The fifth annual Global Education & Skills Forum (GESF), held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, will focus on the theme of "How to make real global citizens".

GESF 2017, a Varkey Foundation initiative, will be staged at The Atlantis, Dubai, on March 18 and 19 with leading figures from public, private and social sectors in attendance.

Among key speakers spearheading the sessions are: Sadhguru, a yogi, mystic, bestselling author and poet; Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia; Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author; Irina Bokova, director-general of Unesco; Andreas Schleicher, director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, OECD; Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares; and Jim Ryan, 11th Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
 
Widely referred to as ‘the Davos of Education’, GESF will debate new ways for education to transform our world, with the event culminating in the announcement of the winner of the $1 million Global Teacher Prize 2017.

Sadhguru will bring inspirational insight to this year’s theme of how to make real global citizens. In an opening plenary session he will aim to share his decades of wisdom and learning with the assembled leaders to inspire them to greater heights during their two days of ideas sharing and deliberation on some of the biggest global education challenges and equipping young people for the challenges of the future.

Sadhguru said: "Education needs inspiration, not just information. Only inspired human beings can transform their own lives and lives around them."

Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, said: “We are honoured that Sadhguru will be joining us as we try to weave together the best way to help children become true global citizens.

“In a world that can look increasingly divided, Sadhguru’s combination of traditional wisdom and modern scientific methods have never been more relevant to help bring us together,” he said. - TradeArabia News Service