A brighter future - opinion

Death, rape, and violence have traumatized us all, even those who live elsewhere. But, someday, the current war on Hamas will end – someday. And then what? How do we begin to pick up the pieces?

A good place to start is with our children. Hope can be found and nurtured in all children. 

Imagine that schoolchildren from Israel, Gaza, and across the Middle East are connecting online and beginning to learn about each other. Not learning what hardened adults tell them but what they learn from getting to know each other.

Imagine these children are beginning to learn and work together on shared projects about things that affect them all and things they care about: clean air and water, football, music, and lots of other things in the world around them.

Imagine these children also connecting with their peers in the US, Europe, and the world at large on an ongoing basis. And, at the end of the school term, they get a special diploma that says they have done something very special.

Imagine if this were all possible today – right now. 

For this reason, I together with educators and entrepreneurs from around the world, founded World Class Scholars, an American, apolitical foundation. We have developed a state-of-the-art technology platform and a global initiative that has already brought together school children from Israel and the United Arab Emirates… and it is amazing!

The vision is straightforward and increasingly necessary in our world to enable children to “connect, learn, and share” in online classroom exchanges. Just as LinkedIn brings together two people for business, let’s bring together two classes and teachers for learning. With their teachers’ supervision, the students meet once a week in joint online classroom sessions lasting about an hour. 

The project expands

AFTER SEVERAL years of pilot projects, World Class Scholars had its global launch at EXPO 2020 in Dubai, the six-month world fair that was held in 2021-2022 after a one-year COVID delay.

At EXPO 2020, students from all over the world visited the World Class Scholars Global Classroom, where they connected with other students around the world. It was so successful that the program has now spread to over 70 countries. 

And while we invited philanthropic partners, such as the Al Futtaim Education Foundation, to scale our model, big corporations, including Microsoft, Cisco, Etihad Airways, and Boeing, also stepped up with sponsorship. 

But the highlight of EXPO 2020 involved young people from two countries – Israel and the UAE. For the first time in history, students from these two countries came together for four days in person.

At first, the 37 students, all aged 14-17, were suspicious: suspicious of each other, suspicious of what they had been told the other thought of them, and suspicious of the very idea of getting together. But once they did get together, slowly, things began to change. The Israeli students went by bus to Ras Al Khaimah, an emirate just north of Dubai. As the students met and slowly began to talk with each other, they began to learn that they had things in common. 

They then spent three days together at EXPO. They had discussions with both rabbis and mullahs about their religion, history, and culture. They visited other countries’ pavilions and learned that they had lots in common, not just with each other, but with other young people all around the world as well.

And what did the adults have to say about it all? The Israeli Ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek, felt it was the most impactful thing that he had seen since the signing of the Abraham Accords. And the Al Futtaim Education Foundation thought it was such a success that after EXPO 2020 closed, they relocated the Global Classroom from EXPO to one of their schools in Dubai so their students could continue with the outreach. 

Now I am not so naïve as to think that a few online classroom exchanges are going to solve all the problems of the Middle East – they aren’t. But, the program is so promising that the Abraham Accords Peace Institute has created a special partnership with World Class Scholars to expand what we do to all Abraham Accord countries.

Even once the fighting in Gaza stops, it will no doubt be too soon to implement such programs with Gaza schools. But with hope and the support of other visionary partners, connections could be made between schools in Israel and perhaps the Abraham Accord countries of Morocco, Bahrain, and Sudan. Plus, both Israeli and Arab schools can connect with other schools throughout the US and the rest of the world.

Are we going to eliminate the hostilities, pain, and suspicion of the past? Of course not. But, it is a beginning – and a beginning with and for those who have the most at stake – our children.

The writer is the founder of World Class Scholars, based in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, and Dubai, UAE. info@WorldClassScholars.org