in partnership with Ministry of Education Al Nayzak & Welfare Association open Technology Lab at Halima Khraisheh Secondary Girls School funded by Palestine Islamic Bank
Tulkarem:
Al Nayzak Foundation for Supportive Education and Scientific Innovation along with the Welfare Association officially inaugurated the Computer & Technology Lab at the Halima Khraisheh Secondary School for Girls in Tulkarem county funded by Palestine Islamic Bank during an opening ceremony held at the laboratory built within school premises as part of the initiative to sponsor and promote technological innovation and education (think-technology) in its third year in partnership with the Ministry of Education.
The ceremony was attended by Arif Hussaini, Chairman of Al Nayzak Foundation, Khalid Dawudi of Welfare Association - Director of Program Operations, Mr. Ahmed Hmeidan - Program Director, and Ms. Lena Harami. Whereas the Bank of Palestine was represented by Mr. Bayan Qasem - General Manager of Palestine Islamic Bank and Mr. Abdul Karim Abu Arayes - Bank Branch Manager in Tulkarem. Similarly the Ministry of Education was represented by Dr. Basri Saleh, the Undersecretary for planning and development, Engineer Talib Al Haj - General Manager of Technology and Naela Odeh – Director of Tulkarem country. The ceremony was also attended by the technology supervisors at the Tulkarem County Administration as well as technology teachers at Al Anqoud schools and the Principal and staff of the Halimah Khraisheh Secondary School.
The opening ceremony kicked off with a welcome address by Naela Odeh, Director of Tulkarem County as expressed pride in the partnership and the conviction that such programs are destined to elevate education in Palestine with investment in school infrastructure contributing to the advancement of technological education at the Halimah Khreisheh and Al Anqoud Schools. She also thanked and acknowledged the Palestine Islamic Bank for its support and providing the necessary funding for the lab as well as thanking Al Nayzak Foundation and Welfare Association.
In his speech, Engineer Arif Hussaini, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Al Nayzak provided a simple introduction to the (Think-Technology) initiative in relation to its mission to erect and equip 26 computer and technology labs at 26 schools in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem during the past two years to the same level. He in turn also thanked Palestine Islamic Bank for supporting this initiative and reiterated the importance of the private sector in Palestine adopting this approach in supporting technology in education and that the program had started to bear fruit via its ongoing partnerships with Welfare Association and the Ministry of Education and as exemplified by the real results that can be seen on the ground work.
The attendees were then addressed by Mr. Bayan Qasem, General Manager of the Palestine Islamic who reflected on the pride that the bank and its staff felt towards fulfilling a larger chunk of their community responsibilities having reached 1,200,000 USD in the last year alone that were directly dedicated to the education and scientific research sectors. "We believe this project merges between these two sectors. We believe at Palestine Islamic Bank in the importance of keeping up with science and technology and the need to enable people to integrate into the global digital revolution by providing the means necessary for it. We hope to see the output of this project reflected in the evolution of our students and the opening of excellent good prospects to them by building and developing their computer skills and I am here to tell our students that our dearest and greatest hopes are in you and we trust that you will always be superior examples of excellence. "
Mr Khalid Dawudi - Director of Program Operations at Welfare Association confirmed that the Association had made heavy inroads during its lifespan towards achieving concrete progress in enhancing the quality of education, including a focus on issues of integration and employing technology in the educational process, explaining that The Foundation has always sought to keep pace with evolving technology and focusing on improving the educational process.
He thanked the Palestine Islamic Bank for the support it offered towards the creation of this lab as well as the project managers, teachers and schools and departments at the Ministry of Education and at Al Nayzak.
Khalid Al Dawudi was followed by Dr Basri Salih – Assistant Undersecretary for Planning and Development at the Ministry of Education, who noted in his speech the importance of the partnership between the Ministry and local institutions, and the large role played by the program to develop technological skills among students. He clarified further that keeping up with technology has become related to the ability to acquire advanced skills enabling the students to find appropriate opportunities to benefit from them. He closed his remarks by expressing his pleasure to have been a part of this initiative to propel the journey of scientific and technological creativity amongst students and in the education sector.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was punctuated by a tour of the laboratory, the creative workstations equipped with computers and technology equipment cabinets, plus other stations which included a critical thinking and logical program, Understanding wiring program and building a robot program as well as a corner dedicated to electronic learning building blocks developed by the female teachers of the school.
It is worth mentioning that the initiative for the program to sponsor technological innovation in education and employing technology in education is a program that has excelled in the education sector and it aims to develop an effective and viable Palestinian model to be shared publically on how to integrate and employ technology in the educational process in schools. The project works to build logical thinking & critical analysis skills in the school environment gradually linking the science of modern technological skills acquired through the "how we think?" and "behind the wire" programs. The program also equips a group of Palestinian schools with technological laboratories, while training teachers and staff on optimal use and maintenance so as to teach the formal curriculum in an interactive way.