The winners of the UNESCO – King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Award for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in the Field of Education in its 2025 edition expressed their pride and pride in this high international honor, which reflects appreciation for global efforts aimed at employing technology and artificial intelligence in developing the educational process, which contributes to enabling societies to access equal and comprehensive learning opportunities, stressing that the award represents an incentive. To continue innovation in the field of digital education, and to enhance international cooperation to harness modern technologies in the service of humanity and knowledge, thus contributing to building a more comprehensive and sustainable educational future.
For her part, Ms. Patricia Corriere, Director of the Belgian non-profit organization La Scientotheque, said that her organization winning the award for the “Artificial Intelligence for Inclusive Education” project is an appreciation for the efforts of the working group in promoting inclusive education, as this project aims to enable students to understand artificial intelligence in depth and employ it consciously and humanely, as well as It seeks to help young people realize the dimensions of using technology and deal with it critically and responsibly, stressing the importance of teaching generations how to control artificial intelligence before it controls them.
Corriere added that her organization’s future step is to expand the scope of international cooperation in order to study the increasing effects of artificial intelligence on learning and teaching processes, noting the importance of building new partnerships with global educational institutions to exchange experiences and develop digital tools that support teachers and students in various educational environments.
In turn, Dr. Rosa Maria Vicari from the Federal University of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil explained that the award carries great importance at the international level, as it highlights the role of education and technology in various parts of the world, and constitutes an important appreciation for Brazil at this time, giving it the motivation and inspiration to encourage other countries to advance in this field. Vicary explained that the winning Piauí Artificial Intelligence project aims to make literacy in the field of artificial intelligence a right for everyone and not a privilege for a specific group, by enabling all students in the state of Piauí to learn using and understanding artificial intelligence. The project came to address the absence of this field from the national curriculum in Brazil, the challenges of poor Internet connectivity, and the need for teacher training. Thanks to him, Piaui became the first state in Brazil to adopt artificial intelligence as a compulsory subject in public education, serving as a model for comprehensive and future learning. She added that the next steps include expanding the initiative to include kindergartens and primary schools, translating lessons into English and Spanish, converting the teacher training program into an accessible version, in addition to encouraging institutions to adopt open educational resources and adapt them locally. The initiative also seeks to build an international AI literacy coalition for more equitable and inclusive education.
For her part, Dr. Heba Saleh Ahmed, Head of the Information Technology Institute of the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Arab Republic of Egypt), explained that the award represents a global platform for reviewing the best innovative educational practices and highlighting the experiences that have made a tangible impact in developing education at the regional and international levels. She added that the “Maharah Tech” platform project that won the award is a pioneering model for information technology applications. Safe and effective in the educational process, as the platform is the largest free digital platform in the Arab world for training on various tracks in the information technology sector, and provides its content in Arabic and English. It works to integrate artificial intelligence skills into education, and enables teachers and students to use technology responsibly, as the number of beneficiaries has exceeded 600,000 learners from various Arab countries.
Regarding future plans, Dr. Heba stressed that the rapid technical development stimulates the expansion of providing innovative digital educational services that enrich Arabic content with creative ideas, and seeks to transform these ideas into knowledge products that contribute to supporting human development and enhancing the role of technology in building the future of education.
For his part, Ben Garside, Senior Director of Learning in the Field of Digital Literacy with Artificial Intelligence at the Raspberry Pi Foundation (United Kingdom), expressed his pride in the Foundation receiving the award, stressing that this honor reflects the efforts made in promoting digital education around the world, pointing out that the award constitutes an incentive to continue working to deliver digital literacy skills to less developed regions. representation, and empowering young people with new learning opportunities.
Ben pointed out that the winning project “Experience AI” provides free educational resources and training for teachers to teach artificial intelligence concepts with confidence, and has expanded thanks to cooperation with Google DeepMind and google.org to reach teachers and youth in multiple countries, as the organization currently works with 23 international partners and seeks to expand the scope of cooperation globally, with a focus on exchanging experiences. Promoting innovation in education methods.
Garsid concluded by stressing that cooperation with UNESCO represents an important step that enhances the institution’s role in spreading digital education and enabling societies to benefit from artificial intelligence technologies effectively and sustainably.
