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Education Above All (EAA) Foundation held a reception at the opening of its ‘Reaching 10 Million Out of School Children’ exhibition at the W Hotel Doha. Pic Salim Matramkot/the peninsula
By Fazeena Saleem / The Peninsula
Doha: A moving exhibition ‘Reaching 10 Million Out of School Children’ by Education Above All (EAA) Foundation officially opened on Thursday at the W Hotel to mark the major milestone in its work to empower 10 million marginalised children around the world.
The exhibition showcases the challenges millions of children around the world face and EAA’s work to overcome them.
The exhibition is open to the public until May 30 and with its hashtag #TogetherFor10Million and #ItIsPossible, it is creating awareness about the barriers to education that 63 million primary level children around the world face, such as poverty, conflict and natural disasters, and the power education gives them to change their lives for the better.
The opening reception was held in the presence of several ambassadors and other dignitaries. They appreciated the efforts taken by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and EAA to educate and empower vulnerable children.
Dr Yehia Z. El Agha, Senior Advisor Deputy Head of Mission of Palestine said, “I thank Sheikha Moza bint Nasser for reaching and guarantee access for education to ten million children. This shows her commitment to make sure that students at the age of learning continue education. Even in countries which have conflicts, Sheikha Moza managed to reach out to children and made sure that they get proper education.”
Dr Haruna Bawa Abdullahi Wase, Ambassador of Nigeria said, “This is project in one of a million. It benefits ten millions kids who are out of school all around the world in my own country, Education Above All has 597163 beneficiaries. They massively putting up school infrastructure at places destroyed by crisis.”
While, Nuran S. Niyazaliev, Ambassador of Kyrgyz Republic expressed the willingness of his country to work with EAA saying, “Thanks to the efforts of Education Above All millions of students have access to quality education in confortable environments. We too look forward for corporation with them for providing quality education for children.”
The exhibition demonstrates the work of EAA done around the world in the form of drawings and paintings, and through interactive zones such as Conflict Zone, Zone of Peace, Tree Zone and School Zone.
In the Conflict Zone, visitors were able to experience a war zone through visuals and sound effects. Afterwards, visitors moved to the dark room where a neon light installation of the word “education” in Arabic glowed, to emphasise how education is the light in the darkness.
For EAA, ‘Knowledge is Light’, and last month EAA lit up major landmarks in Doha and New York to celebrate its achievement. The light installation was followed by a display of painting, dedicated to EAA’s achievement of reaching 10 million out of school children around the world.
In the Tree Zone, visitors were introduced to some of the challenges refugees face, and were given the opportunity to present their own solutions to educating hard to reach children who face barriers to education. In the School Zone, EAA demonstrated the difference between a school in a well-developed country and a school in a poor country.
Leena Al-Derham, Senior Education Specialist of Educate A Child (EAC) programme, said, “EAA has been reaching out to as many people as possible through various events, avenues and exhibitions not only in Qatar, but globally as well, with the aim to spread the awareness about the challenges 63 million primary level children around the world face, and how education can empower them to overcome those challenges and improve their lives.”
The exhibition was initially held at the Qatar Academy, and EAA relocated it to W Hotel on May 17..
