‘Continuous training must for teachers’

dubai — The only time Nicolas Sarkozy was a school topper was when he was four years old. The former French president, Sarkozy, recollected his school days and said: “Kindergarten was the only time I was a ‘best student’… And as a reward for my performance, I asked my school teacher to have lunch with me. She later said she was the first teacher of French president Nicolas Sarkozy.”

Speaking at the sixth edition of the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF), on Sunday, Sarkozy admitted that he was ‘incredibly bored in school’, and the current French education system did not prepare the youth of today for tomorrow.

Delivering a passionate speech about education, leadership, France, and the state of the EU, Sarkozy said that education needs to train teachers and pay them well. “It also needs to provide students with a common base and meet the needs of families and the society at large. Investment in teachers is essential, and their training needs to be continuous.”

Bringing smiles to youth present among the audience, Sarkozy said that a school topper is not necessarily guaranteed a job in the future. Sarkozy also praised His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, in the Abu Dhabi government’s efforts in bringing the Louvre to Abu Dhabi.

He said: “It took us 10 years to bring the Louvre up from the ground in Abu Dhabi, and it was the vision of Sheikh Mohamed that helped the 30-year project materialise.” The idea of democracy in Western countries and Europe needs to be reinvented, he added.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

Everyone stands a chance… top marks in schools do not guarantee you a top job. Developing countries make sure that the imbalance between jobs and training is fixed.”

Nicolas Sarkozy, former French president