World’s most innovative initiatives in education awarded

MANILA, Philippines - The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) announced the six winners of the 2013 WISE Awards. Since 2009 the WISE Awards have helped to disseminate some of the most effective practices in addressing urgent global challenges in education. The winning projects are:

• Medersat; Casablanca, Morocco

• PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools); London, United Kingdom

• ALISON (Advance Learning Information Systems Online); Ireland

• Pathways to Education; Toronto, Canada

• Te Kotahitanga; Hamilton, New Zealand

• iThraYouth Initiative; Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia

Medersat received the special mention for “access to education.” This emphasis reflects the support of Qatar Foundation chairperson Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser for United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 2 on achieving universal primary education.

 A jury composed of leaders from the education world, chaired by Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani, PhD, chairman of WISE, selected the winning projects from a short list of 14 finalists. In total, WISE received more than 500 applications for these prestigious Awards.

Dr. Al-Thani remarked, “The WISE Awards jury has identified six diverse projects from around the world that represent inspiring models for all who seek to overcome obstacles to education. For five years the WISE Awards have been building a community of education pioneers from across the educational spectrum, including non-governmental organizations, academia and both the public and private sectors, who are having a growing and sustainable impact. The 2013 WISE Awards winners will join their peers to inspire positive change in education.”

The six 2013 WISE Awards winning projects and the other finalists will participate in the fifth annual WISE Summit taking place Oct. 29-31, at the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha under the theme “Reinventing Education for Life.”