The World Economic Forum, Concluded, Announcing a 10 Billion $ Fund for Education!!
I know I have not blogged for a while, but honestly, I’m in such an uneased state of mind,I’m currently planning my future career, trying to explore more options, whether I want to develop my film-making skills and be a film maker or stick to the profession that I earned a degree in from University (Electrical Engineering), for that it’s hard for me sometimes to just sit down and write something useful on this blog, but I promise ,I’ll try to find the time and the mental capacity to write more!
Anyhow, The World Economic Forum on the Middle East concluded its 3-day conference at the Dead Sea about 10 days ago!.
I will dedicate this post to talking about the main outcomes of the conference.
The Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad Ben Rashid Al Maktoum launched on the second day a $10 billion fund to promote human development and education in the Arab world.
The Mohammad Ben Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation is a “personal initiative aimed at building a knowledge-based society throughout the region”, Sheikh Mohammad told participants at the World Economic Forum.
He added “The foundation’s mission is to invest in knowledge and human development focusing specifically on research, education and promoting equal opportunities for the professional growth and success of our youth. The foundation’s programmes are also aimed at enhancing the standing of scholars and intellectuals in the Arab world”.
Now, can anyone tell me, why THE HELL do we in this part of the world always think that money could solve all our problems????
Why do we always tend to run away from addressing our problems and trying to find proper solutions, thinking if we just dump money onto them , they will solve themselves out??!!
I don’t want to be pessimistic, but honestly, I don’t think this initiative will have a great impact on human development and education in the Arab world.Simply, because it’s not we are not developing because we are poor, it’s because we lack the will to change ourselves.
Education in the Arab world doesn’t need 10 billion$ to reform, it just needs the will , the will to change the system.
I’m a graduate of an Arab University, I hold a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Jordan, however, I was sent to receive my pre-college education at an international school.
It really really saddens me to say that I’ve produced way more papers while being at that international school than I ever produced while being in college!
What I’m saying here is, promoting and developing creative and analytical thinking among school and university students, doesn’t really need a big fund like this, it just needs people encharged of education i.e Ministers of Education in the Arab world to realize that evaluating student performance should not be entirely based on how they perform in a certain test that they take at the end of the semester, it should be that and papers that the students should produce throughout the semester covering the topic in hand from more than just one angle, teaching them that textbooks are NOT HOLY, and neither is what their professors say!, they could be right or wrong, and that students should research their topics, read from different authors and references, not just take what one textbook -recommended by the professor- say for granted, and that again certainly doesn’t need 10-billion $ to achieve.
Anyhow, I could ramble for days about the problem of education in the Arab world, but I choose to end it -and move on to other outcomes- by mentioning what I hope will be a successful case in educational reform.
Though, I would really love to hear what you think of it, so please share you thoughts with me.
In Jordan, and merely 5 years ago, students in public schools would start learning Englisgh in 5th grade, some of them would even finish secondary school and graduate without having worked on computer at all!!
Now, the Ministry of Education in Jordan has taken major steps, I would say, in educational reform.
Students in public schools begin learning English from 1st grade, meaning they start learning both Arabic and English at the very same time, they begin learning basic computer skills from 2nd grade, the Ministry is even considering introducing a 3rd language likely to be French in middle school.
During the World Economic Forum, the Ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with one of the world’s technology giants (Intel) , the deal aims at developing advanced training courses for school teachers in Jordan.
However, I still admit the problem regarding higher education is chronicle and needs drastic measures of reform.
Moving on to other happenings at WEF…
The Group-of-Eleven (G-11) had a 1 day summit on the sidelines of the WEF.
G-11 is a group that was launched last year, formed from lower middle-income coutries and it includes (Croatia, Ecuador,ElSalvador, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay and Sri Lanka).
G-11 aims at finding a common ground between the member states to work toward fostering development and mutual cooperation between the respective coutries.
The summit this year focused on creating means of cooperation between G-11 and G-8 (Group-of-8), which consists of the great 8 industral powers in the world ( Canada, France,Germany,Italy, Japan, Russia, The United Kingdom, and The United States).
