitments and to bear the responsibility of finding innovative solutions capable of containing this crisis. Most of what we often do is a timid circumstantial reaction responding to the reports of research and development centers, superficial and temporary solutions which fade away rapidly, despite the facts which these reports contain pertaining to our education situation and our irresponsibility. And when I refer to irresponsibility, I do not make a distinction between powerful and weak, nor between developed and less developed; everybody is responsible and everybody has the duty to raise the level of education. This can be achieved provided we realise that the world actually is a global village in its geopolitical meaning, not only metaphorically," Shaikha Mozah said, quoted by the Qatar News Agency.

Innovation in education should become an achievable and executable process. "Normally when innovation is addressed, we accentuate the role of industry, technology and business sectors and I believe that this approach is both simple and naïve. Innovation should be at the heart of the education which is the force which exerts human energy and guides it wisely for the purpose of expanding human intelligence and creativity to serve the objective of just and equitable human societies," she said.

For Shaikha Mozah, the concept of pluralism should play its part because the duty of education does not stop at the level of conveying knowledge but extends to teaching the values linked to the social and cultural tenants of the society.

"We believe that innovation in education is the corner stone for building a forum of international peace, and because it represents one of the most important pillars for development," she said.

Impact of Arab civilisation

The Arab region is concerned more than anyone else with this topic due to its educational situation and to the impact of Arab civilisation on human knowledge.

"Our destiny is to be a strategic party due to historical and geographical considerations. We want to enhance this position and it is our right and our duty to do so by overcoming the hurdles of our current educational situation through expanding the foundation of knowledge and strengthening its society," she said.

"We need to change from the inside in order to change our situation, this is our culture and these are our values and I believe that these are universal and human values. That is why we have to make the change with our minds and thoughts and effort rather than being content with calling for it. We have to believe more than anyone else in the value of innovation in education," she said. "Perhaps Nietzsche's words apply in this context and I quote innovation is a cause for relief when it does not detach from the past," she said.