The Student Services Directorate has organized the Seventh Secondary Schools Student Forum under the patronage of Education Minister Dr. Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi.
Held under the theme "New Media: its role in building educational, national values", the forum was attended by 220 students, including outstanding students from the intermediate schools.
Speakers, experts in the media, presented brief overview of their experiences and studies in this field, including the new media, its tools and roles in promoting educational and patriotic values among young students.
In his intervention during his participation in the discussion session, the minister affirmed the importance of dialogue fora for their remarkable role in preparing students to carry out their citizenship role and training them to express opinion, respect other opinions, discuss issues and to develop problem-solving capacity in addition to organising a dialogue process in the manner that befits the community’s educational and moral values, he said.
Al Nuaimi highlighted the importance of media in the transfer of information, boosting the cultural level of the community, especially the new media which has become so prolific thanks to its provision of advantage of speedy broadcasting of news and reaching largest possible number of followers, whilst taking into consideration the importance of obtaining the information from reliable sources.
The minister also participated in an interactive session and answered the questions posed by students.
Students proposed to introduce the media syllabus in secondary education for further enrichment of student knowledge and recommended the development of the ministry’s online accounts to receive public’s feedback. They also proposed to transform curricula hard-copy materials into soft copies.
The students suggested to activate the role of conventional media, including the Press, Radio and TV and to provide media specialists among the teaching staff and launching an online application for the ministry’s service for the public as well as organising more such dialogue fora to boost the educational media.
The minister honoured the lecturers and participating schools and toured the art gallery held on the sidelines of the event that featured various artworks.

Source: BNA