Education Ministry, UNIDO ITPO-Bahrain honour schools' creative projects

Manama, Aug. 26 (BNA): The Education Ministry has organised, in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)’s Investment and Technology Promotion Office in Bahrain (UNIDO ITPO-Bahrain), the closing ceremony of the third edition of the initiative to promote innovation and entrepreneurship to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for secondary school students. The virtual ceremony was patronised by the Minister of Education, Dr. Majid bin Ali Al-Nuaimi, and attended by Dr. Hashim Hussein, Head of UNIDO ITPO – Bahrain. Addressing the ceremony, Dr. Al-Nuaimi stressed the Education Ministry's keenness to develop its curricula and include topics related to entrepreneurship, innovation and artificial intelligence, which are considered among the basic subjects that qualify students to engage in public life and build a knowledge-based society, in line with the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and those of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to provide students with the 21st century skills and build competencies capable of producing creative ideas and achieving SDGs through entrepreneurship and innovation. The minister lauded the massive participation in the competition, from public and private schools, noting that as many as 1,360 students from various governorates have taken part in the programme since its launch. IPTO Bahrain chief, in his speech, lauded the existing strategic partnership between IPTO and the Ministry of Education to hold the competition despite the circumstances created by the pandemic. He added that UNIDO had held an intensified training programme for 450 coordinators of the competition from various schools, affirming that Bahrain is the first Arab country to implement an integrated curriculum to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and that UNIDO, in coordination with the Arab League and the Federation of Arab Chambers, will discuss mechanisms for implementing it in a number of Arab countries. He indicated that promoting the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship through education is one of the most important priorities of countries, and this is what the Kingdom of Bahrain is keen to implement, pointing to the efforts of UNIDO to document this distinguished experience in partnership with the United Nations. He added that the “Bahrain Model for Entrepreneurship and Innovation” and the Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Programme are applied in 53 countries around the world due to their excellence. Dr. Hashem Hussain said that the success of this programme has encouraged the organisation to plan the establishment of business incubators at schools during the next academic year, with a focus on artificial intelligence, especially in technical and vocational education schools. He revealed that the first five winning schools will have the opportunity to participate in Expo Duba, and the Arab Rally for Entrepreneurship in which 21 Arab countries will participate to showcase their winning projects. The ceremony also featured the honouring of the winning schools, including: 1- Isa Town Secondary Boys’ School for its project, “Bahrain Tender”, which is a website for showcasing the enterprises of individuals and SMEs. 2- Al-Wafa Secondary Girls’ School for its “Smart Hygiene” project, which is smart bracelet that vibrates when it detects a high percentage of germs on the hand. 3- Jidhafs Secondary Technical Boys’ School for its Wastewater Treatment and Recycling for Use project. 4- Omaima Bint Al Noaman Secondary Girls’ School for its “Green Water Purifier” project, which is a machine that withdraws pollutants from sea water. 5- Creativity Private School for its “Relife” project, aiming to recycle used clothes to make new clothes and bags. Assistant Undersecretary for Education, Latifa Al-Bunoodha, Education Ministry’s officials, representatives of the public and private entities cooperating in the implementation of the programme and representatives of finalist schools participated in the ceremony.