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ICESCO holds a webinar to support the continuity of the educational process

Posted on 8 June 2020 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

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

On the World Environment Day, ICESCO calls for joint action to preserve biological diversity

Posted on 5 June 20209 August 2024 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

This year we are celebrating the “World Environment Day” under exceptional circumstances, which have brought significant changes in the relationship between man and nature in terms of survival and recovery.

Despite its disastrous impacts on many sectors, the Coronavirus imposed biological rest for the benefit of ecosystems on land, sea, and air. Positive indicators have been monitored for improving air quality, the expansion of wildlife on the outskirts of cities, and the natural habitats of animals. We may ask, will this new situation lead the international community to reevaluate the concepts and goals of sustainable development and their relevance to nature?.

ICESCO reaffirms its support to the states and governments, environmental organizations, entrepreneurs, and scientists in their environmental action programs and believes that the human race will face extinction if it refuses to be bound by them to preserve nature. On this day, ICESCO calls for adopting the proposal for a joint environmental action based on lessons learned from the Coronavirus crisis, especially those related to preserving ecological diversity and its balance in the various ecosystems in forests, seas, agricultural systems, environmental tourism, urban environment, and others, and emphasizes the following:

-Biodiversity is the safety valve for both the health and development environment and must have the required place in joint environmental action programs.

-The life of the human race depends on stable and healthy ecosystems, and urgent action is required to put the world on the right path to a more sustainable future.

-There is a need to raise the profile of nature-based solutions in environmental governance, climate action, and developing policy tools.

-There is a need for anticipating the environmental and developmental ramifications of the depletion of natural resources to avoid crises for future generations.

The world continues to witness thousands of deaths due to Coronavirus. The place where World Climate Summit COP25 was hosted in December 2019 is now turned into the largest field hospital in Europe. But despite these contemporary crises, we have great hope in the providence and mercy of Allah (SWT). Our hope lies in the concerted efforts of peoples and our joint action within and outside our Islamic world. We hope for genuine quality initiatives to protect and preserve the environment and to continuously contribute to safeguarding the mother earth that we call home.

Treasures of Bibliotheca Alexandrina available at “ICESCO Digital Home”

Posted on 5 June 2020 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

In line with the initiatives of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) in supporting the efforts to reduce the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on education, science, and culture, an agreement was concluded with Bibliotheca Alexandrina, one of the largest and oldest libraries worldwide, to provide access to its treasure troves of knowledge through “ICESCO Digital Home,” within the framework of the initiative of “Distance Culture,” via the link below:
https://www.icesco.org/%d8%aa%d8%ab%d9%82%d9%81-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a8%d8%b9%d8%af/

The treasures of Bibliotheca Alexandrina, hosted by “ICESCO Digital Home,” include four key elements:
1- The Digital Assets Repository (DAR), which was developed by the International School of Information Science (ISIS) at Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It archives all types of media, including books, slides, movies, maps, and audiovisual materials. It also includes the most extensive Arabic book collection providing various viewing options, keyword search or expression, tagging, sharing books on other social networks, rating books, and interacting with other users through submitting comments.
2- Wellcome Arabic Manuscripts Online, which provides access, for the first time, to the largest collection of manuscript books and fragments on the history of medicine with high-quality digital image online along with associated rich metadata. It is part of the Asian Wellcome Library, which comprises 12 thousand manuscripts and 4 thousand printed books in 43 different languages.
3- Egyptian Press Archive, which archives 40 years of the Egyptian press production in various fields in Arabic, English, and French. It includes half a million journalistic articles, written by 17 thousand writers and journalistic correspondents on 30 different themes and published by 170 publishing houses, newspapers, periodicals, and magazines.
4- Digital Archive of the Egyptian Stamps, which includes 2300 postal stamps published by the Egyptian Post from 1866 to present times. It includes various kinds of stamps, such as regular mail, official mail, airmail, and commemorative stamps, which were published in special occasions and cover a large number of significant events in the history of Egypt and the world. Each stamp includes detailed information about its publishing date and occasion, and its full description.

This unique cooperation between ICESCO and Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the supreme effort of the two parties to sustain the cultural activity during Covid-19 pandemic. It provides the public with digital knowledge sources amid the closure of the cultural institutions and bodies to halt the spread of the virus and anticipate and support the future of digital culture.

