The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) recently announced the winners of the 2021 WISE Awards.
The six winners, selected from various contenders from around the globe, were chosen for their innovative and impactful approaches to pressing education issues. They will join the 78 additional projects honoured under the programme since its creation in 2009. WISE is an initiative of Qatar Foundation.
WISE CEO Stavros N Yiannouka congratulated this year’s winners. He said that the projects are tackling pressing education issues that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the projects vary in terms of their area of focus, geography and reach, each and every one of them demonstrates once again how innovative, sustainable and scalable solutions can help global organisations and governments address pressing education challenges.
Yiannouka thanked the jury and pre-jury members who he said, did an excellent job in evaluating the projects.
Six winning projects
The Delhi government’s Happiness Curriculum (India) partnered with Dream a Dream and other NGO to create a space in the school curricula dedicated to well-being, happiness, mindfulness, critical thinking, and other important social-emotional skills. Their groundbreaking work positively impacted 800,000 students in 1,024 schools, who, as a result, became more involved and focused in class. Teachers started prioritising values over academic success and increased collaboration with their peers.
Onebillion (UK) developed a complete edtech solution – tablet and app – for children to achieve numeracy and literacy skills in their own languages. The app provides children with adapted and personalised learning sessions. A durable solution, the tablet can be solar-charged and is designed to be used in remote and marginalised environments.
Focusing on trauma-informed education in Turkish public schools, Trauma Informed Schools or TIS (Turkey) transforms the classroom into a safe space for children suffering from traumatic experiences. The intervention applies a multi-pronged approach which, target children and the entire community surrounding them, through training and workshops with educational staff and caregivers. Between October 2019 and September 2020, TIS directly reached 5,216 children, 406 teachers and 190 caregivers.
Aprendamos Todos a Leer – Let’s All Learn to Read (Colombia) developed a comprehensive and innovative model for learning literacy for elementary school students. It provides teachers with reading materials, training and a grading system that will allow all students – with or without learning difficulties – to reach average reading levels. So far, the programme has benefited 703,277 children and teachers from public schools in Colombia and Panama. It has been adopted as a public policy in the two countries.
Taleemabad (Urdu for ‘city of education’) by Orenda Project (Pakistan) was selected for infusing Pakistan’s classrooms with digital technologies, providing highly localised and contextualised content aligned with the national curriculum of Pakistan that teaches children English, Urdu, Math, and Science across the K-6 spectrum. By partnering with low-cost private schools and providing a low-touch model, Taleemabad has not only improved educational outcomes for students, but also sustainability amid increasing school closures during the pandemic. Broadcasted on multiple channels, it has reached an audience of 8.5 million across the country. The platform is also accessible through the Taleemabad App, which has been downloaded 1.5 million times, putting it on top of the educational app charts in Pakistan.
ProFuturo Digital Education Program (Spain) by Telefónica Foundation and ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, created a digital education programme designed to be implemented in vulnerable environments, with or without connectivity. Focusing on teachers training and support, ProFuturo helps strengthen their teaching practice and digital skills so they can offer the best education to their students. It is present in 40 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, and has benefited over 914,000 teachers and 19.7 million children.
The six winning projects will be celebrated during the WISE Global Summit on 7 to 9 December in Doha, Qatar. The theme for this year’s summit is Generation Unmute: Reclaiming our Future through Education. In addition to publicity and networking opportunities, each project will also receive US$20,000.
For more information about WISE, visit wise-qatar.org.
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