The 2015 WISE Prize for Education Awarded to Dr. Sakena Yacoobi

PR62429

DOHA, Qatar, Nov. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, Founder and Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of

Learning (AIL), has been named the 2015 WISE Prize for Education Laureate.

Popularly known as Afghanistan's mother of education, Dr.Yacoobi, 65, has spent

two decades working persistently to rebuild her country's education landscape,

devastated by war.

The WISE Prize for Education was presented by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint

Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, at the Opening Plenary session of the

seventh World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha, Qatar, before some 2,000

members of the WISE community from diverse fields and over 150 countries.

For Sakena Yacoobi it all began in the early nineties, when she started working

in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan. A passionate educator herself, she trained

teachers, opened schools for children, and learning centers for women. The

Taliban rule in the mid-1990s did not deter Dr. Yacoobi from her mission to

provide education and health services to women and children, especially girls.

She launched the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995, with the primary

objective to improve teacher training through innovation. AIL's teacher

training programs focus on quality, in-depth education to Afghan teachers in

Pakistan and Afghanistan. Once teachers are trained in the basics of teaching,

AIL offers workshops to strengthen their teaching skills.

When the Taliban banned girls' education in the nineties, AIL supported

underground home schools for 3,000 girls across the country. It was also the

first organization to open learning centers for women in the country and

continues to find innovative ways to provide literacy and vocational skills to

girls and women.

Under her leadership, AIL has established itself as a groundbreaking, visionary

organization which works at the grassroots level to empower women and

communities. This bottom up approach has triggered a lasting local

transformation. Since its establishment, AIL has brought education and health

services to at least 12 million beneficiaries living in rural and marginalized

areas of Afghanistan.

The WISE Prize for Education was established in 2011 to raise the status of

education by giving it similar prestige to other areas for which international

prizes exist, such as literature, peace and economics. The Laureate receives an

award of $500,000 (US) and a minted gold medal.

Source: WISE