The Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Mohammed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi has underscored the indispensable role education plays in nation building as he opened the 20th Annual iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) International Conference and 17th Youth Summit at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) on Monday.
“This event reflects the best platform for the convergence of the world around education, the main pillar of communities’ growth and development. This conference meets the aspirations of the leadership of our country, represented by Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and we look forward to seeing our youth’s ambition translated in our nation building,” the minister told over 500 teachers and students from 50 countries who are here for the five-day conference.
As the official partner of Reach Out To Asia (Rota) in organising the conference, Supreme Education Council’s (SEC) participation “reflects the Council’s keenness to support all initiatives that serve the cause of education, and prepare all needed plans to reach new horizons, and enable our young with the necessary educational tools to face future challenges,” added Al Hammadi.
He said the SEC has launched several programmes including the e-learning, which provides technology services to teachers, students and parents as well as communication channels promoting continuous communication between students and teachers in addition to a free and safe e-mail access to be used in the educational process.
Among other officials who attended the launch of the first-ever iEARN event included Japanese Ambassador Kenjiro Monji, IEarn’s executive board members and Rota Executive Director Essa Al Mannai.
“The iEARN International Conference is indeed timely as it comes at an important moment, a time when more and more people around the world are taking interest in Qatar. We are proud to host this landmark forum that aims to increase cooperation and coordination, which are crucial imperatives if we are to advance the use information and technology to empower the youth,” said Al Mannai.
Calling the iEARN conference historic, Al Manaai said, “It is through gatherings such as this, that the youth of the world will gain the skills necessary to become the leaders of our communities, our cities and our countries.”
“By hosting the 2013 iEARN Annual Conference, iEARN-Qatar hopes to create thought-provoking and information-sharing occasions for all iEARNers as well as educators for a better quality of education,” he concluded. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘ICT for Education: Reaching Out, Building Bridges’, and focuses on the use of technologies in education to reach out, learn and build a better world together.
The conference program offers eight plenary sessions, two panel discussions, and more than 90 workshops and presentations. In addition, there is an exhibition for students and teachers to showcase their projects, or present about their cultures. Arhama Al Kaabi, Director of Development and care staff at RasGas, the conference golden sponsor, and Dr Dalia Khalil and Tony Casires, members of “IEarn” Executive Board also spoke at the opening session.
Source:
Qatar Chronicle
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