Abdullah bin Zayed honours students who excelled in ‘PISA’ international tests
DUBAI, 18th September, 2018 (WAM) — H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Chairman of the Education and Human Resources Council, honoured 20 students from 16 public schools who excelled in the PISA international tests and achieved excellent results.
The honouring ceremony, which was held at the Dubai Men’s Campus in Academic City, Dubai, was attended by Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Hessa Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development, Jameela Al Muheiri, Minister of State for Public Education, and Sarah bin Yousef Al Amiri, Minister of State Responsible for Advanced Sciences.
Sheikh Abdullah stated that the UAE is empowering its youth and training them for international competitions, as they are the pillars of advancement and development while valuing their efforts to achieve academic excellence in national, regional and international scientific activities.
He also pointed out that the results achieved by the students are a realisation of the efforts of relevant authorities to empower Emirati youth and enrich their academic and scientific journey, by providing a world-class academic curriculum.
Sheikh Abdullah congratulated the students and stressed that the country’s education system provides them with the ideal conditions to improve their performance in international tests, which will achieve the goals of the National Agenda of the UAE Vision 2021 that aims to create an integrated world-class education system and place the UAE among the world’s leading countries in this area.
He called on the students to continue the journey of educational and scientific excellence and said that their achievements are only the start of their road to excellence.
Sheikh Abdullah also attended the launch of The Next Leap Challenge, an electronic game where a group of students compete to solve a number of selected, interesting questions. The Ministry of Education’s initiative aims to stimulate a student’s mind and thinking to make them more passionate and curious towards learning and knowledge.
Al Muheiri said that the directives of Sheikh Abdullah and his diligent monitoring, through the council, are helping to advance the country’s education system while pointing out that the PISA tests are the benchmark used to test the educational level of Emirati students, which will give a clearer and more realistic assessment of the education system. The main PISA test will also determine the quality of the country’s education system and its strengths and weaknesses, she added.
She further said that there are ongoing preparations, supported by Sheikh Abdullah, to achieve the best results in these tests, as well as the indicators of the National Agenda and the UAE Vision 2021 while affirming that public and private school students will participate in the PISA test in 2019. “We are optimistic about achieving further successes,” she added.
She revealed that over 30,000 tenth grade students participated in the test, which is the largest participation recorded in the country, and the top 20 students succeeded in achieving exceptional averages in the test.
The results were exceptional and exceeded the overall average, and around 9,000 students achieved high marks while affirming that many of the country’s schools succeeded in enabling their students to achieve exceptional results in the international test, she said in conclusion.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in member and non-member nations intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-year-old school pupils’ scholastic performance on mathematics, science, and reading.