It is worth mentioning that “ICESCO Digital Home” provides access throughout the lockdown period over 6 million e-books and online knowledge sources from Sharjah Library open to the public in more than ten different languages. “ICESCO Digital Home” also provides access to all the contents of the digital platform of the Mohammadia League of Scholars, in the Kingdom of Morocco, including Raed Platform for the dissemination of safe religious knowledge, Books of the deconstruction of extremist discourse, Museum of Science and Urbanism, Museum of Science History, and Portal of Mohammadia League of Scholars.

ICESCO Director-General explores cooperation prospects with Grand mufti of Azerbaijan and Caucasus

Posted on 4 June 2020 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

Today, the Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, met with the Grand mufti of Azerbaijan and Caucasus, Mr. Allahshükür Pashazade via videoconferencing. Together they explored prospects of cooperation between ICESCO and the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Caucasus.

At the outset, Dr. AlMalik thanked the Grand Mufti for hosting the meeting, requesting him to convey his greetings to His Excellency, the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, and Mrs. Mehriban Aliyev, First Vice President and First Lady of Azerbaijan, and President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

Moreover, the Director-General reviewed the major projects and initiatives launched by the Organization, as part of its new strategic vision, including the Comprehensive Humanitarian Coalition. Dr. AlMalik underscored that this Coalition aims to support developing countries as well as the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through the implementation of concrete projects and field programmes, noting that the Republic of Azerbaijan joined the Coalition and supported it financially.

Likewise, Dr. AlMalik talked about ICESCO’s efforts to open up to non-Member States, noting that the Organization drafted a new Charter including new regulations for ICESCO Observer Status and invites all states to become Observer States with the goal of more cooperation in the fields of education, science, culture, and communication.

For his part, Mr. Allahshükür Pashazade commended ICESCO’s initiatives in the area of dialogue and cultural diversity, as well as its efforts to spread the values of moderation, middle stance, and coexistence; keenness to support Islamic solidarity, and sustained interest in support for cultural heritage in the Islamic world.

The President of the Spiritual Administration for the Muslims of the Caucasus reaffirmed the interest and desire of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its specialized institutions in supporting and promoting cooperation with ICESCO, reiterating his Administration’s keenness to work on achieving the noble goals sought by the two parties.
Moreover, Mr. Allahshükür Pashazade invited Dr. AlMalik to visit Azerbaijan and sign a cooperation programme between ICESCO and the Spiritual Administration for the Muslims of the Caucasus, an invitation that ICESCO Director-General welcomed, promising to visit Azerbaijan at the earliest convenience.

The two parties also agreed on coordinating to hold a high-level virtual meeting for leaders of religious institutions to explore ways to promote cooperation, coordination, and consultation, and to hold later an international conference on anchoring the values of peace, tolerance, and coexistence.

ICESCO addresses African communities in their local languages to raise awareness about the dangers of the new Coronavirus

Posted on 4 June 2020 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

As part of the program “Languages of Africa, Bridges of Culture and History” previously launched by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), the Organization posted, on its YouTube channel, website and social media accounts, a video in the Hausa, Swahili, Mandingo, Fulani, Wolof, Fur, and Nubian languages to address the broader public in the Sub-Saharan countries as a contribution to raising their awareness through their local languages about the methods of protection from Covid-19 and ways to halt its spread. The effort falls within the framework of “ICESCO Digital Home” initiative supporting the Member States, especially the neediest countries most exposed to the risks of the current world health crisis triggered by Covid-19.

As part of the same initiative, ICESCO posted in May on its website several infographics in the abovementioned languages to ensure health education and raise preventive awareness. These infographics are downloadable to provide universal access to it. These materials can be found through the link:
https://www.icesco.org/%d9%84%d8%ba%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a5%d9%81%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%82%d9%8a%d8%a7-%d8%ac%d8%b3%d9%88%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ab%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%81%d8%a9-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae/

Through this awareness-raising video in the local languages of the African communities, ICESCO aims to highlight the crucial role of the local languages of the Sub-Saharan African peoples in disseminating basic knowledge and facilitate awareness and guidance for all social groups. It also seeks to add further efficiency to the programmes of health information and prevention education in Africa, ensure their dissemination to various social groups, promote the cultural, social and educational roles of the African languages, and keep these languages up-to-date with the information technology and benefit from digital publishing through the internet and social media.

