As Qatar develops infrastructure aimed at sustainability in all fields, the education sector is one of the most important drivers for growth and long-term success.
Teaching young minds about modern technology, especially in a global and digital world, is the backbone of some of the world’s biggest economies and societies.
In Qatar, the Education Excellence Day (EED) Award’s introduction seeks to encourage participation in education and research.
The award honours outstanding Qatari individuals in various fields to promote a culture of creativity and excellence among the Qatari society, push students to more excellence and outstanding educational attainment, and promote integration between individual and institutional efforts to improve scholarly outputs and bring them to global standards.
Recently, the 14th edition of the award recognised 71 winners who have expressed their happiness on the achievements, showing more determination to pursue higher education to further contribute to Qatar’s development at an even faster pace.
The winners also thanked Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for attaching great importance to education. They expressed gratitude to their schools, teachers, and parents for support.
The young students aim to be professionals in the future, like doctors and engineers. A little girl, a winner in one of the categories, said she wants to be a lawyer to defend her country. Another student, raising concern about environmental protection and biodiversity, wants to protect endangered animals.
Speaking to The Peninsula, 11-year-old Abdullah Hilal Al Mohannadi, a student of Qatar Academy Al Khor who won a platinum medal in Excellent Student Primary School Category, said, “First I would like to thank Allah for blessing me with this fantastic prize and my mother who supported me to win this award.”
Another student Al Anud Moharak Al Hitmi, who won a platinum medal in the Excellent Student Primary School Category, said that this prize would not be the last one she’d win as she wanted to participate again and again for more awards and achievements.
“I am delighted and proud of myself for where I reached today. I want to thank my parents for their support for me. I want to thank H H the Amir for giving such importance to education,” Al Hitmi, a Qatar Academy student – Al Wajba said.
Maha Nasser Abdurraham Al Thani of Qatar Academy – Al Wajba said that she wants to be a doctor to help her community and help develop Qatar faster. Maha received a platinum medal in the Excellent Student Primary School Category.
Al Jawhara Thani Ali Al Thani, a student of Al Bayan School for Girls, said: “I participated in the education excellence award and with the blessing of Allah, I received a platinum medal. I want to be a lawyer so I can defend Qatar.”
Meanwhile, Rawda Mansour Al Qassabi from Qatar Academy Al Wajba, who won a gold medal, said that her family was proud of her achievement. The young activist said she wants to protect endangered animals from extinction.
“White tigers are among the endangered species, so I would like to build a haven for them,” Rawda said.
However, the youngster noted that she would aim for a more prominent award next year.
Sheikah Zaid Hasan Al Ajmi, a student of First Al Bayan Primary School for Girls who won a gold medal in the Excellent Student Primary School Category, said: “I am proud to win this prize. I want to gift this prize to my parents. I am also proud to meet H H the Amir. I want to be an interior design engineer in the future.”
Another student of First Al Bayan Primary School for Girls, Aisha Ali Al Khulaifi, who received a gold medal, said: “My achievement is for my parents, country, teacher and school. My mother provided great support for me to win this prize, and I am very happy to get a chance to shake hands with H H the Amir.”
CEO of Education Excellence Award Dr. Hamda Hassan Al Sulaiti said the 14th Education Excellence Award winners would get cash prizes according to the categories, medals, and certificates and honour from H H the Amir.
She said that the award meets international standards, which helped raise contestants’ performance, improve their personal development, intellectual quality, and reveal their hidden talents.
“We made remarkable achievements in terms of the number of participants for this edition of the award. We recorded 374 contestants in which 71 won the prizes in different categories,” said Dr. Hamda.
She said that the number of participants increased remarkably this year due to awareness campaigns and continuous communication with school management.
Dr. Hamda said that the organisers launched an online system to receive entries, which also helped attract more participants.
