The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization participated, on May 29 - 30, 2024 in Rabat, Morocco, in a meeting to mark the launch of the African Foundation for Lifelong Learning, with a delegation headed by H.E. Director-General, Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, and including Dr. Mohamed Jemni, Director of ICT Department, and Dr. Hamid Al-Nofali, Director of Culture Department.
The meeting was opened by H.E. Dr. Chakib Ben Moussa, Moroccan Minister of National Education, Primary Education and Sports, and Chairman of the Moroccan National Commission for Education, Science and Culture. It was attended by representatives of 39 States, Education Ministers from African countries, the Secretaries-General of National Commissions of some African and Arab countries, along with representatives of Moroccan and African Learning Cities, members of the Alliance of National Commissions and African Learning Cities, Ambassadors and country delegations, and representatives of international organizations.
During the meeting, a Cooperation Agreement was signed between ALECSO, the Moroccan Education Ministry, and Classera Foundation for Smart Learning, to provide the African Foundation for Lifelong Learning with the Classera e-learning platform. ALECSO will contribute to developing an action plan for distance training, as well as to preparing and disseminating the Foundation’s digital lessons.
The African Foundation for Lifelong Learning was established with the aim of developing a strategy for lifelong learning, identifying national priorities in this field, translating them into action plans, and coordinating the development of lifelong learning at country level, in consultation with education, vocational training, higher education, and literacy stakeholders. It also seeks to develop lifelong learning in African States members of the Alliance of National Commissions and Learning Cities in Africa, as well as to strengthen the capabilities of lifelong learning stakeholders at country and regional levels.
In his statement on this occasion, the Director-General of ALECSO indicated that ALECSO, the Arab house of expertise, is working to achieve Goal 4 of the Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims at “ensuring equitable and comprehensive quality education for all and promoting lifelong learning opportunities”. Its action in this regard involves holding conferences and technical workshops, developing strategies, manuals and curricula, and launching pioneering projects in the fields of education, culture, science and technology, in order to promote transition to the knowledge-based economy and enhance the Arab economic integration.
The Director General pointed out that ALECSO has been working, during recent years, to enhance digital transformation and build capacities in Arab educational institutions through implementing specific projects, most notably :
- The project to promote the use of artificial intelligence in education in the Arab world, as a contribution to developing educational policies and curricula to keep pace with digital transformations and qualify young people for future professions;
- The project to advance digital skills among young people, especially the Arab Code Week project, which aims to provide an exciting educational environment for the teaching of the basics of programming to young people and to open wide prospects for them in new specializations such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
- The project to use Blockchain technology for the protection of Arab certificates from forgery. Experiments were launched in some Arab universities in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Cooperation is underway with the Moroccan National Commission to experiment the project at Ibn Tofaïl University in Morocco.
For their part, Dr. Mohamed Jemni and Dr. Hamid Al-Nofali contributed lectures entitled, respectively, “Smart Learning in the Era of Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence” and “ALECSO’s Efforts to Protect and Value Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage.”
