Leading education officials from throughout the Middle East are due in Dubai next week to attend a leading-edge forum.

Ministry and NGO officials from Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are due at the Gulf Education Forum (GEF) to be held at the Madinat Arena on January 22 and 23.

The high profile delegates include: Dr. Abdallah Yousef Al Mutawa’a, undersecretary for curricula and education affairs office, government of Bahrain; Dr Abdallah Mohammad Al Ghaithi, dean of the university of Sana’a’s Education College; Dr Amal bint Abdallah Al BuSaeediyyah, general director for curricular from the Sultanate of Oman; Dr Hamad Bin Saif Al Hamani, UNESCO’s representative in Doha; Dr Rabee’a Mohammad Khamis Al Kaabi, undersecretary at Qatar’s ministry of education and Dr Ali Al Karni, director general of the Saudi-based Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf.

The delegates will hear from an elite speaker panel comprising experts from the UK, Germany, the US, Jordan, Canada, Indian and Scandinavia. The Global Education Forum will include a keynote address by Dr Hanif Hassan Ali, the UAE minister of education.

The Global Education Forum takes place alongside the first Gulf Educational Supplies Show (GESS), the region’s premier educational supplies and solutions event. It will examine key issues impacting the broad industry landscape from how schools can become the centre of communities, to trends and perspectives in early childhood education, from new dimensions in classroom technology to the hidden dimension in educational reform.

“Both the conference and exhibition have received strong regional support confirming our belief that this was the right initiative at the right time,” said chairman, Fairs & Exhibitions (F&E), which is behind the initiative, Virginia Kern.

“There is massive private and government investment the Middle East’s education sector with in terms of restructuring of systems and infrastructure upgrades to deliver world-class education. At the same time, investment in the private sector is gathering pace with an increasing number of schools and universities opening to satisfy demand from the expanding local and expatriate populations,” Kern added.

GESS will be a window to the future of education with suppliers from 22 countries from the USA, Europe, North Africa, the Levant, Indian Sub-continent and the Far East.

GESS is being held with the official support of the UAE Ministry of Education, the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) and UK Trade and Investment Support, World Didac and the DDV – The German Educational Supplies Association assisted by AUMA – the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry.- TradeArabia News Service