It is worth mentioning that “Languages of Africa, Bridges of Culture and History” falls within a joint project with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to use the Arabic script in writing the languages of the Muslim communities in Africa. It consisted of educational, scientific, cultural and awareness-raising aspects and includes three ambitious programmes, in cooperation with the International University of Africa in the Republic of the Sudan (Yusuf Al Khalifa Center for Writing Languages in the Arabic Script), including a programme for computerizing the African languages by designing computer keyboards of fifteen languages and developing specialized software for the automated Arabic script. The second programme aims to improve the writing system of the African languages in the Arabic script by providing educational tools and materials, organizing training sessions for experts on the Arabic script, and preparing reading materials and teacher’s guide and educational media. The third programme aims to establish academic chairs on Arabic script.

Participants in the “Societies We Want” meeting support ICESCO adoption of “Education for Peace.”

Posted on 29 May 2020 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

The participants taking part in the first meeting in the webinar series, “Societies We Want,” held by Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), reaffirmed their support for ICESCO’s adoption of “Education for Peace”.

The participants stated that this initiative is likely to help address the significant challenges of peace and security, stressing the need to work together to build healthy, peaceful societies that can safely coexist.
The meeting, held virtually by the Department of Human and Social Sciences at ICESCO to discuss perspectives on peace, citizenship, and resilience in conflict and post-conflict contexts, saw the participation of Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General , and several international organizations’ representatives and experts in inter-civilizational dialogue and human and social sciences. Mr. Adama Dieng, Special Adviser to UN Secretary-General for the Prevention of Genocide, also participated in the meeting as a special guest, who called for close cooperation with ICESCO regarding issues of education for peace and conflict prevention through anchoring religious values, safe coexistence and acceptance of the Other.

Moreover, Mr. Dieng stated that education plays a pivotal role in building peace as it is one of the most powerful tools we must use to eradicate the causes of hatred. He added that through education, we could anchor noble values founded on respect for humans and indiscrimination, underscoring that education guarantees a level of awareness and understanding in people which prove necessary in recognizing the danger of those who spread hatred, racism, and segregation through the internet or other mediums.

In the same vein, Mr. Dieng stated that the United Nations would hold a ministerial conference on the role of education in eradicating hatred, whose organization will be overseen by the Office of the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General for the Prevention of Genocide, in cooperation with UNESCO Director-General. He added that the conference would bring together ministers of education, experts and all stakeholders, including the youth, to come up with practices and recommendations, and outline the commitments of Member States to implement these recommendations at the national level, seizing the opportunity to call on ICESCO to take part in this conference.

The first meeting of the “Societies We Want” webinar series saw active participation and fruitful discussion; and stressed the need to adopt a comprehensive approach to building peace and attaining safe coexistence. To achieve this goal, ICESCO called for creating a framework of cooperation between the participating organizations and institutions, including UNESCO, the Conference of the Ministers of Education of French-speaking Countries (CONFEMEN), the Conference of French-speaking Ministers of Youth and Sports (CONFEJES), the G5 Sahel, the West and Central Africa Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the African Development Bank (ADB), Water Summit 2021 Coordination Office, “Roses of Peace” Singapore, and Timbuktu Institute—Niger.

For his part, the CONFEJES Secretary-General stated that they would place focus on issues of peace and citizenship in teacher training curricula, as part of the trilateral cooperation with ICESCO and the CONFEMEN. This would also include physical education teachers to promote the values of sports as a tool for building peace and anchoring citizenship.

In cooperation with ICESCO… distribution of educational devices and equipment to Moroccan students and schools

Posted on 29 May 2020 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

The Moroccan National Commission for Education, Science and Culture stated that it had distributed the technological devices and educational equipment offered by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and its partner donors.

This is part of supporting the efforts of Member States to counter the repercussions of Covid-19 and ensure the continuity of the educational process after the closure of the educational institutions.
In its letter to the Secretariat of the National Commissions and Ministerial Conferences of ICESCO, the Moroccan National Commission highlighted that ICESCO and its partners offered an amount of US$58,000 to support distance education in the Kingdom of Morocco, of which US$30,000 was allocated to the Regional Academy of Education and Training of Marrakech-Safi and the US$28,000 to the Regional Academy of Education and Training of Beni Mellah-Khenifra.

