WISE launches Doha Learning Days Festival

The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) launched Doha Learning Days (DLD) Festival Wednesday and honoured the winners of 2022 WISE Awards at a special ceremony in the presence of HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education Buthaina bint Ali al-Jabr al-Nuaimi at Msheireb Museums.While innovation in education marked the opening of the festival, it was also an occasion to highlight the winning projects of the WISE awardees. WISE, Qatar Foundation’s (QF) global education initiative, selected the winners from among projects worldwide for their innovative approaches to pressing education issues and positive impact on their communities.Minister al-Nuaimi, addressing the gathering at the opening ceremony, congratulated the award winners for their innovative and inspiring projects in addressing a number of global education challenges socially, environmentally, and economically."Such activities and projects urge educators to awaken motivation and reflect on education as a value and impact to believe in the capabilities of young people, and the role of education in refining and investing these capabilities,” she said."It always leads us to pose exciting challenges and inspiring competitions in which we target young people, not only to win awards and incentives, but for higher goals represented in employing science and knowledge to improve the quality of our lives, and the lives of others around us.”The minister also disclosed that Ministry of Education and Higher Education, in co-operation with the Doha International Family Institute at QF and a group of partners in the community, has launched a programme called ‘Tansheaa’ targeting young people by preparing and strengthening the aspects that direct their energies which will benefit them and their communities.Stavros N Yiannouka, WISE CEO who gave away the awards, highlighted the partnership with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and with local partners in making the WISE events highly impactful and innovative. He also announced that the 11th edition of the global biennial WISE summit – one of the largest and most influential education gatherings – will take place from November 28-29, bringing an international network of educators and innovators to Doha to collaboratively share ideas and creative solutions to pressing challenges.The ceremony, hosted by Ahmed al-Mansoor, an educator at Qatar Academy for Science and Technology, one of QF’s Pre-University Education schools, turned the spotlight on global education challenges and the role of WISE in recognising and encouraging innovation to find new ideas and solutions.In an outdoor setting at Msheireb Museums, fostering a vibrant learning ecosystem is a goal of WISE-DLD Festival. The event will showcase local initiatives and encourage the community to take part in over 50 hands-on experiential learning activities with a strong youth empowerment focus. The festival welcomes the public until February 4.The six WISE Awards winners are from Mexico, Qatar, Kenya, India and the US, and the ceremony celebrated the projects as models of excellence that inspire innovative, creative action to support equity, access and quality education. Qatar-based teachers and practitioners can gain more insights from the six winners by registering for the exclusive WISE Awards Masterclass Series on Saturday.Zubair Junjunia, CEO and founder of ZNotes delivered a keynote address at the opening ceremony highlighting the importance of providing fair and equal access to education. He touched on his experience in setting up the online community-led learning platform, ZNotes, when he was 16 years old with its mission to enable high-quality education for all through student-built content and peer learning.Junjunia is among the 20+ content partners collaborating with WISE DLD to curate an exciting programme of workshops, master classes, and informal activities focusing on career development, financial literacy, tech skills, well-being, and the arts.