Shura Council participates in Forum of Women Parliamentarians

Bali: As part of the 144th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) being held in Bali, the Shura Council participated yesterday in the 33rd meeting of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians.

Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council H E Dr. Hamda bint Hassan Al Sulaiti represented the Shura council in the meeting. The meetings discussed several topics related to women, equality efforts and parliamentary experiences in the fields of enhancing maternal health and newborn health in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting also touched on strengthening information technology as an assistance factor in education, including during the pandemic.

In the last axis, the Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council, in her speech at the forum pointed out to school suspension due to the pandemic, as indicated by international reports, which led to an increase in the number of children out of education from 53 percent to 70 percent. She said that according to Unesco statistics, there were approximately 1.5 billion students worldwide, from pre-primary education to secondary school affected by interruption of education as a result of school closures, and there was an increase in poverty as a result of the pandemic,as well as the inequality in education exacerbated, noting that one of the reasons that led to this situation is the lack of technology, electricity, the Internet and digital devices.

She called for creating funds for education in crises and emergencies in order to avoid similar problems, and that these funds should be under the umbrella of international organisations concerned with education, children and refugees, and with international funding.

The Deputy Speaker stressed the importance of supporting pioneering educational initiatives in the field of education, referring, in this context, to Qatar’s initiatives, including Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s initiative to educate a million girls in small islands and developing countries, as well as “Education Above All” Chaired by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, and  “Educate a Child” programme, which covered nearly 12.8 million children deprived of primary education, 48 percent of whom are girls, with a budget estimated at more than $2bn in more than 55 countries.

At the conclusion of her speech, the Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council noted the achievements of Qatar in the field of employing technology in a distinctive way by providing technological infrastructure, video lessons, educational platforms and others, which contributed to providing education for all children. She indicated that the challenge faced by students during the pandemic was limited to social and psychological dimension.