The Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi is organising the 5th GCC Heritage and Oral History Conference, themed ‘Moral Education: An Authentic Part of the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, Heritage’.

Academics, researchers and experts from GCC universities and educational institutions will attend the two-day conference, which will begin on this coming Monday at the St. Regis Abu Dhabi.

The conference will highlight the importance of moral education as an authentic part of the GCC region’s heritage, reflecting and reinforcing the great attention given within the UAE to the humanitarian and moral aspects of the development of their educational system.

Following the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, these aspects were included in a curriculum which calls for the concerted efforts of those concerned to make the programme a success.

The conference is the latest in a series inaugurated in 2010 and held annually in Abu Dhabi by the Department to study cultural and heritage institutions in the GCC countries and their moral education.

The current school year (2017/2018) witnessed the introduction of the programme in all UAE schools, as it contributes to instilling virtue and morality in students.

Saif Saeed Ghobash, Director-General of the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi, said, "We worked to make moral education the central part of the conference in order to highlight the importance of consolidating authentic community values in the minds and hearts of students. With this step, we also seek to uplift the consciousness of our children, enhance their senses, and consolidate their values, morals, and sound principles. These values and morals are the most prominent characteristics of the Emirati personality."

He further stressed the role of teachers in shaping student personalities, as well as how families also contribute effectively to refining a moral code.