By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: With nearly half of participants from the local education community, the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE 2014) opens today to explore ways to tap learners’ potential for innovation and creativity.
H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser will inaugurate the three-day summit under the theme ‘Imagine – Create – Learn: Creativity at the Heart of Education,’ at Qatar National Convention Centre.
The plenary opening session will discuss the theme.
A key highlight of the summit will be the announcement of the 2014 WISE Prize for Education Laureate. In its fourth year, the prize will be presented during the summit to an individual or a team in recognition of their outstanding contribution to education.
“Creativity is the centre of education in the 21st century. We feel that it is a key element that needs to be infused in education systems around the world to allow learners to meet demands of a globalised and rapidly changing society,” Stavros N Yiannouka, CEO, WISE, told reporters yesterday.
“The essence of this year’s summit is how we infuse education systems with creativity so that we have creative schools that produce creative learners,” he added.
The summit will see over 1,500 leading experts, innovators, prominent thought leaders, influential political and corporate decision-makers from over 100 countries. They will debate, network, share and explore innovative solutions to challenges facing education.
Speakers include Dr Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani, Chairman, WISE, Tony Wagner, Director, Harvard Innovation Lab, and Paul Tough, Contributor to New York Times and author of How children succeed.
The six 2014 WISE Awards- winning projects will be celebrated at a gala dinner.
On WISE’s contribution to the local community, Yiannouka said, “WISE has become a source of inspiration and resource for the local education community... Local participation has increased over the past three years. Retaining the international character of WISE, we are taking steps to embed it in the local community.”
Local institutions like Museums Authority and Lusail will hold workshops.
A pre-summit workshop has been conducted in collaboration with Supreme Council of Education to expose principals and head teachers to some of the best practices around the world.
The Peninsula
