Al-Quds University held the third Jerusalem Ambassadors Conference under the auspices of the University President, Prof. Imad Abu Kishek, and in partnership with the Ambassadors Foundation for Professional Development in Turkey.

Held at Dura branch, Hebron, for two consecutive days under the theme “Public Education in Palestine: Problems and Solutions”, the conference aimed at engaging researchers and interested individuals in their findings in the field of professional, academic and research development in Palestine and its problems, and to anticipate the future of education in Palestine and identify the features of the challenges it faces.

The participants were concerned with benefiting from international and local expertise in identifying solutions and strategies that would help overcome the challenges facing public education in Palestine, and thus contributing to the development of general frameworks that would address educational issues in Palestine objectively and transparently, and encouraging educational initiatives aimed at improving educational guidance services and psychological and learning resources and special education among workers in the field of education.

Minister of Education Dr. Marwan Awartani, expressed his gratitude to Al-Quds University, for organizing the conference, which he described as important and ambitious, stressing the need for integration between public education and universities in several fields and sectors.

He spoke about the importance of training the teachers in the skills that qualify them to deal with the different educational challenges and approaches, mainly digital education.

Prof. Abu Kishek stressed the importance of the partnership with the Turkish Ambassadors Foundation, and how the event comes in line with the mission of Al-Quds University and its vision of integrating higher and public education. He noted that the university links its functions with the community issues, by identifying the problems facing its various fields based on scientific research.

The university president referred to the role of educational conferences in examining new theories and studies in the educational field, as they help in the professional development of those in the field of school education.

The Turkish Ambassador to the State of Palestine, Mr. Ahmed Reza Demir, thanked the organizers of the conference, praising the close cooperation between Turkey and Palestine in various scientific fields, mainly in education.

Dr. Mahmoud Abu Samra, chair of the conference and Dean of the Faculty of Education, said that the conference is a part of the efforts that contribute to building the Palestinian individual human through scientific research. He thanked all the participants for their researches and initiatives, and all those who supported it, including the local community and the Ambassadors Foundation, the conference committees and Al-Quds University’s staff of in Dura.

The researchers presented research papers on psychological counseling and special education in counseling services and their relationship to personal well-being among a sample of students with disabilities in public schools, the causes of school dropouts and ways to overcome them from the point of view of the student, teacher and family, among others.