Category: News update

The webinar “Artificial Intelligence and Education: Best Practices and Policy Recommendations” due to be held by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), on Thursday 18 June 2020, in cooperation with King Abdulaziz University and the AI Civic Forum (AICF), will discuss a range of crucial issues related to the future of education, use of AI applications in the development of education practices and the major policy recommendations which can be drafted and shared to achieve sustainable educational and digital transition.

During the webinar, which will kick off at 14.00 (GMT) (15.00 Rabat local time), experts will explore concrete examples of successful AI applications in education, ways to ensure fair access to these innovative tools, the difference between scientific research in AI and AI in education.

The webinar aims to build a common understanding of “AI in education” and “Education in AI”: key concepts and historical trajectory; highlight ethical stakes, with a special focus on barriers to inclusion and accessibility of educational tools in different socio-economic contexts; and share visions on the future of education and make policy recommendations to guide ICESCO Member States.

The agenda features the opening remarks by Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director General of ICESCO; and the addresses by Dr. Driss Ouaouicha, Moroccan Minister Delegate to the Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, in charge of Higher Education and Scientific Research; and Mr. Kais Hammami, Head of the Center of Strategic Foresight at ICESCO. Likewise, Ms. Pauline Noiseau, Coordinator at Algora Lab, and Ms. Sacha Alanoca, Senior AI Policy Researcher at The Future Society, will present the webinar’s objectives, agenda and speakers.

The first part of the webinar “AI in Education” and “Education in AI” will feature Ms. Michaela Horvathova, International Education Policy Expert, and Ms. Niki Iliadis, Senior AI Policy Researcher at The Future Society. At the second part “Best Practices around the World”, the floor will be given to Ms. Rim Faiz, Professor of Computer Science at the Institute of Advanced Business Studies of Carthage (IHEC), AI expert, and Ms. Golnoosh Farnadi, Post-doctoral Fellow at Mila expert in AI Inclusion. The third part “Recommendations for a Better Future of AI and Education” will bring together Mr. Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, and Dr. Mohamed Hedi Shili, Director of Legal Affairs at ICESCO. The webinar will conclude with the closing remarks by Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General.

ICESCO will hold this important webinar as part of its new vision and strategic action plan which advocates foresight and endeavors to ensure larger access by Member States to the huge potentials of AI applications toward the achievement of sustainable development.

To receive a participation certificate, please register at Zoom application on the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_x1D7NzV7TH-XT9yzHipFyw
You can watch the live stream of the webinar on the Arabic page of ICESCO at:
https://www.facebook.com/ICESCO.Ar/live

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) announced the extension of the deadline to submit the nominations for the awards of short films, drawing, story writing, musical composition or creative work, and “Bayan” for creative expression in Arabic for non-Arabic speakers, until 31 July 2020. The winners will be announced by the end of September, while the award ceremony will be scheduled at a later date.

ICESCO highlighted that this extension decision came in response to the request of a large number of people from different countries who have contacted the Organization through phone calls, emails, or messages on ICESCO’s pages on social media. They stressed the need for more time to meet the participation requirements, taking into account the exceptional situation triggered by Covid-19 pandemic.

As part of its initiative “Distance Culture,” ICESCO launched the Short Film Award to be received by three winners with a value of US$8,000, US$6,000, US$4,000, respectively. To qualify for the Award, the short film should:
• Not exceed 4 minutes in length;
• Not have been submitted to another competition before;
• Not undermine human, religious or national values;
• Be subtitled in one of ICESCO’s three official languages (Arabic, English and French);
• Be sent to film@icesco.org
As part of the same initiative, ICESCO launched three other awards for students in the following creative fields: short story writing, making a painting, and musical composition or creative work. The value of the prizes stands at US$6,000, US$4,000, and US$2,000, respectively. The winners will also receive certificates of appreciation. The National Commissions and the competent parties in the Member States will select three works from each category to be sent to the Sector of Culture at ICESCO on the following email: culture@icesco.org

Furthermore, as part of the initiatives of ICESCO Center of Arabic Language for non-Arabic Speakers, the Organization launched the “Bayan” Award for Creative Expression in Arabic. It will be awarded to three winners from each age group of students (youth, teens, and children), who will receive US$2,000, US$1,500, and US$1,000 respectively.

