ILLITERACY IN THE ARAB WORLD CAN BE A DANGEROUS TOOL, EXPERTS WARN
▶ Extremist groups such as Al Shabab, Al Qaeda and ISIL use a lack of education to lure youths into their ranks
Illiteracy in the Arab world poses a threat to the region’s safety, and more educational opportunities should be made available to youths, experts say.
“There are tens of millions of students who are suffering without education,” Michael O’Neill, assistant secretary general at the UN and a director of its development programme, told the Knowledge Summit in Dubai last week.
“There are huge numbers of young people in this region, which is fantastic for the potential and capacity for the future, but it also creates a challenge.
“How can governments work with the private sector and organisations like the UN programme to help ensure there are opportunities for education, employment, women, men, and what needs to be done to address that in terms of policies and regulatory framework?
“It seems to me we have to work together across all of those areas if we’re going to tackle those challenges.”
Unesco says 25 per cent of Egyptians and 20 per cent of Iraqis are illiterate – a rate worse than that of countries such as Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan.
“It’s culture,” said Dr Hany Torky, chief technical adviser at the programme. “If you have a family and no money, the father will send his children to work and not to school. So if we imagine a new solution, we can solve this problem.”
Dr Torky suggested night schools for a few hours every evening for children who could not afford to stop working.
He said the Arab uprisings “made it worse but the problem was always there.
“We talk about knowledge and the fourth industrial revolution, but we need to solve the basis of the problem first, because it will divide societies into two and this gap is growing because of conflicts.”
Illiteracy is particularly dangerous when extremist groups such as Al Shabab, Al Qaeda and ISIL use a lack of education to lure youths into their ranks.
“One of the areas UNDP has done a lot of work in recently is around challenges that draw young men towards violent extremism,” Mr O’Neill said.
“We launched in September a major report based on a twoyear study done around these challenges in Africa, and it was based on interviews with several hundred men attached to different movements.”
The report showed that young men felt alienated from society and the government.
“There may be some common elements in the Middle East, so there’s a fundamental point of good governance, which is a foundation for good progress in any area,” Mr O’Neill said.
“Building effective institutions able to deliver better services, including education, is the foundation of all the work we need to do together for sustainable development and to achieve the UN sustainable development goals.
“The shift to a knowledge-based economy is the ultimate destination, but the question is what steps can we take to get there?
“The UAE is on the right path but other countries are much less advanced.”
Reem Marto, regional head of Teach for All, said the problem was global.
“Every child is born with enormous potential,” Ms Marto said. “But around the world, millions of children can only dream of realising that potential, simply because of where they were born or how much their family earns.
“The obstacles they face – from poverty, hunger, discrimination, trauma, to school systems that do not provide them with the education they need to thrive – are overwhelming.”
She said the root causes of inequity were entrenched and complex.
“No single solution can address the multiple factors that contribute to this inequity,” Ms Marto said.
“We need many people pioneering many solutions and working together to change the status quo.
“We believe that local and regional authorities can foster such an environment by investing in the leadership necessary to reshape education systems, strengthen the broader set of services that support healthy development, and challenge the systemic and social injustices that perpetuate inequity.”
Teach for All is a global network of 46 independent, locally led and governed partner organisations striving to accelerate the progress.
“Each network partner recruits and develops promising future leaders to teach in their nations’ under-resourced schools and communities, and with this foundation to work with others, inside and outside of education, to ensure all children are able to fulfil their potential,” Ms Marto said.
“One such programme is Teach for Lebanon, which to date has received more than 2,500 applications and fielded more than 100 teaching participants in rural areas.
“These teachers, as well as now 60 programme alumni, have helped to expand opportunity for over 12,700 children – including orphans, street children, Syrian and Palestinian refugees – whose futures are clouded by social and economic factors.” To address the significant number of Syrian refugees, Teach for Lebanon has linked up with several charities, including Theirworld in the UK, and has collaborated with Ana Aqra’s Children’s Literacy Centre.
“Teach for Lebanon has also prioritised an instructional focus on global citizenship and democracy as a way to empower students,” Ms Marto said.
“Teach for All is also working with several social entrepreneurs in countries across the region to explore the development of new organisations that can channel their countries’ outstanding talent towards ensuring all children have the opportunity to fulfil their potential.
“The greatest problem we see is that children do not have access to the kind of education, support and opportunity that will equip them to not only navigate the world they’ll inherit but lead it.
“But it is going to take an enormous amount of leadership capacity to tackle this and we must prioritise the cultivation of this collective leadership throughout the region and channel the energy of these diverse, outstanding graduates and professionals toward this.”
If you have a family and no money, the father will send his children to work and not to school DR HANY TORKY Chief technical adviser, UN Development Programme