Top training centre for teachers soon

ABU DHABI - In a giant step to develop the educational process in the country, a new state-of-the-art training centre for teachers, first of its kind in the UAE, will be established to hone the skills of the national teaching cadres, according to a senior education official.

By Nada S. Mussallam

Published: Sun 22 Aug 2004, 11:19 AM

Last updated: Thu 2 Apr 2015, 1:19 PM

The proposed centre is the outcome of the cooperation pact signed between the Abu Dhabi Educational Zone (ADEZ) and the Singapore’s National Institute of Education (NIE), under the directives of the President, His Highness Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and the support of Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Director-General of the President’s Office, to develop the educational process in the country, said Mohammed Salim Al Dahiri, Director of the ADEZ.

He revealed that the centre will cater for training national cadres who wish to join teaching profession on the basic principles of the profession, and upgrading the skills and performance of the teaching staff, in accordance with international standards and criteria and the demands of the labour market.

The centre will be opened by 2007 in Abu Dhabi, Mr Dahiri yesterday told Khaleej Times following an honouring ceremony held at the ADEZ’s premises for 91 national teachers (nine men and 82 women), who have completed a three-week intensive training course organised in cooperation with the NIE, to hone their teaching skills.

About 200 local teaching cadres, who will join the profession at government schools during the new academic year 2004-2005, have attended the Singapore training courses.

“Under the cooperation agreement between the Zone and the NIE, the centre will be developed into a regional hub for conducting training programmes for teachers on different teaching methodologies and profession development methods based on recent technologies,” said Mr Dahiri.

Elaborating on the designed training courses which the centre will be providing, Professor S. Gopinathan, NIE’s Vice-Dean, said the centre will provide teachers with various training programmes and courses that focus on modernising teaching profession and bring together different methods and approaches, in the best interest of students.

“The idea of establishing the centre falls in line with the ‘Vision 2020’ adopted by the Ministry of Education and Youth to attain a new level of excellence for education in the country,” said Professor Gopinathan.