Educating a changed world: Expo 2020 and Dubai Cares drive action to boost knowledge and learning to create a better future for all

Recognising the critical role of knowledge across countries, cultures, generations and social contexts, Expo 2020 Dubai’s Knowledge and Learning Week will explore the future of education and how its reform is vital to reflect a changed world, and to benefit our children, the economy, and society as a whole.

Held virtually on 15-16 December 2020, the event, open to the public, will be delivered in collaboration with UAE-based global philanthropic organisation Dubai Cares, with keynote remarks offered by Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy, Director General of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau and UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation; His Excellency Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, UAE Minister of Education; and His Excellency Dr Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares and Member of its Board.

It will analyse how knowledge can propel a global community to innovate for a better future for all, helping us push further than we ever have before in the realms of science, medicine, sustainability, technology and more.

Topics will include digitalising education, upskilling Arab youth and last mile learning as the world looks to rebuild in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sessions will also cover intangible and tangible heritage, creative industries and knowledge economies, and tourism as a catalyst for community knowledge exchange.

Various Expo 2020 International Participants, grantees from Expo 2020’s global innovation and partnership programme Expo Live, and projects supported under Expo 2020’s Global Best Practice Programme – a platform that highlights projects from around the world that have provided impactful and sustainable interventions, with a view to expanding them elsewhere – will feature across the two-day event.

These include Expo Live grantee Seenaryo, a Lebanon-based arts and education organisation whose 'Kindergarten Playkit', a mobile app offered in Arabic, French and English, is transforming the teaching of refugee children, and The Citizens Foundation, a Global Best Practice Project that hires only female teachers and principals to deliver quality education in Pakistan’s most neglected rural and slum communities.

Dubai Cares will also host RewirEdX, an international conference on education, over the two days, bringing education leaders and practitioners from around the world together to engage in meaningful action-oriented dialogue to rethink and reimagine attitudes towards education.

Running alongside Knowledge and Learning Week, this virtual event will serve as a one-year countdown to the RewirEd Summit that will take place in collaboration with Expo 2020 Dubai during Expo’s Knowledge and Learning Week in 2021.

For the full agenda for both the pre-Expo Knowledge and Learning Week and RewirEdX, visit here.

World Expos are platforms for innovation, collaboration and inspiration, and Knowledge and Learning Week – one of 11 themed weeks that take place during Expo 2020 – will explore how best to provide youth and the education community with a toolkit fit for the 21st century.

Expo 2020 Dubai – the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region – will run from 1 October 2021 until 31 March 2022.