VP urges for cooperation among educational institutions, gets briefed on new academic year

Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has directed boosting a culture of integration, cooperation and dialogue between the Ministry of Education, and school zones and educational leaders nationwide.

He added that such a cooperation would consolidate the team spirit and collective action to ensure the development of the educational process and take advantage of national experiences in planning and evaluation to graduate innovative generations imbued with the 21st century tools.

Sheikh Mohammed made the remarks while visiting the Ministry, where he was briefed about the preparations for the new school year and the report on achievements regarding the development of education plan 2015- 2021 based on curriculum, assessment, student, teacher, quality of schools, smart ministry, governance and societal partnership.

The meeting was attended by Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister for the Cabinet Affairs, Hussein Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, and Khalifa Saeed Suleiman, Director-General of Protocol and Hospitality Department in Dubai.

He urged the Ministry to recruit outstanding university graduates to achieve "optimal investment in the national outstanding young talents and integrating them in innovative training programmes to lead the students in schools and elsewhere."

Sheikh Mohammed underscored that "the teacher has a great responsibility in preparing an innovative and creative generation capable of engaging with contemporary developments and meeting the needs of the future. The teacher we want is a leader in the classroom and a source of inspiration and enlightenment to his students. We want a teacher dedicated to professionalism."

He added that the Ministry has been directed to implement the teacher welfare programmes.

"As we seek to create an environment conducive to innovation, creativity and outstanding performance to achieve the goals of our national agenda and Vision 2021, it is imperative to build a modern educational system to keep pace with developments in making the transition to smart government and open the doors of opportunity for our students to meet their needs and requirements and achieve a high level output in the educational process," Sheikh Mohammed said.

He was briefed about the expansion of the Sheikh Mohammed Smart Education Programme over the last three years, as the number of schools that implemented it jumped to 146, compared to 123 schools last year. The programme will expand to cover 208 schools in the academic year 2015- 2016.

On his part, the Minister of Education said the interest evinced by the Vice President in education "is a motivation for the Ministry to upgrade the pace of performance to attain the highest degree of institutional excellence and achieve the national objectives of the National Agenda and UAE Vision 2021."

He reiterated that the Ministry, in the light of his directives, will continue to implement the initiatives to upgrade the quality of education and innovation in all fields.