Al-Bairaq is among six WISE Awards winners

Students of Al-Bairaq programme during an experiment. The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), a leading international initiative of Qatar Foundation, has announced the six 2015 WISE Awards winning projects, including the Qatari project Al-Bairaq.The six innovative education projects originate from Qatar, Argentina, Egypt, Kenya and the USA and were selected from a pool of 15 finalists for their creative approach to learning and positive impact on society. The winning projects address education issues linked to literacy, special needs, access and employment.The Qatari project Al-Bairaq is a non-traditional educational programme based at the Centre for Advanced Materials at Qatar University. Supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, Al-Bairaq immerses secondary students in hands-on science activities, builds appreciation for the work of scientists, and offers students new opportunities.Dr Noora Jabor al-Thani, project representative of Al-Bairaq, said: “Winning the WISE Award is a great honour, particularly as Al-Bairaq is the first Qatari project to be recognised since the inception of the awards. I hope this recognition will help raise awareness about the need to develop new approaches to tackle education problems worldwide. Our programme has adopted innovative techniques to attract young people to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and to show them the beauty and excitement of the world of science.”The other winning projects are: Bridge International Academies in Kenya is a programme that provides a standardised model of high-quality affordable education by designing cutting edge curricula, building schools and training teachers from the local community. Nafham is an Egypt-based crowd-sources educational video content aligned to school curricula in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria, and Syria, to fill the gaps in access, quality and infrastructure in education. The Educate! Experience from Uganda, is partnering with schools to foster a culture of entrepreneurship among youth by tailoring an innovative and cost-effective education model to the skill requirements of the job market. The Talking Book Programme, headquartered in the USA, provides key health and agriculture related information to illiterate farming communities in rural Ghana through an affordable audio computer. Videobooks for Deaf Children from Argentina, has revolutionised education for deaf people by providing trilingual video story books in Argentinian sign language. Each videobook also has a voice-over and subtitles, so that deaf children and their hearing families alike can enjoy stories together. Dr Asmaa al-Fadala, director of research, WISE, said: “These projects show how concrete change can be achieved on the ground. They represent excellence in education that can inspire others and be replicated in other parts of the world, transforming not only the classroom but impacting whole communities and societies.”Since 2009, the WISE Awards have identified and promoted some of the most effective practices in tackling urgent global education challenges. A jury comprised of education leaders selected the winning projects from a shortlist of 15 finalists.