The Award covers creative expression where the student records a video based on a text he/she wrote in standard Arabic. The video must not exceed 3 minutes in length for children, 4 minutes for teens, and 5 minutes for young people. It must not have been published or submitted to another competition before. The nomination file must include the video, the text written by the student, and the nomination form duly accomplished. The candidate must be a student from a non-Arab country, whose first language is not Arabic. The work must be submitted through the student’s educational institution. The educational institution must only send one outstanding work for each category. Nominations received from the Member States must be submitted through the National Commissions and competent parties. The form is available at:
http://www.icesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Nomination-Form-ICESCO-Bayan-Award.pdf.
The nominations must be sent to ICESCO on:
bayanaward@icesco.org

Moreover, ICESCO reaffirmed that after receiving the various nominations, each Award would have a jury to assess its nominations and determine winners, who will be announced by next September while the award ceremony will be held later on.

As part of “ICESCO Digital Home,” the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) launches a new educational programme for knowledge and skills development, entitled “Zidni ‘Ilman” within the framework of the initiatives of ICESCO Center of Arabic Language for non-Arabic Speakers. The programme comprises two parts: an educational part devoted to national teachers, counselors and experts working in the field of Arabic Language for non-Arabic Speakers; and another part dedicated to knowledge and language open to students of Arabic speaking other languages from all around the globe.

Through an online form provided on the link: https://survey.icesco.org/index.php/193712?lang=ar
ICESCO will allow in the first phase of “Zidni ‘Ilman” programme, national teachers, counselors, and experts to address their questions to a host of senior specialized experts cooperating with ICESCO. Afterward, the experts will answer the questions through a series of videos that will be posted on ICESCO’s website, YouTube channel, and Facebook page.

Among the main objectives that ICESCO aims to achieve through this program, is to provide distance educational programme that meets teachers’ concerns and needs; update, renew and develop the educational materials for the teachers of Arabic language for non-Arabic speakers; establish communication channels between students from different races and cultures, and senior specialists of teaching Arabic language; foster the culture of debate, dialogue and cooperative learning for students of Arabic language; develop their sense of inquiry and research; and provide knowledge, educational and linguistic reference for frequent questions in the field of Arabic language for non-Arabic speakers.

This programme is an enrichment to ICESCO’s previous contributions in providing educational, cultural and scientific alternatives throughout the lockdown period, and a contribution to building the bridges of sustained educational and scientific communication in the field of Arabic language for non-Arabic speakers between scientists, experts, educational staffs, and students. It also mirrors ICESCO’s commitment to meet the needs of the teachers of Arabic language for non-Arabic speakers by developing their educational capacities and providing distance educational guidance to make up for face-to-face training during the lockdown, meet the needs of students speaking other languages in terms of continuous development of research and thinking capacities, raise constructive questions, and enhance and enrich their linguistic skills and knowledge.

It is worth mentioning that ICESCO, through the Center of Arabic language for non-Arabic Speakers, launched in April and May an initiative entitled “Learn Arabic, Master it at Home”, “Bayan” award for creative expression in Arabic language, and “Languages of Africa, Bridges of Culture and History” in the field of writing the African languages in the standardized Arabic script. All details on the link:
http://www.icesco.org/?p=22785

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and King Fahd National Library at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia agreed to giving access to the digital contents of the Library within ICESCO Digital Home, as part of the Distance Culture Initiative. This agreement comes as part of the endeavors of both the Organization and the Library to support the efforts of the global community to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the fields of education, science, and culture.

