LOC15:22
12:22 GMT
DOHA, Nov 24 (KUNA) -- The 12th World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) opened Monday in the Qatari capital for a two-day meeting held under the theme "Human First: Human Values at the Heart of Education Systems."
In her opening address, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, stressed that education must remain a space for creativity and innovation rather than imitation or re-packaging old questions.
She said WISE was created to break traditional molds and encourage bold, unconventional thinking.
Sheikha Moza emphasized that education is not a service sector but an "inherited right" essential to human dignity, justice and progress, warning against turning it into a commodity or privilege.
She said global discourse on education requires deep review focused on obstacles to educational advancement rather than achievements alone.
She highlighted widening global knowledge disparities, noting that many regions especially in the Arab world, Africa, parts of Asia and Latin America remain absent from major scientific and innovation platforms due to longstanding institutional and educational imbalances.
Sheikha Moza announced that WISE would launch a new education quality index that goes beyond academic performance to include social and cultural values central to the learning process.
She added that rapid technological shifts have moved humanity through eras in decades rather than millennia, placing science at a critical juncture. She warned that artificial intelligence poses a unique challenge, as humans transfer part of their cognitive ability to machines capable of surpassing human decision-making. Without strong ethical frameworks, she cautioned, AI could erode human freedom and increase technological dependency.
She stressed that science divorced from ethics can become an instrument of harm, citing ongoing conflicts in several regions including Gaza and Sudan.
Qatar's Minister of Education and Higher Education Lolwah Al-Khater said WISE has consistently served as a global platform that redefines the learner as a partner in shaping the future. She noted that technological revolutions are ultimately reflections of human intellect and creativity.
Al-Khater said Qatar's educational journey from early mosque-based learning and traditional schools to the establishment of the first Ministry of Education in the 1950s mirrors global educational progress, rooted in the belief that human development is the foundation of national advancement.
WISE remains a dynamic platform supporting innovation in education through policy engagement, research, leadership initiatives and practitioner programs. (end)
sss.hs