Hamda Alsulaiti

Her Excellency Dr Hamda bint Hassan bin Abdulrahman Abu Dhaan Al-Sulaiti, Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council, is a Qatari educational leader whose career has encompassed teaching, curriculum development, educational planning and evaluation, cultural relations and human-rights work. Her earlier responsibilities included serving as Secretary-General of Qatar’s National Commission for Education, Culture and Science and Chief Executive Officer of the Scientific Excellence Award. She was named the best coordinator for the Hamdan Rashid Award for Distinguished Academic Performance at Gulf level in 2004 and 2009.

Her leadership was accompanied by substantial written and educational work. She contributed to textbooks and prepared research, studies and reports, represented Qatar at international conferences on education and delivered training programmes. Her distinctions included the award for best coordinator of the Hamdan bin Rashid Award for Distinguished Academic Performance at Gulf level in 2004 and 2009, the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States’ award for best educational projects, and numerous honorary shields and certificates of thanks and appreciation.

Her attachment to learning began in childhood. She excelled academically, showed initiative at school and used every available opportunity despite limited resources. She visited the library constantly, led the press group in preparatory school, worked with classmates to prepare public display boards for their articles and participated in morning assembly. Holidays made her miss school rather than welcome the break. By secondary level, she researched independently, refused help with assignments and taught younger girls.

That passion grew with strong family encouragement. Her late father hoped to see her become a doctor, motivated her and personally took her to school and university. Her mother cared for the children so that study could continue. She ranked third in Qatar’s secondary-school results in 1984 and graduated first in her education cohort at Qatar University in 1988. Further study brought a professional diploma in curriculum and teaching methods from Ain Shams University in 1991, a specialist diploma in the same field in 1992, a master’s degree in education with honours in 1995 and a doctorate graded excellent in 2001.

At the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, she progressed from teacher to educational researcher, Head of Curriculum, Director of the Educational Planning and Follow-up Unit, Director of Cultural Relations, Assistant Director of the Evaluation Authority and then Director of that authority. In June 2014, she became Secretary-General of Qatar’s National Commission for Education, Culture and Science. She also served on the Board of Trustees for the State Appreciation and Incentive Awards from 2014 to 2019 and on the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States award committee for the 2016–2017 to 2019–2020 cycle. Other responsibilities included chairing the committee that activated Qatar’s cooperation agreement with UNESCO for the Junior Professional Officer Programme and serving on the Education 2030 committee concerned with Sustainable Development Goal 4.

Through the National Commission, she worked across cultural dialogue, civilisational exchange and sustainable development. Its activities addressed environmental protection, waste recycling, climate change, identity and national belonging, as well as students’ media skills and their abilities in dialogue, debate, writing, photography and drawing. Schools affiliated with UNESCO played a central part. She supervised the Green School Programme, UNESCO Ambassadors, the National Affiliation Programme, Media Awareness and the Culture of Dialogue Programme, while also developing international school partnerships and twinning projects in support of tolerance, peace, human rights and respect for different views.

The Commission’s work received continuous support from Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador whose educational programmes helped Qatar develop a wide range of initiatives.

Among the most important was Educate A Child, which had supported the education of ten million children worldwide by 2018. Related efforts included university education in Palestine and the rebuilding of schools in Beirut after the explosion, with Education Above All continuing its cooperation with UNESCO. His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also supported quality education for one million girls in Latin America through partnerships with international organisations within Educate A Child.

She sees education as the gateway to life. It creates the possibility of decent work and better health, protects people from hunger and poverty, strengthens the family and moves the individual from darkness into knowledge, enabling each person to contribute effectively to society.

Human rights are equally central to her outlook. She does not regard them as principles confined to official documents or institutional transactions, but as the basis of daily relations, human dignity and mutual respect. In her view, they are also grounded in Islam, the Qur’an, the Sunnah and the Prophet’s biography.

Membership of the Human Rights Committee became a formative professional experience. She joined during the establishment of the body and learned directly about law, legislation and international conventions. Her work coincided with the early discussion of an elderly-persons committee and the legal rights of older people. She served as editor-in-chief of the committee’s magazine, helped prepare its strategy and remained a member of the Human Rights Committee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Scientific Excellence Award was not simply a national project to her; she described it as a daughter she had accompanied from the first idea through fifteen cycles. She watched it expand into a recognised programme serving more categories, attracting families, students and educational institutions, rewarding effort and encouraging young people to strive.

She believes leadership necessarily brings obstacles because renewal, expansion and the development of colleagues can encounter resistance. At several stages, employees opposed change, yet she worked to turn opponents into supporters rather than allowing confrontation to stop progress.

Most of the projects under her responsibility required year-round attention. Balancing several positions and tasks with family life was therefore a constant challenge, addressed through commitment, close follow-up, time management and a refusal to postpone one responsibility at the expense of another.

Her advice to parents is to avoid negativity, encourage children to work and persevere, teach self-reliance and honest effort, and equip them with the habits of reading and learning.

She also considers every citizen and resident responsible for contributing to a country that has given them much, repaying that generosity through initiative, diligence and work.