Education in the hands of Qatar
The World Literacy Day falls on the 8th of September. Now, we live in a country that has been showing a massive amount of interest in education since the recent past.
Way before the 20th Century, Qatar never placed any significant importance on Formal education. Instead Qur’anic education was considered highly valuable (and it still is). It was only by 1956 that Formal education began in Qatar.
The first formal school in Qatar was called Islah–Al Mohammediya. It had 1 teacher and about 50 students at its inception.
In 2005, the Curriculum standards in Arabic, Maths and Science were raised and many new schools began to sprout up. 12 schools were opened in 2004, 21 in 2005 and 13 in 2006. Now Qatar has around 338 schools, 8 colleges and many satellite campuses opened by Universities from several other countries.
Now, Qatar is spending both time and money lavishly on education. It has founded a global forum on education called WISE (World Innovation Summit for Education). WISE has even created a Nobel Prize for Education, with a $500,000 award for its recipient.
The 7th WISE Summit will be held from November 3-November 5, 2015 in Doha, Qatar. Details on how to join the Summit, its agenda etc. can be found on their official website – www.wise-qatar.org
Credit must be given to the Emir and Sheikha Moza for driving the changes in Education and bringing world class educational institutions to the country.