Dubai: Inspired by advanced technologies to digitise books and other reading material for students, the Ministry of Education launched the Darfa initiative at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (AIDBF) on Tuesday.
The programme, which was launched in the presence of Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, is being viewed as a quantum leap forward in designing better educational syllabi. ‘Darfa’ — an interactive reading platform — will provide books and academic syllabuses digitally.
Among others who attended the launch were Shaikha Budoor Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Founder and CEO of Kalimat Group, Jameela Salem Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Public Education, and Dr Ahmad Abdullah Humaid Bel Houl Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education.
Darfa’s many features include the capability of identifying literacy rates among students, drawing global comparisons, the offering of an integrated range of interactive services that facilitate access to scientific material and the provision of an array of digital and audio books.The platform is linked to systems in the Ministry of Education, with its feedback helping to establish and nurture learning and reading skills among students, as well as other segments of society.
Speaking at the launch, Hussain Ebrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, pointed out that the project was in line with the strategies of the ministry which focus on building a learned society and added that the Darfa platform’s valuable digital content provides students with school textbooks as well as cultural, scientific and heritage-related material.
Darfa also represents a set of integrated interactive services on the web available to students and other members of society. Al Hammadi further highlighted how the platform would enhance the acquisition of books and reading material via electronic devices connected to the internet, such as computers, tablets and smartphones. He emphasised that the ministry was seeking to adapt technology and employ it in the education sector to contribute to the advancement of learning, explaining how the platform aligns with the government’s policies to celebrate 2016 as the Year of Reading.
The ceremony saw the Ministry of Education signing a number of Memorandums of Understanding with strategic partners whose experience and global expertise in the field of education and advanced technologies contributed to the development of the Darfa platform. Included among the signatories were Kalimat Group, Wahat Alhekayat, Alomtahida Education Group, Abu Dhabi Education and Ibtikar Technologies.
