(MENAFN- The Peninsula) A total of 220 teams of 1,200 students from 70 schools in Qatar competed at the biggest AlFaisal Without Borders Foundation's (ALF) Destination Imagination (DI) (Wajeh Wujhatak) national finals event at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).
The teams competed fiercely to win the opportunity to fly the flag for Qatar at the US global finals in May.
Minister of Development, Planning and Statistics H E Dr Saleh Mohamed Salem Al Nabit; ALF Chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani and Sheikh Mohammed bin Faisal Al Thani were present.
"One of the essentials pillars of our vision at AlFaisal Without Borders is an interest in education, and to provide an improved quality of life for people in our community € giving people something which no one can take back. This is why we brought the DI life skills programme to Qatar, to empower students and schoolchildren here," said Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim. "Last year we saw participation of seven schools and the finalists went to America and China, and this year we have had 70 Schools with 1200 students participating, in all a 600 percent increase on last year's programme. This is why Qatar was chosen to host next year's Conference, which will be attended by about 3000 students from around the world," he added.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Rabia Mohamed Al Kaabi, said: "I am pleased to see the development of the competitions in this programme year after year, and the enthusiasm of such a large number of schools wanting to participate in this creative activity. This aligns with the aspirations of the Supreme Council for Education to help students have self-confidence, enhance their abilities and develop strong personalities, to be able succeed in life."
Alf Foundation General Manager Abdullatif Al Yafei said: "The final session of this year's DI programme reflects ALF's mission to promote innovative educational development and the capabilities of our young people in line with the 2030 Vision to support human capital."
Ali Mare, Executive Director of ALF, said "This year's winners who all received their awards in the closing ceremony€ some 150 students in 24 teams € will be jetting off to the global finals in the US in May as ambassadors for Qatar, highlighting the country's leadership in innovative education initiatives."
The winners of the tournament were chosen based on creativity, originality and innovation in both the planning process in addressing their specific challenges and in executing their inventive and imaginative solutions.
The 2015-2016 Challenges that student teams addressed were Technical, Scientific, Fine Arts, Improvisational, Structural, Service Learning/Project Outreach and Early Learning/Rising Stars.
Some 160 schools with 500 teams from Qatar and 50 international teams from the rest of the world will take part in a four-day tournament in 2016, which Qatar will host after being singled out by the US DI Headquarters for its exemplary growth of the DI programme in the region.
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