Doha: The Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs (Awqaf), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE), has launched an annual research contest targeting teachers and students across Qatar’s public and private schools.
According to Qatar News Agency, the announcement was made during a press conference attended by HE Undersecretary of the Ministry of Awqaf Dr. Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Ghanem Al-Thani. The contest, spearheaded by the Department of Islamic Research and Studies at Awqaf, aims to bolster scientific research and enhance cultural and intellectual engagement among teachers and students in Qatar.
The contest, under the motto “We read to think… and we write to elevate,” is divided into two branches. The first branch is dedicated to teachers, focusing on educational topics and themes, while the second branch invites students to summarize selected books. HE Sheikh Dr. Ghanem explained that the teachers’ segment will explore five key themes this year, including the integration of Islamic values into education and addressing challenges in doing so.
For students, the contest requires participants to select and summarize a book, with evaluations considering both their age and academic stage. The student competition is divided into two groups: preparatory stage students in grades seven to nine, and secondary stage students in grades ten to twelve.
The teacher segment entails rigorous conditions, including personal and technical criteria for the research paper. Participants must be current teachers in Qatar and adhere strictly to the contest’s themes. Winning teachers will share a prize pool of QR 150,000, with amounts ranging from QR 30,000 to QR 70,000 for the top three winners.
For students, a total prize fund of QR 120,000 will be distributed among winners from both groups, with individual prizes ranging from QR 1,000 to QR 3,500. Additionally, the top three students from each group will face a further examination on their book summaries, with an extra reward of QR 5,000 for the first-place winner. In case of a tie, winners will share the supplementary reward equally.