Also, the Commission underlined that, in Beni Mellah-Khenifra, 350 tablets were distributed to students who attended to schools along with their parents, in coordination with the local authorities while taking all the precautionary safety measures. The beneficiaries are as follows:
1.Communal School of Zaouiat Ahansal;
2.School Group of Zaouiat Ahansal;
3.School Group of Tighighit Znati;
4.School Group of Tighanmin;
5.High School of Zaouiat Ahansal.

Moreover, the Moroccan National Commission stated that the distribution started at 10:00 a.m. and continued for almost 12 hours to cover all the said schools with the participation of the Caïd of Zaouiat Ahansal, Principal of the High School of Zaouiat Ahansal, and the representative of the population at the Rural Town Council, in the presence of some parents.
The Commission added that the distribution of equipment to the students and schools concerned would continue tomorrow, Saturday 30 May 2020.

ICESCO Director-General: joint action in crisis management and peace preservation should be every citizen’s priority

Posted on 28 May 2020 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

** COVID-19 pandemic reveals weakening cooperation in ecosystem preservation

The Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, reaffirmed that joint action to prevent conflicts, address crises and preserve peace must be a priority of all societies under the “global citizenship” concept. He pointed out that the pandemic, the latest in a long series of crises which have plagued the planet in the era of globalization, has uncovered the degree of humanity’s vulnerability and weaknesses, including low commitment and inadequate cooperation to preserve the ecosystem for the service of our peoples and rising generations.

This came in ICESCO Director-General’s address at the opening session of the series of virtual meetings on “Societies We Want” held by the Sector of Human and Social Sciences at ICESCO. The first meeting was dedicated to the discussion of viewpoints on peace and citizenship and resilience during and after COVID-19 as part of the Organization’s “Societies We Want” initiative to spread knowledge and build healthy, peaceful, prosperous, inclusive and resilient societies, a need that surfaced at the time of Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

ICESCO Director-General stressed that when facing considerable challenges to peace and security, we should work as one world and one humanity. To this end, ICESCO advocates for education for peace while paying special attention to youth, women, and religious leaderships through developing their social and psychological capacities to counter violence and extremism and promote peaceful conflict resolution. It also seeks to establish a sense of global citizenship among people to think of other nations instead of thinking solely of ones’ own countries and show a feeling of belonging to our planet and the shared destiny regardless of faith, race, and values.

Moreover, Dr. AlMalik stated that in the next few weeks, ICESCO would launch a major project to advocate for the integration of the values of peace, peaceful coexistence, and citizenship in Member States’ education systems. As human civilization is on a crossroads, the choice is to remain in this current situation or face its societies toward a better future. “What happens today signals an urgent need to be addressed. We should proceed with a drastic social change amid the crises and emergencies facing our societies to limit the effects of conflicts and epidemics and reaffirm our resolve to protect humanity,” he added.

He expressed his hope that the entire humanity would prioritize ending conflict, violence rejection, and health crisis mitigation while noting that ICESCO will contribute to building a world free of conflicts and making peace a reality for peoples.
At the close of his address, Dr. AlMalik stated that the Organization would launch a programme for encouraging young researchers to participate, through their studies and research, in the development of the society and limit the social and psychological impact of crises and conflicts on our lives. He called on specialists in development, research, and human sciences to cooperate and put aside their differences and work toward the world’s best interests.

New prospects of cooperation between ICESCO and Uzbekistan in the celebration of Bukhara as Capital of Islamic Culture

Posted on 28 May 2020 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

**ICESCO Director-General: there is a need to pay attention to the sector of culture to preserve the mental health and social relations

Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), called upon countries to pay strong attention to the sector of culture, which has been strongly affected during Covid-19 crisis due to the closure of 95% of heritage sites and cultural institutions all around the globe.

This was an excerpt from Dr. AlMalik’s address at the opening session of the International Scientific Conference, held today via videoconferencing by the Center of Islamic Civilization in Uzbekistan, in partnership with ICESCO, under the theme “Role and contributions of Bukhara to the Islamic civilization,” as part of the Celebration of Bukhara as the Asian region’s Capital of Islamic Culture for 2020.

