Following Israel and the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) newfound relationship, the two countries are already working together to better each other; Hundreds of thousands of students will be working together in app development.
Following on the heels of the historic diplomatic agreement between Israel and the UAE, the two countries are already off to the races when it comes finding ways to work together. Whether it be business, medical, or technological consulting, both countries are benefiting from what the other has to offer. Even over the last two years, Israel and the UAE have been partnering in different ways, one of which has been during the COVID-19 pandemic. The two countries collaborated to seek solutions to combating the virus.
One of the more recent developments between the two is the deployment of a platform that allows students from the two countries to work together in coding and creating apps. The platform being shared between nearly 200,000 Israeli and Emirati students is from a company called LeapLearner, which is the largest coding company in the world.
According to their website:
LeapLearner is a Learning Platform based on CSTA and is uniquely designed to engage students and teach them Computational Thinking & Algorithmic Intelligence in a fun way. We offer courses in Coding, App Development, Robotics, AI, Machine Learning & Logic for children aged 5-14 years.
As to why LeapLearner stresses the need for their program:
Young children acquire skills like Analytical Thinking, Innovation, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Analysis and Complex Problem Solving through Computational Thinking based courses of Coding, AI, Robotics & Logic. These are skills required for children to excel and succeed in the future.
LeapLearner recently opened a new office in Dubai and intends to expand even further in the region. Following this move, LeapLearner UAE CEO George Varghese stated, “We are very excited to celebrate this historic peace agreement through collaboration among our students in both countries. LeapLearner is leading the global movement in coding education and we strongly believe that students in the United Arab Emirates and Israel will benefit from this partnership and enjoy learning app development together.”
Adding to the positive outlook, LeapLearner Israel CEO Roi Sukenik revealed, “LeapLearner has been extremely successful in Israel. We’ve seen firsthand how our coding education platforms enable students to excel not only in coding but also in math and problem-solving. Working together with the amazing students of LeapLearner UAE will allow our students to become global citizens and messengers of peace. Our students tell us they love coding with LeapLearner and we are happy to spread this love together with students from UAE, just as we have with students from China, India and many other countries.”
The UAE is just the first of what is expected to be a string of countries in the region who will normalize its ties with Israel. In fact, as of Friday, Muslim-majority Kosovo agreed to follow suit. Other countries that currently fall within the realm of possibility are (but not limited to) Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and maybe even Lebanon in the future if it is able to sort out its internal corruption fueled by Hezbollah.
As Egypt and Jordan can attest to, and now the UAE, the benefits of a positive relationship with Israel are beyond significant. And now, in such a tech-driven region of the world, both Israel and the UAE are able to teach their youth in a way that will greatly impact their future.