Ibtesaam Moosa, who moved from Mumbai 14 years ago to Qatar as her father had taken up a new job in that country, is now preparing to become a journalist. She studied in an Indian school in Doha and is now doing her undergraduate degree in Northwestern University’s (NWU) Doha campus.
Moosa is in the second year of the journalism programme and is also receiving scholarship from Qatar Foundation since NWU’s tuition fees are on par with what is charged in the United States. She is among the many who have benefited from Qatar Foundation, which recently organised its biennial conference on education — World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE).
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A shared concern among participants at the summit, held in Doha, Qatar, mid-November, was how to put children through school and college. This year’s event focused on refugees, and the theme was ‘Co-exist, co-create: learning to live and work together.’
Foundation chairperson Sheikha Moza bint Nasser’s speech that the blockade imposed on her country since June had not changed anything was the fulcrum for a dialogue on fake news and how youngsters accessed information. The dialogue also provided answers to find ways to retain children in educational institutions.
Qatar Foundation’s unit, Education Above All (EAA), has been working with non-governmental organisations in India to put children in school. Of the five projects, two are complete and three are active, says Mary Joy Pigozzi, executive director of EAA.
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Free flow of funds has not been enough to put all children in school, the projects have shown. Even among projects that have far exceeded the proposals pitched by the NGOs, an issue that could not be addressed is the quality of education and lack of child-centric approaches. These are pushing children back into labour. According to reports submitted by the NGO to EAA, girls continue to be used at home for raising younger siblings or married off. Sharath Jeevan, whose organisation STIR Education works in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, believes it is only when teachers are motivated can they make children seek education. He falls back on his experience with his teacher. “My teacher drove me 50 miles to Cambridge University. I was afraid to apply. My teacher drove me in his car and got me to apply,” he recalls.
“STIR builds a network of teachers that exposes them to what improves classrooms. About 75,000 teachers and 25 lakh children have benefited in India and Uganda. Parents and children know the value of education. The student will stay longer if the teacher comes for the student,” he says. His views find resonance in Karim Qabbary, a physical education teacher in OBZ Independent School in Doha. Mr. Qabbary, relocated from Egypt nine years ago to Qatar, says, “Education is a must until high school. Children must be guided when they make decisions regarding their career but should be given free hand to choose.”
He strongly feels children need exposure to various cultures. “We need to teach parents to help children make choices,” he says. The cultural differences push children into isolation and leave them unprepared for future, Mr. Qabbary believes.
And that is what Vishaka N. Desai, chief of board of trustees of AFS Intercultural Programmes, wants to change across the world. Ms. Desai, whose father was involved in India’s freedom struggle, travelled in 1967 as a teenager to California and spent a year with a family there. She feels the break in studies was probably the best thing that happened to her. Now she is trying to promote the idea to enable youngsters enrich themselves. Now a delegate at the WISE summit, she says even within India, such experiments should be taken up to expose children to a variety of cultures as it would broaden their mind and also help build a stronger nation.
The author was at the WISE Summit, Doha at the invitation of the Qatar Foundation.