The Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, in collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Office in Doha and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education organized a panel discussion on National Launch of the 2017-2018 Global Education Monitoring Report in Qatar. The event was held on Monday 13 November 2017 at the Jassim Bin Hamad Hall in the Ministry of Education Higher Education.

At the beginning of the seminar, Mr. Abdullah Khamis Al-Kubaisi, the Head of Arabic and Islamic Affairs Section, delivered a speech on behalf of Dr. Hamda Hassan Al-Sulaiti, the Secretary-General of the National Commission, referring to the importance of education and its role in the overall development and preparation of individuals for the labor market. Mr. Al-Kubaisi stressed that education leads to improved quality of goods, services and productivity, raising levels of employment and building skilled workforce.

Under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, the State has paid great attention to education. As the world leaders agreed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the National Commission and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education jointly formed the Education For All committee to follow up the implementation of the fourth objective of the Agenda on Eduication in line with Qatar Vision 2030.

"The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has taken steps to strengthen accountability in the sector of education," according to Ms. Moza Al-Mudahka, the Director of the Education Supervision Department. She stressed that the inclusion of the main performance indicators of the strategy and indicators of sustainable development goals in the National Education Information Network of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education will enable decision-makers and task forces to monitor the progress of performance indicators and to periodically follow up the achievement progress of the goals.

Dr. Anna Paulini, the Director of the UNESCO Office in Doha, delivered a speech in which she explained the objective of this workshop; to monitor progress towards achieving an internationally agreed sustainable development goal of education in the State of Qatar, being the fourth objective of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, pending the launch of the 2017-2018 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report.

The workshop was moderated by Dr. Antoninis Manos, Director Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, UNESCO HQs, (Paris - France), and Dr. Ferial Khan, the Education Programs Specialist at the UNESCO Office in Doha, as well as Professor Fernando Reimers, Ford Foundation Professor for the Practice of International Education and Director, Global Education Innovation Initiative and the International Education Policy Program, Harvard Graduate School of Education.