KUWAIT, March 17 (KUNA) -- Bridging the gap between public education and the requirements for dealing with advanced technology in all fields of life is a top aim for the strategy of developing education in Kuwait over the period 2005-20025, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Adel Taleb Al-Tabtabaei, said.
Al-Tabtabaei was addressing, on Saturday, the 36th educational congress for the Kuwaiti Teachers Society entitled "E-Education, Prospects and Challenges," held under auspices of HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
In order to reach that goal, the Ministry of Education had set certain aims, topped with avoiding the emergence of new generations suffering from "technological illiteracy," qualifying teachers possessing the capability of using advanced technology and directing some of those to specializations and innovation in the field of information technology (IT), Al-Tabtabaei added.
He noted that efforts had started almost two decades before toward that goal when the computer was introduced as a part of the curricula of public education.
The Kuwaiti Cabinet, in 2003, approved the 20-year strategy of developing education in Kuwait for the years 2005-2025. The sixth aim of that strategy provided for "bridging the gap between the reality of the current public education and the requirements of dealing with advanced technology at all levels of life, scientific, practical, public and private.
He praised the society for depicting that "vital" topic for the three-day gathering and the good organization of the event saying the Society played a significant role enriching the education efforts. He said it was an integral element of the plans and strategies adopted by the Ministry of Education for promoting the process.
Society Chairman Abdullah Al-Kandari told the opening session that choosing e-education as the title and the topic of the event implied the big challenge facing education in Kuwait and in the meantime the great hope for developing it.
"Advanced technology is the best means to promote education" he said " The world lives the age of information flow carried by modern technological means."For his part, Secretary General of the Arab Teachers Union Faraj al-Murtada, referred to the gathering as a "serious step, through which the Society is contributing to efforts to realize progress."
The Conference Rapporteur, Ali Al-Kandari, said that the conference would cover various areas the first of which on the basics of e-education through e-culture, modern systems and theories of education and designing e-education curricula.
The second pivot will discuss the infrastructure necessary for merging e-education in the current education system while the third addresses prospects and challenges of e-education."
