Sheikha Bodour inaugurates smart classrooms

Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi inaugurates smart classrooms Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), Founder and CEO of Kalimat Group, has inaugurated the first four classrooms equipped with Horouf's interactive educational applications at Al Darary Kindergarten in Sharjah.
The opening of the smart classrooms comes as a gesture from HH Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who ordered the expansion of at Al Darary Kindergarten that involves the introduction of four classrooms and other facilities The opening of the new classrooms was attended Saeed Musabah Al Kaabi, Chairman of Sharjah Education Council, Fawzia Hassan Gharib, Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Operations at the Ministry of Education, Aisha Saif, Secretary General of Sharjah Education Council, and Head of the Executive Committee of HH's Initiative, Noora Al Merri, Director of Sharjah Educational Zone, Mona Suhail, the deputy director of the Sharjah Education Zone, and Fatima Al Naimi, Principal of the Kindergarten accompanied by educators.
A female student delivered a short speech at the end of the opening ceremony. She extended heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Sheikh Sultan for his generous initiative of distributing tablets with installed interactive applications for students in kindergartens and schools in the emirate of Sharjah. She also thanked Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi for honouring them with this visit and inaugurating the first classrooms equipped with Horouf's innovative interactive educational application.
Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi watched a short theatrical show inspired by Self Narrative (Sard Al That), the autobiography of the Ruler of Sharjah, performed by a group of students.
Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi toured the four classrooms, which have been fully equipped with TV screens and tablets to produce an integrated interactive educational experience based on Horouf's smart applications. Sheikha Bodour listened to a brief about the development of these classrooms into smart classrooms and how they have been provided with equipment and technologies to deliver first of its kind smart education experience in the UAE and region.
Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi said: "This day marks a milestone in the history of education in Sharjah and the UAE as it witnesses the opening of the first interactive kindergarten classrooms based, in their theoretical and practical forms, on technology and smart applications. It is a modern and integrated educational system especially designed for children in the Arabic language that helps improve and develop their capacity to cope with the requirements of future growth in all aspects of life the UAE." She added: "We have worked at Horouf to develop the applications with local and international professionals in the field of smart education." Indicating that Horouf's applications that is being used in the new classrooms will be a new educational system for teaching in Arabic language towards developing interactive education to encourage students to enrich their cognitive and linguistic skills and encourage them to develop their physical, sensory, and intellectual capabilities and thereby give them the freedom to move and explore.
Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi went on to add that these applications are the beginning for a series of integrated educational system for classes that will be covered as part of His Highness's initiative at all schools in Sharjah.
Saeed Mosbeh Al Kaabi, Chairman of the Sharjah Education Council, lauded Sheikh Sultan and his family for supporting education and that Sharjah is making great strides towards becoming a global pioneering in education. He praised the implementation of smart education in Sharjah's kindergartens, wishing that it will be extended to all kindergartens in the UAE and the Arab world.
Al Kaabi highlighted the effectiveness of this kind of education in teaching children through play-a way of teaching that is beloved by children and helps promote student's self- esteem through team work. He also praised Al Darary Kindergarten and its outstanding work team that makes the kindergarten a beacon of learning and knowledge. Al Kaabi added that the kindergarten due to its outstanding work team has become a destination for visitors from the country's senior leaders, apart from the kindergarten's active participations in various community events.
Fawzia Hassan Gharib, Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Operations at the Ministry of Education, extended heartfelt thanks and gratitude to HH Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, for his unlimited support to the education sector. She also expressed her appreciation for the outstanding efforts made by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi who is seeking to enrich the educational process with a range of creative and unprecedented initiatives, particularly those which are especially designed for kindergartens. She said that the accessibility of Horouf's publications at libraries has been very well received by students as these materials have helped students develop their linguistic and personal skills, particularly with the use of modern and smart technology and tablets.
Transforming normal classrooms into smart classrooms comes as a result of the immense efforts by the kindergarten's administration and its keen interest in implementing the initiative of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah.
Opening the first smart classrooms in kindergartens in the UAE and region is a new achievement by the emirate of Sharjah in the field of education. The first school in the UAE - Al Taymeya Al Mahmoudya - was established in Sharjah in 1907. In 1942, Sharjah became the first emirate to provide education for women. Currently, Sharjah boasts a great clustering of world-renowned higher education institutions, most notably the University of Sharjah and the American University of Sharjah (AUS) in addition to branches of leading local, regional and international universities.
Last April, the Executive Committee of HH the Ruler of Sharjah's Initiative to support learning in Arabic language using smart technologies announced that the first phase of the initiative, which included distributing tablets with interactive educational applications installed on them to government kindergartens and schools in the emirate of Sharjah, was completed. This phase covered over 5150 students and about 250 teachers in preschools in Sharjah.
Horouf, an imprint of Kalimat Group, has published printed books and electronic applications, to enable students in Sharjah's schools benefit from HH's initiative. Horouf's educational publications are a modern and integrated educational system in Arabic language that target children and aim to pioneer a fresh, fun and future oriented approach to Arabic education. The first of its kind initiative in the Arab world aims to help build and develop capacity of students and support student's learning in Arabic using a fun, smart, and modern technology enabled method.
Source: WAM