AED100 million fund established in UAE to support global digital education projects

Dubai: Digital Schools, one of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s global initiatives, has signed a strategic partnership with the Emirates Red Crescent to establish a Digital Schools Fund worth AED100 million as part of the Part of the Digital Schools Dialogue during the World Government Summit 2023.

Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, Chairman of the Digital School Board and Managing Director of the World Government Summit Organization, and Dr. Omar Sultan Al Olama attended the signing event. Hamdan Musallam Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the Board of the Emirates Red Crescent Society.

The strategic partnership was signed by Hamoud Abdullah Al Junaibi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Emirates Red Crescent, and Dr. Waleed Al Ali, Secretary-General of the Digital School.

The partnership with the Emirates Red Crescent aims to establish a fund to financially support the Digital Schools project and achieve its goal of providing smart and flexible distance education in countries affected by disasters and crises in formal education. The fund provides educational opportunities to one million students around the world. It seeks to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and develop knowledge and skills through the application of artificial intelligence and modern digital technologies in distance education.

The agreement also focuses on co-launching the largest program to support digital education, allocating funding sources for digital school programs, strengthening the program’s logistics and using smart solutions to deliver advanced digital education to more than one million students. It also focuses on forming a working group to coordinate, follow up and implement the fund’s activities, and to prepare and formulate regulations, plans and mechanisms.

Omar Sultan Al Olama said: “The partnership with the Emirates Red Crescent to establish the Digital School Project Fund reflects the human values ​​we seek to underpin through our initiatives to provide access to education. Furthermore, the Fund will help accelerate the realization of the Digital School Project .”

He praised the global efforts of the Emirates Red Crescent, its comprehensive initiatives and projects to support all societies around the world, and what it represents as an ambassador for UAE values, emphasizing that the Digital School aspires to collaborate with the Emirates Red Crescent and all local Collaborative and international institutions, contribute to the development of global communities, and provide learning opportunities for students around the world.

Dr Hamdan Musallam Al Mazrouei welcomed the strategic partnership with Digital Schools to facilitate smarter and more flexible distance education opportunities in countries facing challenges in the education process. He stated that the UAE Red Crescent is interested in these wise partnerships, which embody its vision of unity and working together to advance education in countries and regions facing humanitarian crises and development challenges in this regard; all These in turn affirm the continuous efforts of the Emirates Red Crescent to develop solutions to make education accessible to anyone, anywhere and in all circumstances, despite crises and emergencies, believing in the importance of education to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

He added: “There is no doubt that this funding will make a huge contribution to the realization of the goal of digital schools, which is considered a major milestone in the e-learning process; the establishment of modern schools that meet the needs of students in refugee camps and the most vulnerable in society. technology education systems; rely on IT and AI; and contribute to the continuation of their educational processes in the face of challenges”, noting that the initiative will also bring about a major leap forward in the level and quality of educational services for these groups.

The digital school was launched in November 2020 under the direction of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as part of the Part of the Maktoum Global Initiative, it is believed to be the first fully digital school of its kind. It is designed to provide digital learning options to students in districts that require appropriate conditions or requirements for students to continue their education. It also provides qualitative, innovative and flexible opportunities for blended and distance learning, targeting disadvantaged social groups, refugees and displaced persons through modern educational content and curricula.