Aisha Mubarak Al-Khulaifi

There is a phase in my life that I absolutely love and adore, and I always find comfort when I think about it, which is when I joined the guidance field earlier in my career. I love this stage not because of the nature of guidance itself, but because of a specific person that has left a huge impact on me and still affects me to this day despite her distance from me. She is Professor Aisha Ali Jabr Al-Thani, who was the Head of Mentoring for English Language at that time and Assistant Undersecretary for Curriculum Management. She has left an impression on my life and the life of many of my mentoring colleagues, a fingerprint that we will never forget. She has instilled in us a very strong sense of motivation, and an unprecedented ambition that made us worship our jobs. Working with her was something that I cherish, and I always miss her and pray for her. She had a wonderful impact on my personality through instilling confidence in me, and continuously supporting me in my endeavors. There is also another stage in my life that I also cherish, which happens to be when I was the principal of the Duhail School in 2006. When my collogues and I presented our educational plan to run an independent school, I asked to run a model school (which is a boys’ school that is fully staffed by females). I realized that I am capable of influencing young boys to do better academically, and to take an avid interest in education. I wanted to be part of shaping the future generation of men who would give back to their community. Through my hard work, my school became one of the most successful schools on all levels and domains. Every aspect in that school was considered successful, from student output, organizational structure, or even curriculum/programs design such as the academic support program for the Arabic language. I have noticed at the beginning of the project that the students’ main weaknesses in learning were basically associated with their weakness in their mother tongue, that is Arabic. Consequently, their level did not help them successfully and effectively learn the rest of the subjects. Through the Arabic program we have attempted to address the linguistic weakness by teaching and promoting Arabic, with remedial plans for different stages. Praise be to Allah, the program was so excellently executed that it developed a good reputation, which attracted many students from other schools just to enroll in the program. Word of the program has even reached his Excellency the Minister of Education, who visited our school to see the program for his own eyes along with Ms. Fawzia Al-Khater and Ms. Rima Abu Khadija. We were really proud of the achievements of this program, because through it I managed to create an exclusive environment and culture that is unique to Duhail school.   During my time as a principle I did not just work on the Arabic program, but I also tried as much as I could to be an active member in different school corners. I opted for an open-door kind of style as a principal, this included playing football with the students during recess and sitting with them in the morning in the school yard to read stories for them. I would even wipe their noses, arrange their appearance, and give them money to buy food whenever they forgot their money at home. At the end of the day I was not only a principle, but I was also a mother and an educator for students. As a result of the style that I have adopted many competent workers were incentivized to join my school, both Qatari and non-Qatari employees, just based on the beautiful reputation that the school has built. Moreover, I have personally took part in the recruitment process to ensure that only the best teachers were hired. I have even made the pay equal between Qatari and non-Qatari teachers to incentivize all the teachers to excel in their jobs, as they felt through this intuitive a sense of equality between them. This is why I consider this stage of my life to be the most wonderful and enriching one yet, it was through it that I managed to exercise both my educational expertise and academic professionalism. It has also allowed me to utilize my humanitarian experience as a strong woman who has an impact on future generations. Due to the successes that I reaped as the principle of Duhail school, I received a request from Qatar Academy to become the principle of the academy. I refused the offer as I just began reaping successful results at school, my thoughts, influence and beliefs finally emerged on. My heart did not allow me to let this plant die after seeing it finally growing. I never thought of moving to another school, as I have developed a strong feeling of love and belonging towards this job from a patriotic perspective. I experienced this sense of responsibility towards the profession, and to serve my country through guiding the future generations.