Sarah Al Amiri Puts Education, AI Literacy and Emirati Women at the Centre of the UAE’s Future
Sarah Al Amiri’s message at the Emirati Women’s Forum 2026 went beyond celebrating women’s achievements. Her argument was more demanding: the UAE’s next generation will be shaped by what happens at home, in classrooms and in the way young people learn to use technology.
Speaking on August 27 at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, the UAE Minister of Education joined the plenary session “Women Shaping Generations and Building the Future.” According to WAM, the session was moderated by Sky News Arabia’s Majed AlFarsi and attended by H.H. Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.
The timing mattered. The forum coincided with Emirati Women’s Day 2026, held under the theme “We Emerge Stronger and Better.”
The bigger point was human capital
Al Amiri placed investment in people at the centre of the UAE’s long-term plans.
That sounds broad until you look at what she included in it: knowledge, values, practical skills, adaptability and the ability to think for yourself. Education, in that view, isn’t simply about producing graduates with stronger academic records. It has to prepare students for work and social conditions that will keep changing.
This also explains why Al Amiri connected education policy with the role of Emirati women.
Women aren’t being discussed only as participants in the workforce or holders of senior positions. She described them as mothers, teachers and leaders who influence how the next generation develops its identity, ambitions and habits of thought.
That makes the family-school relationship much more than a parent-engagement exercise. Al Amiri linked it directly to the Arabic language, national identity and the values students carry with them while learning new scientific and technical skills.
AI in education came with a warning
One of the sharper parts of the session concerned artificial intelligence.
Al Amiri supported the use of AI and education technology, but she drew a clear line around how students should use it. The goal, according to WAM’s account of her remarks, is to strengthen learning and critical thinking rather than turn AI into a machine that supplies finished answers.
That distinction is becoming harder to ignore.
A student can now ask an AI system for an essay, an explanation, a calculation or a summary in seconds. The useful skill isn’t simply knowing how to type the prompt. It’s knowing whether the answer is accurate, what evidence supports it and what might be missing.
Al Amiri specifically encouraged learners to question and verify AI-generated material before relying on it.
That may end up being one of the more practical education lessons from EWF 2026. AI literacy is starting to mean something different from basic technical familiarity. Students need judgment.
Identity and technical ambition aren’t competing goals
The session also touched on the National Education Charter, with Al Amiri pointing to its role in strengthening national identity and developing the qualities students need to contribute to society.
There’s an interesting tension here.
Education systems around the world are racing to prepare students for AI, advanced technology and jobs that may look very different within a decade. At the same time, the UAE is arguing that preparation for that future shouldn’t require young people to become less rooted in their own language or identity.
Al Amiri presented the two goals as connected.
A future-ready Emirati student, by that measure, should be comfortable with science and technology while remaining confident in who they are. Technical ability without judgment isn’t enough. Neither is cultural confidence without the skills to take part in a changing economy.
Her message to Emirati girls was specific
Al Amiri also urged Emirati girls to pursue opportunities with confidence, build knowledge and experience, and judge success by the impact they make.
Her own career gives that message extra weight. Before becoming Minister of Education, Al Amiri held senior roles spanning science, advanced technology and the UAE’s space programme. That background made her EWF appearance less about abstract encouragement and more about what women’s participation can look like across technical fields and public leadership.
The message wasn’t that every girl needs to follow the same path. It was that those paths are open.
The forum’s broader theme “We Emerge Stronger and Better” therefore lands differently when viewed through education. Women’s advancement isn’t treated as a separate social objective. It feeds into how families raise children, how schools build capability and how the country prepares people to make decisions in a technology-heavy future.
That may be the most useful takeaway from Al Amiri’s appearance.
The UAE is betting that its future won’t be built by technology alone. It will depend on people who can use that technology without handing over their judgment to it and on women who are helping shape those people from the start.