Dubai, United Arab Emirates,Business News : For the first time in the UAE’s digital learning industry, Alef Education today recognized and celebrated 71 distinguished winners from the UAE public sector schools for excellence in digital teaching and learning practices at 2nd annual Alef Education Award. Held at Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo 2020 Dubai, the Alef Education Award rewarded 71 winners across eight categories with cash prizes totaling more than AED 1 million.
The Alef Education Award aims to achieve four objectives – motivating teachers, administrators, students and parents from the UAE’s government schools to excel and innovate in the implementation of digital learning via the award-winning, AI-powered Alef Platform; providing a constructive and encouraging education environment for the students; improving digital citizenship skills and e-community awareness during the distance learning process; and strengthening the culture of digital learning among teachers, students and administrators of public schools in support of the UAE’s vision for the next fifty years.
Geoffrey Alphonso, Chief Executive Officer, Alef Education, said: “The UAE has always been at the forefront of embracing innovative technologies, and our gathering today to celebrate excellence in the digital education sector is a clear testament of that. Working alongside the UAE’s education authorities, Alef Education is proud to enable over 150,000 students from 400+ public schools in the UAE to have the best digital education. Through the Alef Education Awards, we want to recognize the real trailblazers of our education community that have thrived in digital education delivered through the Alef Platform in the past year.”
Dr. Aishah Al Yammahi, Board Advisor, Alef Education, stated: “As the UAE celebrates its Golden Jubilee, we’re proud to reward outstanding schools, educators, students, and parents for excelling in digital teaching and learning practices at the Alef Education Award 2021. Since our inception in 2015, Alef Education has leveraged technologies like AI and Big Data to transform the UAE’s education ecosystem, improving learning outcomes and enabling students to gain crucial skills for their future careers.”
“I’m also pleased to announce that Alef Education Award will be going global from its next edition. Alef Education is a UAE-based company that has expanded recently to serve the education communities in the United States, Indonesia, and others,” added Dr. Yammahi.
Three winners were chosen from Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Al Ain under the Distinguished Alef Cluster Leader category, with Ayesha Mohamed Alzaabi bagging the Golden prize. Three awards were also given under the “Distinguished Alef School Leader” category to winners from Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, and Al Ain. The Gold award went to Sheikha Abdullah Alqaydi. In the Distinguished Alef Teacher category, the awards were given to winners from Sharjah, Al Dhafra, and Al Ain, with Nourah Mohamed Alyileili from Aishah Bint Othman school receiving the Golden prize. Ahmed Hassan Almansoori was felicitated as the Leading Figure in Society. He is well-known for raising awareness of digital learning and innovation through initiatives related to Alef, and contributing to the dissemination of educational content on the Instagram account “meeshwar” that takes you on a journey of self-development.
There were eight main categories under the Alef Education Award for schools, teachers, students, and parents. The categories were Alef Distinguished Student, Alef Most Improved Student, Alef Special Learning Needs/People of Determination Students, Alef Distinguished Teacher, Alef Distinguished School Leader, Alef Distinguished Cluster, Alef Most Engaged Parent, and Leading Figure in the Society. In total, 52 UAE public school students from grades 5-11 received awards. Of which, ten students were awarded in the Alef Special Learning Needs/People of Determination category, and 21 students bagged prizes in the Alef Most Improved Student category.
Under the Alef Distinguished Student category, 21 winners were announced. The following students received 1st place in their respective grades: Mohammed Tareq Salem, Grade 5, Obadah Bin Al Samet – Abu Dhabi, Amina Ahmed Abo Maash, Grade 6, Al Zawraa 1 Girls – Ajman; Hind Mohammed Aldhaheri, Grade 7, Al Hemma – Al Ain; Fatema Ali Al Eed Al Sweidan, Grade 8, Al Shawamekh – Abu Dhabi; Mohammed Ahmad Alomari, Grade 9, Abu Dhabi Secondary; Omar Moustafa Kabbouli, Grade 10, Khalifah Bin Zayed – Abu Dhabi; and Abdulrahman Rashed Alkuwaiti, Grade 11, Abdul Qader Al Jazaeri – Abu Dhabi.
The Alef Education Award was first launched in 2020, given the increased importance of digital learning in the UAE against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, 67 winners were awarded across six categories.
