It’s been ages since I last saw Isphana of the Al Noor Centre for Special Needs – she used to be a fellow member of the Business Women’s Group so catching up with her recently was literally a blast from the past in its true sense.

We were talking about the ipad craze and Isphana mentioned how Samsung products were now being integrated into Al Noor’s Centre curriculum to empower students with special needs and help them learn more easily. I always admired Isphana’s commitment to developing trans-disciplinary training programmes as this was something we always strived to do at the Juliett McCully Speech Training Centre in KL and was a hot topic when I was training in our Singapore Head office in 1999.

Isphana’s hard work in these areas thankfully is being recognised and I was delighted to hear that she was a few years ago the recipient of the Princess Haya Awards for Special Education as the Outstanding Special Needs Centre in the U.A.E.

Going back to Samsung Gulf Electronics and Al Noor Training Center for Children with Special Needs, Isphana mentioned how committed Samsung was to provide products focusing on enabling students to learn more easily by integrating Samsung’s technologies in classrooms. She has the support of Mr. Young Soo Kim, President of Samsung Gulf Electronics who in fact has committed taking the partnership with Al Noor one step further by integrating our technologies and products into the curriculum.

This integration will tap into the students’ inherent capabilities to help them reach their full potential with the hope to create specific applications in the future to suit each student’s needs….how remarkable is that.

As part of a new Memorandum of Understanding, Samsung will play a holistic role to support the Center’s cause. Under the ‘Samsung Hope for Children’ program, Samsung will donate 50 of its latest GALAXY Tabs and 15 of its newly-launched SLATE PC Series 7. The devices will be integrated in the students’ education curriculums to help them learn more intuitively. Samsung will also help raise funds for the organization through its Ramadan campaign and the Al Noor-Samsung Fun Fair. Additionally, Samsung has developed a volunteer program whereby its employees will have the opportunity to contribute their time to Al Noor.

What impresses me most is that through its dedicated efforts, Samsung will provide students with tools, technologies and resources that will empower them and give them equal opportunities to be an integral part of the community. Well done Samsung and congratulations to Isphana for her commitment to children with special needs.