Kuwaiti NGO participates in UN Day of Education
NEW YORK: Head of Al-Nowair foundation Sheikha Intisar Salem AlAli Al-Sabah, said yesterday the Kuwaiti NGO was, for the first time ever, taking part in a high-level interactive dialogue marking UN Day of Education, highlighting Kuwait’s Bareeq and Boomerang programs.” Bareeq is a valuable, educational and interactive educational program which is based on scientific research on psychology,” Sheikha Intisar said. This program, she added, aimed at spreading positive thinking amongst high school students in Kuwait. Founded in 2017, Bareeq is involved with 47 government high schools and features around 500 teachers and over 11,600 students, she added.
The program, said Sheikha Intisar, contributed to improving behavior of students. Bareeq was included, in April 2018, in New Kuwait 2035 vision. She said schools’ administrations reported improvement in behavior of students, including decline in violence and absence, contributing to success. Sheikha Intisar meanwhile said Boomerang aimed at addressing bullying at schools by spreading kindness and awareness with the aim of changing behavior of students. Application of Boomerang, she noted, resulted in a large quantity of students showing willingness to stop bullying and be more kind. Boomerang was applied on 15,100 students in 33 schools. Those students participated in 70 plays which offer solutions to bullying. Seventy-six teachers were trained to spread kindness in schools. Sheikha Intisar said her participation in the UN Interactive Dialogue was to highlight comprehensive educational policies alongside sustainable development goals (SDGs). She said many participants commended the Kuwaiti programs and how they contributed to changing behavior of students and teachers alike. Her visit came after UN General Assembly President Tijjani Mohammad Bande’s recent visit to Kuwait and seeing first-hand application of Bareeq and Boomerang. Sheikha Intisar said the UN was focusing on improving quality education, based on article 26 of the universal declaration of human rights which affirmed right in education for all. She said the UN Day of Education 2020 concentrated on importance of education as the largest source of humanity and ultimately SDGs.