The greatest use of wealth is to create educated and trained people
New initiatives are being launched at all educational levels to ensure that UAE students are fully prepared to compete globally
Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, believed that investing in people’s welfare, knowledge and capabilities would produce the greatest dividends for individuals, families and society.
Under Shaikh Zayed’s wise leadership, education has always been one of the UAE’s highest priorities.
He said: “The greatest use that can be made of wealth is to invest it in creating generations of educated and trained people” and “The real asset of any advanced nation is its people, especially the educated ones, and the prosperity and success of the people are measured by the standard of their education.”
Much has been achieved since the early 1970s but efforts are now being made to improve the educational environment for all pupils. The number of government and private schools now exceeds 1,400 while it was only 74 in 1971.
The UAE has focused on educating both men and women. In 1975, the rate of adult literacy was 54 per cent among men and 31 per cent among women. Today, literacy rates for both genders are nearly 90 per cent. New initiatives are being launched at all educational levels to ensure that UAE students are fully prepared to attend universities around the world and compete in the global marketplace. In addition, some of the world’s best universities are creating programmes in the UAE, attracting talented students from the Arab world and globally.
Shaikh Zayed’s efforts created a variety of accredited institutions such as the UAE University founded in 1976, the Higher Colleges of Technology in 1988 and the Zayed University in 1998.
He built schools such as the Shaikh Zayed Private Academy for girls and boys in 2000 and learning centers all over the country and the recruitment of teachers from other Arab countries to provide education to the younger generations.
The wise leadership of the state adopted an ambitious vision established by Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahayan, God bless his soul, who said “human is the base of any civilisation act”… so the developing experience represents an international symbol in total development on all levels.