In the same vein, Dr. AlMalik stated that there is now a need to pay attention to the sector of culture, given its impact on mental health and social balances and relations. “As part of ICESCO’s new vision, considering the new future challenges facing us during and after crises, ICESCO prepared the Strategic Digital and Cultural Project, the outline of which will be announced during the Virtual Extraordinary Conference of Culture Ministers of ICESCO Member States, due to be held on 17 June 2020,” he added.

Furthermore, ICESCO Director-General praised the city of Bukhara, which is one of the major centers of Islamic civilization thanks to the contributions of its people over centuries since the arrival of Islam to this region as early as 46 A.H., while stressing ICESCO’s willingness to cooperate with Uzbekistan, which has, in addition to Bukhara, several major Islamic cities with glorious history such as Tashkent and Samarkand, and collaborates with its competent authorities, amid the current exceptional circumstances, on many items, including:
•Establishment of ICESCO Regional Center of Manuscripts at Imam Al-Bukhari International Research Centre (IBIRC), in coordination and cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and the Center of Islamic Civilization in Uzbekistan;
•Establishment of Imam Al-Bukhari Chair for University Studies at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, in Fes, Kingdom of Morocco, under ICESCO’s auspices;
•Inscribing 50 heritage sites and natural and industrial heritage elements in Bukhara and Uzbekistan on the Islamic World Heritage List;
•Preparation of standard files of some serial heritage sites and aspects in the countries concerned, including Uzbekistan and the Transoxiana, to be inscribed on the Islamic World Heritage List (Hajj route, caravan route);
•Publishing a book on the scholars of Bukhara in particular and Uzbekistan in general, and their civilizational contributions (in Arabic, Russian and Uzbek);
•Awarding ICESCO Prize for the best cultural project in Bukhara;
In closing, Dr. AlMalik thanked the competent authorities in the Republic of Uzbekistan for meeting the challenge of organizing the activities scheduled as part of Bukhara as the Capital of Islamic Culture despite the current exceptional circumstances. He also called upon concerned institutions in other Capitals of Islamic Culture to launch innovative initiatives to celebrate these capitals and overcome challenges.

The ICESCO Director-General wishes every success to the celebration of Bukhara as the Asian region’s Capital of Islamic Culture for 2020 as it serves sustainable development, well-being, and progress in Uzbekistan, and all the Islamic countries.

ICESCO Director-General receives German Ambassador in Rabat

Posted on 27 May 2020 by MOHAMED.AQEIL

The Director General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, received today Dr. Götz Schmidt-Bremme, Ambassador of Germany to the Kingdom of Morocco at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat. Together they explored ways to promote cooperation between ICESCO and the Federal Republic of Germany in the educational, scientific and cultural fields.

During the meeting, which was also attended by Mr. Steffen Krüger, Representative of Kaunrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation Morocco, Dr. AlMalik briefed the German Ambassador of the Organization’s new vision which advocates openness and cooperation with all parties in the service of Member States and Muslim communities around the globe. He also reviewed the initiatives, programmes and activities implemented by ICESCO during COVID-19 pandemic to curb its adverse effects and support Member States to overcome them.

Likewise, ICESCO Director-General pointed out that ICESCO had redrafted its Charter and administrative and financial regulations and established a charter for ICESCO Observer States. In this vein, he invited Germany to join the Organization as an observer and contribute to the “Comprehensive Humanitarian Coalition” with executive projects and field programmes to assist the poorest and most affected countries by the pandemic.

For his part, Dr. Schmidt-Bremme voiced his country’s commitment to cooperate with ICESCO within the realm of its competence and in light of its new vision and action strategy, while commending the initiatives and actions of ICESCO during COVID-19 pandemic. He also considered this meeting as a starting point for constructive cooperation between the two parties.

At the close of the meeting, Dr. AlMalik thanked Mr. Krüger for the support extended by Kaunrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation to ICESCO this year, namely the sponsoring of many of the Organization’s foresight conferences and studies, the membership of the Foundation to the Comprehensive Humanitarian Coalition and the involvement of ICESCO as a key partner in its action strategy for the coming years.

The meeting was attended from ICESCO by Dr. Ahmed Said Bah, Director of the Sector of External Relations and Cooperation; and Dr. Kaïs Hammami, Director of the Center of Strategic Foresight.

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