RewirEd Global Education Summit Announces Emerging Agenda & World- Renowned Speakers’ Line–Up

 RewirEd, the global platform that seeks to drive the debate about the future of education, today announced the emerging agenda and a stellar speaker line-up for its highly anticipated RewirEd Summit to be held at Expo 2020 Dubai as part of the Knowledge and Learning Week.

RewirEd Summit, the most important in-person global education gathering since the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to bring together Heads of States, Ministers, high profile speakers and panelists from U.N agencies, international NGOs, academia, youth as well as representatives from the public and private sectors from around the world to forge new connections and collaborations for a new way forward in the education sector.

Key international organizations have joined forces with the RewirEd Summit to make the event a success. These include UNICEF, UNESCO, UNHCR, the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the World Food Programme (WFP), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Global Education.

An Urgent Need for a Seismic Shift in Education Globally

Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman at Dubai Cares, said: “The RewirEd Summit in Dubai represents a unique opportunity for the global education community to come together to jump-start and scale the positive and bold change we want to see in education. The education community is realizing that now, more than ever, especially because of the large-scale disruption to education globally due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need for a seismic shift in education globally. We at Dubai Cares are proud to be spearheading this movement towards a global change.”

“We are delighted to bring together, for the first time in one place, some of the most prolific minds in the education sector to deliver a program that will be both thought-provoking and challenging to the way we think about education. Over the course of the three-day flagship event, we will tackle some of the most pressing issues when it comes to forging a new path forward for education, so that it puts forward a new framework for creating an innovative, prosperous, sustainable and inclusive future for all.”

Omar Shehadeh, Chief International Participants Officer at Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “The world is witnessing an unprecedented disruption of educational systems. Creative thinking, innovative solutions and technology must be deployed to ensure quality education for all. The RewirEd Summit, which is the flagship event during Expo2020 Dubai’s Knowledge and Learning Week, provides a platform to spark conversation among different people in efforts to generate new ideas on how to tackle the future of education.”

Stellar Speaker Line-Up & Content-Rich Agenda

Speakers include HE Jakaya Kikwete, Former President of Tanzania; Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, the UN’s Special Envoy for Global Education and former UK Prime Minister; HE Shamma Al Mazrui, UAE Minister of State for Youth Affairs, and Bob Moritz, Global Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The summit will focus on three key pillars: Youth, Skills and the Future of Work; Innovation in Education; and Education Financing. Cutting across the three pillars, there will also be a focus on where the need is greatest – namely countries affected by crisis.

Day One – Youth, Skills and the Future of Work

Day One will see high-level panels on the Future of Jobs & Skills and the Future of Tertiary Education, amongst others, as well as key technical sessions on issues such as Developing entrepreneurial mindsets amongst youth in schools and Green Skills for Green Jobs.

High level speakers include HE Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation of the UAE and Director General of Expo 2020 Dubai, Hon. David Sengeh, Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and Chief Innovation Officer of Sierra Leone, Alan Jope, CEO Unilever and Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The global education gathering will also deliver on its promise to push boundaries and disrupt systems by unveiling emerging experiments under the RewirEd Provocations, a series of co-designed ideas to help move current thinking from the usual to the unusual and address systemic, complex, and structural challenges impacting the education system.

Day Two – Innovation in Education

Day Two will delve into how the world can develop innovative and scalable solutions, to ensure that children and youth anywhere and everywhere can build strong foundations for lifelong learning and wellbeing.

Several thought-provoking sessions will discuss practical steps on transformative change, including two masterclass sessions on Youth Digital Champions for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy; and Diversity of Diversity: The Power of Children’s Storybooks in Fostering Inclusive Communities. In addition, the African Union is hosting their Innovation in Education Africa Pitch where five of Africa’s most promising Education Innovations will be pitched to a highly experienced panel of judges.

Day Three – Education Financing

Day Three focuses on highlighting the criticality of centering education at the heart of human development and investment, especially in light of the detrimental impact on education budgets as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Setting the agenda will be former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, delivering a high-level speech on Education – An Investment for a Sustainable and Prosperous Future for All. The day will also focus on high-level thematic panels, such as Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Education, Financing of Meaningful Connectivity for Learning, and Financing of Early Childhood Development featuring Sherrie Westin, the President of Sesame Workshop, the independent nonprofit organization that helps kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder through their Muppets. There will also be technical sessions ranging from Unblocking Impact through Islamic Philanthropy to Delivering Results for Skills through Outcome-based funding.

Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, CEO and Vice-Chairman at Dubai Cares will speak about Financing for Education in Emergencies, a session also featuring the Director of Education Cannot Wait, Yasmine Sherif, and refugee youth voices.

In addition, the RewirEd Summit will launch ‘The RewirEd Declaration on Connectivity for Education’ which aims to build consensus and commitment through collective collaboration between key stakeholders, address key barriers to connectivity and highlight the need for an ecosystem for meaningful connectivity that ensures affordability, usability and reliability for learners and communities.

Registration Open to Everyone

Registration for the summit is now open to everyone, because RewirEd strongly believes that Education is Everybody’s Business. Attendees can register by visiting: https://www.rewired2021.com/summit/