TRANSFORMING EDUCATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY: THE BAYAT FOUNDATION INAUGURATES INNOVATION HUB TO HELP TRAIN FUTURE GENERATIONS OF AFGHAN TECHNOLOGY LEADERS

Kabul, Afghanistan — October 10, 2020 — Continuing its long support of improving access to high quality education for young Afghan students, The Bayat Foundation (www.bayatfoundation.org), Afghanistan’s largest private philanthropic organization and member of The Bayat Group (www.bayat-group.com) inaugurated an innovative new technology education project at the Michelle Bayat School on the grounds of the Afghan Red Crescent Society in Kabul on October 10, 2020. 

Dr. Ehsan Bayat, Chairman of The Bayat Foundation, laid the inaugural brick at a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, October 10, alongside Mr. Mirwais Akram, Acting Managing Director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, and Mrs. Neelab Mubariz, Secretary General of the Afghan Red Crescent Society.

The Bayat Foundation Innovation Hub is a 21st century classroom which will provide students attending Michelle Bayat School with the opportunity to immerse themselves in an innovative app-driven, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum that will give them the opportunity to learn not just how to maximize the potential of technology as it exists today, but to think creatively about how creative engineering may push the boundaries to solve problems in the future.  

Designed to address challenges in educating today’s students by offering a new approach that promotes critical thinking, creativity, and leadership development, the Hub will teach coding skills using robotic balls, drones, and physical and virtual coding blocks, while also incorporating literacy and math.

Bayat – MATTER Innovation Hub Exterior Design

As Dr. Bayat remarked: “We are proud to inaugurate this project which is unique from other STEM initiatives in that this Hub will utilize the latest app-based learning to educate Afghans to become global leaders, create innovative technology-led companies, and usher in new ways of helping our nation manage and prosper in our daily lives in the decades ahead.  It’s an opportunity to give the young students today and in the future an opportunity to merge leading-edge technology with the best of Afghan inspiration, creativity, and intellect. “

The Bayat Innovation Hub will be deployed in partnership with Afghan Red Crescent Society, Teach for Afghanistan (www.teachforafghanistan.org), MATTER (www.matter.ngo), and the Michelle Bayat High School.

About the Bayat Foundation:

Since 2005, the US-based Bayat Foundation, a 501 c (3) charitable organization, has promoted the well-being of the Afghan people. Founded and directed by Ehsanollah Bayat and Fatema Bayat, the Foundation has contributed to more than 300 projects dedicated to improving the quality of life for the youth, women, poor, and elderly of Afghanistan; including construction of 14 maternity hospitals that have now treated over 3,000,000 mothers and babies. 

Projects have included the construction of new facilities and sustainable infrastructure in needy regions, and the promotion of health, education, economic, and cultural programs. In addition to his charitable initiatives, Ehsanollah Bayat founded Afghan Wireless (AWCC) in 2002, which was the first GSM wireless and Internet Service Provider in Afghanistan, and later established Ariana Radio and Television Network (ATN), which includes Ariana Radio (FM 93.5). For more information, please email info@bayatfoundation.org.