For decades now, Dubai and areas of the Middle East have been known for their oil or tourism. Rarely, will you hear people praising the education system in Middle East. However, that is about to change very soon. The ruler of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the prime minister of UAE, has planned for an ambitious Smart Learning Classroom initiative that is set to cost the country one billion Dirham.
UAE is planning to do away with the obsolete system of teachers walking into classrooms and lecturing for an hour to drowsy and disinterested students. Instead, they are planning to introduce their students to innovative e-learning programs available with the help of high speed Internet, often in the form of a wi-fi campus. This way, teaching can be integrated and extended to include out of classroom exchange of ideas as well.
And the innovation doesn’t end there. With the help of gadgets like iPads and tablets, information is simply a tap away for children. In fact, students nowadays have individual notebooks and laptops so that they may view any instructional video simultaneously. Thus, with the help of these multiple portals, students are left with the no excuse to not enjoy school and collaborative learning.
Although the entire implementation of this plan is set for an estimated period of five years, one cannot underestimate or rob the UAE of its due credit for daring to venture into such out of the box thinking. Thus, it won’t be long before students in the Middle East are as educationally advanced, aware and tech-savvy as their Western counterparts.
