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His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Education, Human Development and Community Council, chaired the Council’s meeting, which was held via video conference, in the presence of Her Highness Sheikha Mariam bint Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice Chairman of the Education, Human Development and Community Council. The meeting was held to review the developments of the transitional period to the new structure, and to discuss the strategic plans, priorities and executive programmes set for relevant entities that will support integration between the sector’s files and ensure the continuity of work towards developing education outcomes to meet the needs of society and enhance the country’s competitiveness at all levels.
The leadership recently announced a new structure for the sector, through which it refocuses the vision on developing clear governance for education, and linking education to human development and community development.
The success of the new model lies in the ongoing collaboration between change ambassadors in the relevant entities across the sector as a whole.
His Highness began the meeting by following up on the progress of the educational process inside the classrooms, in terms of the regularity of students, teaching staff and leaders of educational institutions in the new academic year.
His Highness urged teachers and parents to support male and female students in making the best use of time, to develop study plans that are consistent with their level of academic achievement, abilities, inclinations, and academic and professional aspirations, from the beginning of the year, so that they can achieve advanced positions through their diligence and hard work.
Speaking about the new transitional phase in the sector, His Highness said: “The shift to the new model reflects the forward-looking vision of the leadership, which seeks to build a sustainable system that takes into account the members of society from the beginning of their development, cares about developing their educational path, and supports lifelong learning so that prosperity and success continue from generation to generation.”
His Highness added: “In the next phase, we seek to direct an integrated system that supervises the implementation of change plans, with strategic principles that have a local impact and character, ensuring effective communication, connection and cooperation between education, society and the labour market.”
His Highness stressed the importance of improving the quality of education and development processes, in addition to evaluating the performance of the sector as a whole, monitoring progress and achieving the targeted results for all members of society.
For her part, Her Highness Sheikha Mariam bint Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the Education, Human Development and Community Council, praised the efforts of all those in charge of the education sector, including school leaders, teaching staff, and parents, to achieve the highest levels of stability in the new academic year, in addition to the keenness of the concerned authorities to prepare the educational community and provide all the necessary needs to ensure the educational process runs smoothly.
On the importance of concerted efforts to achieve the desired results from the new structure, Her Highness said: “We are on a journey of change to an important stage, based on concerted efforts between all leaders and competencies in the sector, so that together we can identify and exploit key opportunities in strategic and innovative ways that have a real impact on society, and plan for a better future for coming generations, based on the fact that education is the foundation of development.”
Her Highness added: “Today, under the new structure, which embodies the direction of the wise leadership, we seek to lay a solid foundation for a model that places people at the forefront of its priorities, and builds a society that derives its authenticity from Emirati values and principles, focuses on empowering all individuals, takes into account in its comprehensiveness the needs of all, and the differences in their abilities and talents, and encourages the adoption of the principle of continuous lifelong learning, outside the classroom.”
The meeting was held in the presence of Her Excellency Shamma bint Suhail bin Faris Al Mazrui, Minister of Community Development, His Excellency Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Manan Al Awar, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation and Acting Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Her Excellency Sarah bint Youssef Al Amiri, Minister of Education, and Her Excellency Hajar Al Dhaheri, Secretary-General of the Education, Human Development and Community Council.
At the beginning of the meeting, Her Excellency Hajar Al Dhaheri reviewed the developments of the transitional period to the new structure, which includes activating the role of the Council within its new scope, and supporting the entities in achieving the desired goals of the new model in sector governance.
Her Excellency pointed out that the plans and programmes that have been developed to manage the transformation and change to the new model are based on the principles of efficiency, flexibility, cooperation and innovation, and take into account the design of strategic solutions with a local character and impact, that meet the needs of society, reflect its identity, and keep pace with the requirements of the labour market and future changes.
In turn, Her Excellency Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri reviewed the transitional plan of the Ministry of Education, within the new structure of the education sector in the country, which included merging the Emirates Schools Establishment with the Ministry, as the plan took into account the national priorities related to education, in a way that meets the needs of society, and enhances the integration of all relevant sectors, to achieve the ambitious educational vision of the country.
She explained that the Ministry has devoted special attention to improving the quality of life of students, by developing their skills through an integrated array of curricular and extracurricular activities, which will enhance the gains of future generations and provide them with advanced skills that will enhance their competitiveness in the future.
Her Excellency pointed out that the Ministry will continue to focus its efforts in the field of developing and caring for the school cadre and providing it with all the elements that distinguish it and enable it to perform its educational mission, in a way that achieves the desired impact in terms of the quality of the outputs of the national education system, through pioneering training programs that keep pace with the latest global trends in the field of education, stressing the importance of the pivotal roles of educational cadres in achieving the aspirations and hopes of the state in the education file, reaching global leadership in this sector.
During the meeting, His Excellency Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Awar reviewed the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research’s roadmap for the next phase, which aims to improve the level of higher education in the country, in line with national priorities and the leadership’s vision.
His Excellency referred to a number of interim initiatives within the roadmap, which seek to achieve a number of urgent priorities distributed over three main axes, which are strengthening relations with higher education institutions as essential partners in developing educational outcomes, working to develop policies and procedures in line with the state’s strategic directions, in addition to simplifying the students’ journey through innovative solutions.
His Excellency also reviewed, within the meeting agenda, the latest developments in accepting students into higher education institutions for the first semester of the current academic year through the registration and admission coordination system for national students supervised by the Ministry.
His Excellency pointed out that more than 16,000 male and female students were accepted to complete their university studies in the first semester, as part of the Ministry’s efforts to enhance higher education opportunities for the country’s citizens.