In his inaguaration address to the summit the King of Jordan announced that the G-8 extended an invitation to the G-11 to discuss the establishment of a formal, institutional relationship between the two groups in Berlin later this year.He said:
” We have identified specific initiatives that can serve as a practical, targeted start-up for G-8/G-11 cooperation. These include investment in infrastructure, support for small- and medium-sized enterprises, scientific research and development, and technology transfer”
” The G-11 has identified four priority areas for international support and cooperation: Debt burden alleviation, investment promotion, trade development and targeted grant assistance. These are the basics for self-sustaining prosperity, supporting the foundations for reform, opening new opportunities for millions more people to escape poverty and enabling our young people to build strong futures.”
On another front Queen Rania of Jordan called for deconstructing prejudices between nations and cultures giving quite a beautiful example: “Children play and interact with each other without any prejudice, and we need to learn from them”
“Go back to the time when we were younger and a little more open, before we became a little more cynical and started acquiring these layers of judgement, we need to go back to that time and deconstruct [our prejudices] and start with a clean slate when dealing with those in front of us”.
Also at WEF, The Arab Business Council (ABC) agreed to support INJAZ Al Arab’s work in empowering thousands of young people in the region towards an effective participation in the workforce.
INJAZ, which is an economic opportunity programme for youth,was launched in 1999 in Lebanon and Jordan by Save the Children with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and aimed at empowering youth and equipping them with necessary tools and skills for them to join the workforce.
INJAZ’s Regional Director Soraya Salti said at the Forum: ” We have been working continuously to raise social consciousness to support youth, and our partnership with ABC is a significant milestone within that mission”.
She added: “This partnership will help us reach our target of impacting the lives of at least one million youth by 2015, a step that will require us to engage, Arab businessmen and inspire them to take on the responsibility of empowering and educating the next generation”.
Under the Adopt a School Programme, introduced in the Middle East in 1999, organisations and companies provide funding for schools to modernise and update their educational programmes in line with international standards, while providing these youth with the tools to excel in the private sector.
INJAZ will now be using ABC’s powerful network of 80 business leaders from 15 Arab countries to push this process forward.
On a different front, WEF witnessed the foundation of an Israeli-Palestinian business council,consisting of some of the foremost business leaders in Israel and Palestine, aimed at advancing the relationship between the two business communities and, ultimately, assist the region to move towards durable peace and coexistance.
The Business Council will constitute a platform to enable the two business communities to work together, under the umbrella of the forum.
Finally, the Forum wrapped up by urging leaders to empower youth, organizing committee member from the Emirates Saeed Al Muntafiq said : “There was tremendous focus for further change and advancement for the welfare of youth in the region which need to be addressed”
he added:”There should be practical means to address their issues as they have great energy that they can provide us with in the region”.
Join the Conversation
Re: Throwing money at the education problem, you’re right it doesn’t necessarily work, but I think if you’re going to throw money somewhere, the education system is a great choice. And also, maybe it will be good for educational innovations; because of a government doesn’t need to spend its own money on a non-standard educational program, it is maybe more likely to try it if the sheik’s money can fund it instead. And then once good programs are installed and running, it is easier to garner more support for them. But I suppose whether or not the innovations get the funding in the first place depends on how this fund is administered, because as you say, the will to change + lots of money is better than just lots of money itself.
Re: the future career unease–I think the world needs more politically thoughtful filmmakers, but there are plenty of electrical engineers. Unless of course, you are an engineer somewhere where hundreds of thousands of people have no electricity, and you figure out how to get it to them, and presumably, that would be awesome. (I don’t know if that’s an electrical or civil engineer’s job, though.) And then you could make a documentary about electricity-bringing project, and the lives of those people beforehand and afterwards, and then you could do both, be an engineer and a filmmaker! You seem sort of eloquent and contemplative, it seems sad to me to “waste” that on engineering, but of course, even if that’s your career, it doesn’t mean you can’t do other things in the meantime.
Wow, finally, someone has read this long post, thank you Natalie very much for your complimentary words, I appreciate , the future is still uncertain sadly still for me!!
I really hope that I turn out to be wrong eventually, and that the educational fund produces tangible outcomes that help advance education in the region, but, let’s wait and see!
I totally support that! Continue that way!