Projects Addressing Education Challenges Win 2021 WISE Awards

World Innovation Summit for Education

The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), which is an is an international initiative by Qatar Foundation (QF), announced the six winners of 2021 WISE Awards.

The winners were chosen for their innovative and impactful approaches to pressing education matters, and will join 78 additional projects that have been honored since the creation of the program in 2009.

CEO of WISE, Stavros N. Yiannouka congratulated this years winners, saying that these projects are tackling pressing education issues that have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. While the projects vary in terms of their area of focus, geography, and reach, each and every one of them demonstrates once how innovative, sustainable, and scalable solutions can help global organizations and governments address pressing education challenges.

The Delhi Government's Happiness Curriculum (India) partnered with Dream a Dream and other NGOs to create a space in the school curricula dedicated to well-being, happiness, mindfulness, critical thinking, and other important social-emotional skills. Their groundbreaking work positively impacted 800,000 students in 1,024 schools, who became more involved and focused in class. Teachers started prioritizing values over academic success and increased collaboration with their peers.

Onebillion (UK) developed a complete edtech solution tablet and app for children to achieve numeracy and literacy skills in their own languages, regardless of the context they live in. The app provides children with adapted and personalized learning sessions. A durable solution, the tablet can be solar-charged and is designed to be used in remote and marginalized environments.

Focusing on trauma-informed education within Turkish public schools, Trauma Informed Schools (TIS) (Turkey) transforms the classroom into a safe space for children suffering from traumatic experiences. The intervention applies a multi-pronged approach targeting the children and the entire community surrounding them, through trainings and workshops with educational staff and caregivers.

Between October 2019 and September 2020, TIS directly reached 5,216 children, 406 teachers, and 190 caregivers.

Lets all learn to read (Colombia) developed a comprehensive and innovative model for learning literacy for elementary school students. It provides teachers with reading materials, training, and a grading system to allow all students with or without learning difficulties to reach average reading levels. So far, the program has benefited 703,277 children and teachers from public schools in Colombia and Panama, and it has been adopted in these countries as a public policy.

Taleemabad (Urdu for 'city of education') by Orenda Project (Pakistan) was selected for infusing Pakistan's classrooms with digital technologies, providing highly localized and contextualized content aligned with the national curriculum of Pakistan that teaches children English, Urdu, Math, and Science across the K-6 spectrum. By partnering with low-cost private schools and providing a low-touch model, Taleemabad has not only improved educational outcomes for students, but also sustainability amid increasing school closures during the pandemic.

ProFuturo Digital Education Program by Telefonica Foundation and "la Caixa" Foundation, created a digital education program designed to be implemented in vulnerable environments, with or without connectivity. Focusing on teachers training and support, ProFuturo helps strengthen their teaching practice and digital skills so they can offer the best education to their students.

It is present in 40 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, and has benefited more than 914,000 teachers and 19.7 million children.

The projects will be celebrated during the WISE Global Summit taking place from Dec. 7-9, 2021, in Doha. The theme of this year's summit is "Generation Unmute: Reclaiming our Future through Education".

The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) is an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative thinking, debate, and purposeful action on building the future of education through collaboration.

Each year, the WISE Awards recognize and promote six successful innovative projects that are addressing global educational challenges.

Since 2009, WISE has received more than 4,200 applications from over 150 countries. (QNA)