Muscat: The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an initiative of the Qatar Foundation, has announced the six finalists for the 2024-2025 WISE Prize for Education. This year’s competition, focused on innovative solutions to global education challenges, received a total of 427 applications.
Oman played a pivotal role in advocating for educational transformation with the declaration on ‘Transforming Education in the Islamic World,’ at ICESCO, and notably, three finalists - Iqrali, Darsel, and Bonocle - have responded to this call to action.
A committee of international experts carefully evaluated the submissions to identify the six most promising solutions.
The finalists are AprendoEnCasa Connecta from Chile; Bonocle from Qatar; Darsel from the US; FastTrack+ from Nigeria; iqrali.jo from Jordan; and TUMO Path from Armenia. These initiatives stand out for their ability to address the competition’s three key areas: accelerating foundational literacies, addressing challenges in artificial intelligence, and improving the teaching of the Arabic language.
The WISE Prize attracted an impressive array of applications, highlighting the breadth and innovation of education solutions globally. The submissions represented organisations from the government, nonprofit, and private sectors, with strong participation from countries such as India, Nigeria, and Qatar. This year’s entries included innovative approaches to inclusive learning, AI-powered tools, voice-generated learning, tailored strategies for neurodivergent learners, and teacher development.
The finalists demonstrated impressive capability to solve these challenges through evidence-based innovation, supported by well-structured minimum viable product proposals, clear resource allocation, and thoughtful manpower planning.
The finalists are:
AprendoEnCasa Connecta by Fundación ReImagina (Chile, Latin America)
This platform supports effective teacher-student interactions by providing a range of digital resources designed to bridge educational and digital gaps, helping students thrive in a rapidly changing digital landscape. The initiative will be piloted in Latin America, focusing on improving teacher engagement and learning outcomes in Chile, Ecuador, and Mexico.
Bonocle by Bonocle (Qatar, MENA)
Bonocle is an innovative solution leveraging technology to improve Braille literacy for visually impaired individuals. By utilising tactile feedback and gamified learning, Bonocle makes education accessible and engaging for the visually impaired worldwide.
Darsel by Darsel (US)
Darsel employs AI-powered personalized learning algorithms to enhance numeracy for middle school students via accessible messaging platforms like SMS and WhatsApp. The solution targets students in low-resource settings and plans to expand its reach to primary school learners in Africa and the Middle East.
FastTrack+ by AREAi (Nigeria, Africa)
FastTrack tackles literacy and numeracy challenges by leveraging offline, self-assisted technology. This programme uses a digital pen equipped with audio capabilities and multilingual instructional materials to help learners in refugee camps across Western and Central Africa achieve higher literacy levels. Pilot studies have shown that over 80 per cent of participants gained basic literacy skills.
iqrali.jo by the Queen Rania Foundation (Jordan, MENA)
Iqrali focuses on changing parental behavior to improve early childhood literacy through shared reading practices. The platform, currently in beta, provides resources and community support for parents of children under five, including those from refugee backgrounds.
TUMO Path by the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies (Armenia, Europe)
TUMO Path automates the learning process for teenagers through hyper-personalised AI-driven learning journeys. Currently operational in 10 countries, the programne plans to expand with the integration of new AI modules in Armenia, targeting over 80,000 users by 2027.
Over the next 12 months, WISE and its chosen programme partner, Dalberg Advisors, will offer a range of capacity-building opportunities and personalised mentorship to the finalists. Additionally, WISE will provide a conditional grant of $125,000 to each team to support the development of their minimum viable products during this year-long commitment.
The winning solutions, chosen by an external jury of international education experts, will be awarded the $1 million WISE Prize for Education at the WISE12 Summit in 2025, where the winner will be announced live.
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