UAE to set up regional smart learning centre
IT WILL AID ARAB COUNTRIES ADOPT SMART LEARNING THROUGH CAPACITY BUILDING
Aproposal to have a Regional Smart Learning Centre in the UAE was revealed yesterday at the Smart Learning Forum in Dubai. The three-day forum, which was launched yesterday, aims to provide a platform where knowledge and expertise in the field of smart and sustainable cities can be exchanged among countries.
Ebrahim Hadad, Director of the Arab Regional Office of ITU, part of the United Nations system, said the centre aims to train and share experiences with educational bodies and individuals from Arab countries who want to adopt smart learning in their countries.
Hadad said the training will be based on the UAE’s experience and expertise in smart learning with the partnership of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Smart Learning Programme.
“Arab countries don’t have to start from zero, they can learn from the UAE experience.
“The centre aims to support Arab countries in their smart learning adoption through capacity building, we will concentrate on teachers and see how we can upgrade their skills,” he said.
Hadad said the centre aims to look at how the UAE’s smart learning initiative can be transferred to other countries. However, affordability and accessibility are something to consider first because not all Arab countries have the needed infrastructure or funds.
Plans to launch the centre which can possibly be a virtual one, Hadad revealed, are still in their initial drafting phase. He added that any activity by the smart learning centres will have to address smart sustainable development, which is a UN requirement.
Front runner
The UAE has had many notable advancements in smart learning after His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VicePresident and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the Mohammad Bin Rashid Smart Learning Programme.
Mohammad Al Gheyath, director general of the programme, shared the progress of the programme during his keynote speech at the forum.
Al Gheyath said the smart learning programme has been implemented in 50 per cent of the UAE’s 423 public schools.
Al Gheyath said the programme will be implemented in all public schools by 2018.
He said the UAE aims to be a front-runner in the smart education and to achieve this it implemented a three-stage strategy, which began with introducing the tools in the first stage, training the teachers and students on how to use these tools in the second and ensuring continuity in the final stage.
Al Gheyath said this year a total of 283 schools have been transformed to smart schools, which include 1,760 classes, 6,349 teachers and 34,513 students.
By 2018 all 423 schools will be transformed, comprising7,606 classes, 12,320 teachers and 121,205 students, he said.