The world’s premier international youth and education-focused conference – School of Tomorrow: A World of Tomorrow: Negotiating a Better Future (SOT) that culminated in July saw over 70 international thought leaders congregate to discuss the education industry’s most pressing issues amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic reaching out to hundreds of thousands of viewers from more than 70 countries across Asia, GCC, Europe, Africa, North and South America.
The three-day fully digital global conference featured 22 live sessions that cut across a variety of topics that are relevant to child education and care including learning in lockdown, environment and climate change, psychology of online learning and raising children during the pandemic amongst other topics.
Alister Bartholomew – Regional Director Southeast Asia Beaconhouse
Commenting on the success of School of Tomorrow, Alister Bartholomew, Regional Director Southeast Asia for Beaconhouse School, said, “It was my first virtual experience and we are extremely proud by the reach and impact of SOT this year.
A fully digital approach allowed us to gather best and brightest minds from across the globe, transcending boundaries and borders to enable meaningful conversations that we truly believe will shape the future of education in this bold new world.
A key highlight of the event was the participation from the Director General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who kicked off the discussions on day one where the long-term effects of COVID-19 on school systems were deliberated.
Dr Tedros Adhanam – WHO Director General
It’s an honour to join the opening sessions of the School of Tomorrow Conference. I want to recognise the Government of Pakistan for its comprehensive response to COVID-19,” said Dr. Tedros.
Kasim Kasuri – CEO Beaconhouse
Beaconhouse CEO Kasim Kasuri hosted this initial session which also featured Mr Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s Director General for Education & Skills, Mr Shafqat Mahmood, Federal Minister of Education, Dr Mishal Khan, a leading epidemiologist from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the UK’s leading public health institution, and The Baroness Mobarik CBE, member of the UK’s House of Lords.
Overall the consensus was that while COVID-19 had severely impacted the industry as a whole it had also acted as a catalyst to fast-track digitisation and adoption of cutting edge technologies to bridge physical space and deliver top-class education to students.
Andreas Schleicher – OECD’s DG for Education & Skills
This sentiment was caveated by Adreas Schleicher, Head of the OECD Directorate of Education & Skills and creator of the global PISA test during his conversation on ‘The Future of Education’ where he stressed, “Artificial Intelligence will certainly augment good teaching, but is unfortunately not a replacement for bad teaching.” Ms. Jill Ackers-Clayton, a renowned learning specialist further supplemented this focus on a digital approach during her in-depth workshop on strategies for engaging students in online learning settings.
Day three of the conference culminated with a resonating and vital conversation on the world’s 258 million out-of-school children, with Stephanie Dobrowolski, co-founder, Rising Academy Network, Africa, Mosharraf Zaidi, leading public policy analyst, Professor Tahir Andrabi, economist & educational leader, and Henry Warren, a specialist in disruptive digital businesses as the moderator.
The session drove home the crucial importance of education for all children and looked at how emerging technologies could bridge this education gap.
Now in its 11th edition School of Tomorrow was first held in 2000 for the benefit of the global education industry, organised by Beaconhouse as part of its on-going commitment to its social responsibility.
Over the years, the series has evolved and grown, featuring a total of over 500 speakers including heads of nations and heads of states as well as educators, futurists, technologists & scientists, environmentalists, political & business leaders, performing & visual artists, writers & poets, journalists & filmmakers, social activists and others from around the world.
The global pandemic has presented us with an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine a response in which we all flourish as unique individuals held together by the tapestries of our cultures, traditions and conjoined history. School of Tomorrow 2020 has successfully weaved together this tapestry and we look forward to how the entire education community can take these learnings forward to empower a new generation of leaders,” Alister concluded.
Following the success of this round, Beaconhouse is already at work organising another industry shaping round of discussion and deliberation.
School of Tomorrow: A World of Tomorrow: From Darkness to Light will be the first hybrid online-offline edition of the conference.
It will take place on November 18 to 22 and will features leaders and shapers from across the world congregating to sow seeds of hope and accord in a time of despair.
For further information on School of Tomorrow: A World of Tomorrow: Negotiating a Better Future please visit: https://www.sotevents.com/
