‘Doha Learning Days’ festival gets underway from today

Doha Learning Days, Qatar’s first experiential learning festival, will take place from today at Ceremonial Court and Green Spine in Education City.The six-day festival, which runs until November 19,  has been organised by World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an initiative of Qatar Foundation and brings together more than 50 local entities. It is open to the whole community, free of charge. The programme is in the lead up to the WISE Summit 2019, to be held from November 19-21.Victoria Basma, policy and partnerships officer, WISE, said the programme features activities organised and sponsored by local organisations. These range from coding workshops with GoCode, to sports and wellness activities with Yama Yoga, LiveLife Qatar, and Brain Education Middle East. All of the activities have been designed to bring the focus of bringing new learnings and experiences to the community. Activities also include exhibitions by Phone Art Qatar, workshops on sustainability with Torba Farmers Market, and presentations by Doha Film Institute. Each of the festival’s sessions relate to one of the event’s main themes: Deconstructing Existing Learning Frameworks; Re-centering Learning around Human Values; and Re-learning How to Build Thriving Societies.“Deconstructing Existing Learning Frameworks means putting learners at the forefront of the festival, and, to do that, a whole host of our sessions are run and led by students,” explained Basma. “ Re-centering Learning around Human Values is about bringing the human element into the learning experience, making sure all our workshops are interactive and bring something new to our audience.“Our final theme, Re-learning how to Build Thriving Societies, is around re-learning basic skills we seem to have forgotten – interacting with one another on a one-to-one basis, and understanding how to be better citizens, then building on that understanding together. We have a number of activities based on what it means to be a global citizen, as well as a number of workshops that explore community development and local culture. “Bringing those things together, and seeing what comes out of them, is the most exciting element of Doha Learning Days.”Doha Learning Days is intended to become an annual event. “We hope the next step for Doha Learning Days is for students to have a lot more input and agency in this festival. Next year, we’ll work more closely with students, focusing on skills gaps, and asking them what are the things that they feel would benefit their communities,” added, Basma.