Against this backdrop, ICESCO Digital Home visitors can access hundreds of thousands of the Library’s references including digital books, Arab and foreign online databases, periodicals and academic dissertations. Visitors can also download hundreds of books for free through the following link:
https://www.icesco.org/%d8%aa%d8%ab%d9%82%d9%81-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a8%d8%b9%d8%af/

Such cooperation between the Organization and the Library is likely to contribute to enriching the digital intellectual contents of the Islamic world; and provide ICESCO Member States’ nationals with the opportunity to access the creative and knowledge production of intellectuals, authors and cultural figures from other countries inside and outside the Islamic world.

The references of King Fahd National Library are added to the contents of ICESCO Digital Home, which also gives access to the rich digital contents of the Library of Alexandria, including books and manuscripts in more than 43 languages. Likewise, ICESCO Digital Home gives access to more than six million books and references from Sharjah Library in more than ten different languages; and the entire contents of the digital platform of the Mohameddian League of Scholars of the Kingdom of Morocco including Ar-Ra’id platform for spreading safe religious knowledge, guidebooks on dismantling extremist discourse, Science and Architecture Museum, the Museum of Science History, and the Mohameddian League of Scholars Portal.

It is worth noting that King Fahd National Library aims to purchase, organize, regulate, document, publicize and publish intellectual production. The project to establish the Library was first announced in 1983 at the initiative of the people of Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to later on start the execution phase in 1986. The Library is a knowledge beacon for a wide audience of intellectuals as it contributes to enriching knowledge and literature contents at the local, regional and international levels.

In recognition of the efforts of healthcare workers around the globe who stand on the frontline to shield human societies from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) have launched a video where former and current football players express their thanks and appreciation to healthcare workers for their outstanding work.

In this unique video appearance, male and female famous world football stars, including Pelé, Diego Maradona, Ronaldo, David Beckham, Kaká, Marta, Marco van Basten, Zinédine Zidane, Park Ji-sung, Yaya Touré, Lucy Bronze, Samuel Eto’o, Fabio Cannavaro and many others are warmly applauding healthcare workers in recognition of their work to help citizens and for their sacrifices to stem the risks of COVID-19 spread.

In parallel with the applause, a brief caption expresses gratitude and appreciation to all healthcare workers and professionals who work like #HumanitysHeroes.

It is worth noting that, since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, ICESCO has launched several practical initiatives, programmes, and projects to support the global anti-COVID-19 efforts and help the Member States overcome its adverse repercussions. The Organization’s effort culminated with the launch of the “Comprehensive Humanitarian Coalition” initiative to help poor and most affected countries by implementing practical projects and field programmes..

The Coalition was widely welcomed by many countries, international organizations, and specialized institutions and authorities, including FIFA. The final declaration of the Extraordinary Virtual Conference of Education Ministers of ICESCO Member States, held on 14 May 2020 with the participation of 43 Member States and 12 international organizations under the theme “Education systems in the face of crises and emergencies (COVID-19)”, reaffirmed its support to the Coalition and called on countries and governmental and non-governmental organizations, donors and the private sector to contribute to its success.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) will hold an educational webinar, next Wednesday 10 June 2020, under the theme “Technology in Service of the Continuity of the Educational Process”.

The webinar, which starts at 12:00 (Rabat local time), will explore the current situation of the use of technology and its prospects in education during and after the pandemic.

Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General, will give an address during the opening session of the webinar which gathers 20 education officials, including the ministers of education of Palestine and Burkina Faso, university teachers, experts in the field of education science and technology, and civil society educators concerned with the continuity of the educational process during and after Covid-19 pandemic in Member States.

The webinar aims to give in-depth understanding of the realities of technology use to sustain the educational process, raise awareness of the importance of digital knowledge and its mainstreaming, exchange experiences in harnessing and promoting educational technology, and devise a practical concept to enhance the role of digital technology in the continuity of the education in the pandemic era.

The webinar is part of ICESCO’s continued action to support the efforts geared towards countering Covid-19 pandemic and facing its negative effects on the fields of education, science and culture.
You can follow the webinar via the link below: https://www.facebook.com/ICESCO.Ar/live