The Future of Education

An initiative to improve the teaching of science, especially of energy related subjects (renewable- and nuclear energy) at the secondary and technical schools in the Arab World has been started. The first program of this initiative is based on establishing cooperation between Arab and European institutions for continuous training of teachers across the Arab world. The second program is based on establishing an Arab-European platform for the direct contact between the leaders of the scientific communities, foundations, organization, education authorities and teachers, to discuss all together the possible cooperation programs which are suitable to support science/energy education. The third program is based on promoting the energy literacy education efforts by supporting the social activities between teachers/students and the surrounding communities, using outreach programs, social media and multimedia tools. The fourth program contains the promotion of the teachers and authorities to improve the curricula, in order to include energy related subjects, considering significant practical skills. The financial support of OFID made it possible to start this program and to realize the first two activities in October 2015. The first activity was the organization of the Arab-European Summer School on Energy Education (AESSEE), which will be organized annually. The aim of the AESSEE is to improve the knowledge and the practical skills of teachers by providing them with updated information and scientific developments, through direct contacts with international experts. AESSEE-2015 was organized at TU-Vienna (October 19-31, 2015) with 20 participants from 8 Arab countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia). The scientific program included lectures, discussions, excursions and experiments, in collaboration with 19 scientists representing 13 European institutes and international organizations. The second activity was the organization of the Arab-European Forum on Energy Education (AEFEE) on October 30, 2015, which took place with the support and the participation of international organizations such as OFID, IAEA, Arab League and EUREC. The forum offered the opportunity to discuss the problems and the suggestions for cooperation with the participants of AESSEE. The scientific programs of the two events will be discussed in details.