Sharjah Ruler chairs Sharjah Education Academy Board of Trustees’ meeting

SHARJAH/WAM

H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, chaired, on Sunday, the 14th meeting of Sharjah Education Academy (SEA) Board of Trustees, at the Academy building in the University City of Sharjah.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Ruler of Sharjah welcomed the attending members of the Board, appreciating the great support provided by the Board of Trustees to all the programmes and efforts of the Academy in advancing educational and pedagogical work.
Sheikh Sultan also welcomed the new members who joined the Board from inside and outside the UAE, praising their diverse practical and scientific expertise, which contributes to enriching the Board in educational, social, financial and legal aspects, which are reflected in the various programmes in the field of education and early childhood in particular.
The Ruler of Sharjah directed the adoption of Arabic as the language of instruction in Sharjah government nurseries, noting the importance of working to educate children and parents about healthy food and its impact on the integrated upbringing of the child in all health, mental, and physical aspects, in addition to the participation of parents in the educational process to ensure its success.
The Ruler of Sharjah approved the designs for the proposed new expansion of the current SPEA building, which includes several facilities to be added while maintaining the available green spaces. The additions include a specialised centre for training in the field of early childhood and its annexes and another building designated as a sports facility for indoor and outdoor physical training.
The Council reviewed a number of reports that addressed topics related to SPEA achievements and statistics for the current year, in addition to a detailed report on the fourth edition of the Sharjah International Summit for the Development of Education, which is scheduled to be held in 2025.
The Council also reviewed the annual report on the achievements and statistics of Sharjah nurseries, and a summary of the work of the subcommittees emanating from the Board of Trustees of the Academy.
The nurseries report included statistics on the number of registered children, and the expansion work carried out in some nurseries to meet the increasing demands of parents to register their children in the current academic year, who were received in Sharjah government nurseries, in addition to preparing to complete the central kitchen project for nurseries, and building new nurseries in the next academic year.
The meeting was attended by the Ruler of Sharjah; Dr. Muhadditha Al Hashimi, Chairperson of SPEA and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Academy; Mohammed Obaid Al Shamsi, Director-General of the Sharjah Social Security Fund (SSSF); Dr.Najwa Al Hosani, Chancellor of the University of Kalba; Najla Al Midfa, Vice President of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa); Dr.Khawla Al Mulla, former Chairperson of the Family Affairs Authority; Dr. Pauline Taylor Guy, Director of the Australian Institute for Educational Research; Dr. Timothy Knowles, CEO of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Education in Britain; Michael Thompson, CEO of Child Peace Foundation in the United States; Dr. Rashid Abu Shabas, Director of the Information Technology Department at Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA); Dr. Dragan Jasevich, Director of the Learning Analytics Centre at Monash University in Australia; Khalaf Abdullah, Deputy CEO and Head of Internal Audit at Sharjah Islamic Bank Group; Dr. Stephen Barnett, Founder and Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Childhood Education Research at Rutgers University in the United States; and Dr.Kirsti Lonka, Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Helsinki in Finland.