As part of the activities accompanying the Ramadan Book Fair, the Ramadan Majlis symposium on “The Story of Education in Qatar” was held, and was witnessed by His Excellency Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al Thani, Minister of Culture, and a number of guests.
His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Turki Al-Subaie, former Minister of Education, spoke at the council, and the symposium reviewed success stories and brilliance in the field of education, and the challenges it faced. He began his speech by referring to the distinctive cultural movement that Qatar is witnessing during this period.
Among the most important stations that His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Turki Al-Subaie stopped before was the establishment of Qatar University, where he explained that the story of the establishment of the university went through several stages that began with thinking that the establishment would be undertaken by British experts who submitted a report that the university was not necessary and that it was sufficient to prepare students to enroll in a British university. The ruler of Qatar at the time, His Highness the Father Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, may God have mercy on him, formed a committee to study this report, which rejected it, until an Egyptian model was presented for the establishment of the university and it was not approved either because the circumstances of the two countries are not similar, so the thought was to rely on The sons of the homeland in establishing the National University, and UNESCO was asked to provide assistance in the establishment of two colleges, one for teachers, and the other for female teachers, and this is what the opinion settled on to be the nucleus of higher education in Qatar, and its beginning, due to the dire need of the Ministry of Education for male and female teachers, and for that Qatar signed a five-year document with UNESCO, with a limited goal and specific tasks, to help in this regard.
His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Subaie, former Minister of Education, tells the story of the establishment of Qatar University during the Ramadan Majlis symposium #Ministry of Culture #Ramadan _ book fair pic.twitter.com/PdspwMLjAc
– Ministry of Culture (@MOCQatar) March 30, 2023
He explained that the first director of the UNESCO project, Dr. Muhammad Al-Shibini and came to Qatar in early 1973, to move the project to the ground, and the first dean of the College of Education, Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Kazem, Dean of Al-Azhar College, who later became the first rector of the university, attended the founding meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Education and UNESCO, and the project was completed to establish two colleges, one for boys and one for girls.
