Dubai’s Digital School to nurture young conflict-weary, pandemic-fringed minds

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Wednesday launched the ‘Digital School’ — an initiative that aims to provide certified online education to marginalised students globally.

The Digital School is set to empower students living in refugee camps, war zones and marginalised communities, and the project intends to bring in experts from leading global universities including the likes of Harvard, Stanford, NYU and MIT.

The accredited curriculum will also reel in subjects from across the board including Math, Science, English, IT, as well as Arabic.

Powered by AI, the interactive simulation will feature game-ified learning, keeping up and building on the trend the market has taken in recent years, and additionally will flex its capabilities by shaping the module to adapt to the learner’s needs. 

Catering to young people irrespective of their social, economic and educational backgrounds, the School aims to reach one million students in its first five years. 

Lauding the launch, His Highness said: “We aim to provide students, especially those living in refugee camps, war zones and disadvantaged communities, with the highest quality of education in the best way possible. Digital education is the future. We need to adapt to the rapidly-changing educational sphere. Our contribution to developing educational platforms is our real investment in the future of young people.” 

Virtual classrooms will enable students to interact with their teachers and fellow learners from all over the world as well as attain a globally-recognised school certificate or credentials that will enable them to complete their university education or apply for jobs. 

UAE intends to get the ball rolling with its ‘First Batch’ starting this month, and leading all the way into Aug 2021 with 20,000 students participating in three virtual classes a week over three months, from four different countries.

The system will be further developed based on feedback and extensive research, following which the Digital School will officially receive its first batch of students in September 2021 for the academic year 2021-2022. 

The launch comes at a time when students worldwide have been impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19, forcing a shift to online learning, and consequently fringing the most disadvantaged.

Young minds in developing countries and remote areas have taken a greater hit due to the lack of resources and learning alternatives amid a pandemic, adding to their growing list of concerns which include a year of escalating border tensions and worsening climate-driven disasters.

[Sourced from Agencies]