- 16-year-old Innovator and TIME Magazine’s ‘Kid of the Year’ 2020, Gitanjali Rao, and Rector of the University of Edinburgh, Debora Kayembe, join distinguished speaker line-up
- Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser attends WISE Awards Plenary Session
- New WISE Youth Studio kicks off with spotlight talks, panel discussions and fireside chats, curated by inspiring young curators
WISE, Qatar Foundation’s global initiative dedicated to building the future of education through innovation, invited global audiences to share in an invaluable exchange of knowledge and dialogue on day two of the WISE Summit 2021, with a range of virtual, in-person and hybrid sessions, as part of the Summit’s first ever hybrid edition.
A global reference in new approaches to education, WISE Summit 2021 aims to lend a voice to a ‘muted’ generation that has borne the brunt of the biggest disruption to education in recent history, yet remains conspicuously absent from discussions on how to build back better.
The first plenary session of the day, titled ‘Big Shock, Big Reforms’, cast a look at the idea that shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can be a powerful catalyst for innovation. Thought leaders including Marc Brackett, Founding Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence; Zhou Yijun, Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker; David Moinina Sengeh, Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and Chief Innovation Officer for the Government of Sierra Leone; and Sidharth Santhosh, Research Consultant, Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, explored the impact of technology on long-expected reforms in education, reshaped student-teacher relationships, and the wider societal implications of education reform.
Addressing the plenary session, Marc Brackett broached the topic of emotional intelligence in learning with several thought-provoking questions, from “When someone asks you how you are feeling, can you be open and authentic?” to “What are the barriers to permission to feel?”
“At this point in time, we have a mental health crisis amongst our children. In many ways, it is our moral obligation that every child gets the emotional education they deserve. What that really means is that we have to be the best possible role models for them,” he concluded.
In the presence of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, the 2021 WISE Awards winners came together for the ‘Post-pandemic Pillars of Education: Designing and Funding New Approaches to Learning’ plenary to shed light on how their work is defining the education landscape of tomorrow. Speakers included Tanmay Bakshi, an 18-year-old Google Developer Expert for Machine Learning and Advisory Software Engineer at IBM; Emiliana Vegas, Senior Fellow and Co-Director at the Center for Universal Education, Brookings Institution; Lydia Wilbard, National Director, CAMFED Tanzania; and Shannon May, Co-Founder and President of NewGlobe.
“The work that is celebrated by the WISE Awards is vitally important, as each of our winners has built an effective, tested solution to a global educational challenge,” said Dr. Ameena Abdul-Majeed, Director of Programs and Chief Curator at WISE. “Their projects are already transforming lives and creating a pathway for others to follow. At this year’s Summit, we are not only congratulating our winners on their achievements, but also showcasing their innovation on a global stage. It is crucial that policymakers and civil society leaders look at those best practices as solutions for a greater impact on learners.”
The WISE Studio hosted panels and chats, featuring experts from around the world, to discuss the future of edtech, student and teacher wellbeing, the relevance of higher education, and the importance of ethical leadership and learning ecosystems.
16-year-old Innovator, Author, STEM Promoter and TIME Magazine’s ‘Kid of the Year’ 2020, Gitanjali Rao, led an insightful Ask me Anything session on ‘Encouraging Girls to Embrace STEM Education’, inspiring girls and women to break free from biases, social norms and expectations standing in the way of their education quality.
In ‘Bareec: Fostering Positive Thinking and Well-being Through Extra-Curricular Activities’, Her Highness Sheikha Intissar AlSabah and Rokaya Hussain ran a masterclass which introduced the Bareec model – an education program that instills a culture of positivity through a set of simple, creative, and scientific activities for both inside and outside classrooms. The session identified the main elements that make this approach such a success and demonstrated how social emotional learning can be practically implemented in schools across the world to positively impact student behavior and achievements.
In ‘Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights: A Side-by-Side Commitment for the Making of Better World’, Debora Kayembe, Rector of the University of Edinburgh, demonstrated the inherent link between the UN Sustainable Development Goals and human rights obligations as an avenue to address inequality and discrimination.
At the height of the pandemic, nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries had their education disrupted. Among them is a generation that routinely stands up to government inaction on climate change, rallies for social justice and equality, and voices a global discontent with the status quo in education. WISE 2021 extended a seat at the table to the young and underprivileged, recognizing the urgent need for inclusive dialogue that leads to workable, innovative and imaginative education models that serve learners worldwide.
In this spirit, WISE’s new Youth Studio, curated by a group of young changemakers in education, was inaugurated with several youth-led spotlight talks, panel discussions and fireside chats on topics such as climate action, citizenship education, edtech and girls’ education.
In the ‘Students, You Matter’ Spotlight Talk, discussions focused on how students can perform effectively in school while still trying to process and adapt to the changes caused by the pandemic. Prerna Kalra, Associate Director, Simple Education Foundation; Khalid Yassin, Chief Programs Officer at Teach for Qatar; and social media creators and influencers Linya Peng and Maha Yakoub were all part of the conversation, which looked at some changes students can make to enhance their day-to-day lives and use their skills in efficient ways in a post-pandemic world.
‘EdTech in the MENA Region: Addressing Both Basic and Recent Needs’, which ran in Arabic, looked at how edtech is transforming learning for students in the MENA region, which is characterized by a strong diversity of cultures and languages and is facing steep challenges in terms of learning outcomes, quality education, skills gaps and high unemployment rates. Mohammed Al-Janahi, Head of Outreach at Teach for Qatar; Eman Al-Kuwari, Head of Emerging Technology MICT Qatar; and Yahya Bouhlet, Founder and CEO at Go My Code, discussed how edtech is helping to address these challenges to change the acquisition of basic learning or the upskilling process.
Other sessions which took place in Arabic focused on the role of teachers and the challenges they are facing in today’s learning environment, including discussions on ‘How Arabic Teachers are Bridging the Youth Identity Gap’. Meanwhile, ‘UNICEF: Supporting Teachers Amid COVID-19: Preparedness and Training’ aimed to empower educators to navigate the obstacles presented by teaching in the context of the pandemic.
The WISE Summit 2021 is supported by a range of local and international partners. As a long-term partner of WISE, ExxonMobil Qatar joined the Summit as Platinum Sponsor and participated in several WISE 2021 sessions, covering discussion points on private-public partnerships, girls’ education and lifelong learning. Confirming its continued support throughout 2022, the energy giant also secured a new partnership agreement with WISE, which positions ExxonMobil as next year’s Official Partner of the WISE Learning Ecosystem Track. The collaboration aims to bridge local to global learning and research via deepened knowledge-exchange networks that can unlock new opportunities for educators, learning organizations, businesses and youth.
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