ABU DHABI // The winners of the annual Khalifa Award for Education were presented with their accolades by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, at a ceremony in the Emirates Palace hotel on Tuesday.
Juma Al Majid, 84, president of the Juma Al Majid Centre for Culture and Heritage, received the educational personality of the year award in recognition of his economic and cultural contributions to the country.
Mr Al Majid is a business tycoon and the founder of several educational institutions in the UAE. He was recognised for his social foresight and charitable contributions.
“The Khalifa Award for Education has become a unique brand for the excellence in education that outstanding educators look up to [or aspire to be]. The honourable goal of establishing this award is to improve the educational process and to show our appreciation of those working in it. It is also an improvement tool and a quality control mechanism in both the UAE and the Arab world,” Sheikh Mansour said.
Dr Hisham Bardeesi, the dean of distance learning at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, received the award for achievements in new media and education within the UAE and the Arab World.
“We focused on ways to combine e-learning and social media to reach the biggest number of people. The selection and vetting process was very competitive but I’m very pleased that we came this far and won. I think we might be the only ones from Saudi Arabia,” Dr Bardeesi said.
Thirty-seven winners were selected in 11 fields. Categories included creative teacher in public education, promising teacher, institutional educational performance, distinguished university professor in the field of teaching, special needs and innovative educational projects and programs within the UAE and the Arab World.
The theme of this year’s award was Distinguish Yourself, You Deserve Honour.
The Khalifa Award for Education aims to contribute in providing a modern and developed educational environment that encourages innovation and excellence.
It also hopes to encourage Emiratis to aspire for the teaching profession.
nalremeithi@thenational.ae