According to Dr Mohamed Ebrahim Al Mualla, Undersecretary for Academic Affairs at the UAE Ministry of Education, education is a critical pillar for advancing into the future, achieving sustainable development, and transitioning to a knowledge economy. “Our presence here today constitutes an exceptional opportunity to discuss contemporary and emerging educational issues, and build on educational achievements, following a difficult period the world witnessed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which cast a shadow over several sectors, including education,” Al Mualla said on the first day of GESS Dubai 2021.
According to Al Mualla, the UAE’s education sector will spend the next fifty years fostering a high-quality early childhood education system, an innovative global educational system that enhances future skills, alignment of higher education outputs with the needs of the future labor market, and an advanced and flexible national qualifications system that meets the demands of future economic development. “This is in addition to a long-term service system for determined people, from early detection to future leadership, and a proactive holistic system for nurturing talent that stimulates production and competitiveness, as well as well-being and long-term quality of life in learning environments,” he added. Meanwhile, Birgit Lao, Ambassador-at-Large for Education at the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, discussed well-being in the age of hybrid learning, as well as how the Estonian education system weathered the Covid-19-induced distant learning crisis.