Arab education 'falling behind'

[[R_H]]

BBC

The World Bank has said the quality of education in the Arab world is falling behind other regions and needs urgent reform if it is to tackle unemployment.

In a report, bank officials said Arab states had to make improving education their top priority, because it went hand-in-hand with economic development.

The region had not seen the increasing literacy and school enrolment witnessed in Asia and Latin America, they said.

Djibouti, Yemen, Iraq and Morocco were ranked the worst educational reformers.

'Youthful region'

In its report, the World Bank issued a stark warning about the need for better education in the Arab world. It said that although education was becoming more accessible and the gender gap was being reduced, the region had not witnessed the positive changes seen in Asia and Latin America, particularly in literacy rates and enrolments in secondary schools and universities.

A senior World Bank official, Marwan Muasher, told the BBC that educational reform had to take top priority if the region's youth were to be better equipped in a fast-changing world and high unemployment combated.

"The time has come for countries to focus their energies on the quality of education and making sure that students are equipped with what they need for the labour market needs now - the ability to solve problems, critical thinking, innovation, and teacher retraining," he said. The report said unemployment in the Arab world averaged 14%, which is higher than other areas in the world, except Sub-Saharan Africa, with the Palestinian territories coming highest with nearly 26% percent.

Mr Muasher said educational reform went hand in hand with economic development, especially given the region's extremely high youth population.

"It's a very youthful region - 60% of the region's population is under 30 years of age, close to 100m new jobs will need to be created over the next 10 to 15 years in the Arab world," he explained.

"If we are to create such jobs, then we have to start with education."

The report concluded that Jordan and Kuwait were the top educational reformers in the region, while Djibouti, Yemen, Iraq and Morocco ranked lowest in terms of access, efficiency and quality of education.

[CJvR]

Learning the Koran by heart backwards and forwards is not a marketable skill, except for the jobs as bitter mullah and martyr, what a surprise...

[wautd]

For all it's faulths, I think Iran is doing pretty good tough. A while ago they did a docu series of several muslim countries and I was suprised to see female scientists working on embryonic stem cells to name an example

[Shroom Man 777]

Female scientists working on embryonic stem cells...in Iran? That's amazing, good for those guys!

[Stravo]

Problem there, folks, is Iran is not an Arab country. They are proud Persians.

The litany here should not be that Arab Education is falling behind - be honest. The Arab world is falling behind. When that oil runs out the human catastrophe that awaits as anything remotely Western and Modern pulls the fuck out faster than a porn star dropping his money shot on a starlet's face will be Apocalyptic for these people. They want to live in the 12th century? Don't worry. It's coming.

[Darth Wong]

Even apart from the teachings of the mullahs, the Arab World suffers from some of the same psychology as the black American culture: they have an inherent hostility toward all things associated with the western nations' power structure. Such as intellectualism.

[[R_H]]

Even apart from the teachings of the mullahs, the Arab World suffers from some of the same psychology as the black American culture: they have an inherent hostility toward all things associated with the western nations' power structure. Such as intellectualism.

Which is ironic, considering that in the Middle Ages they were the intellectuals compared to what the West had to offer.

[Knife]

Even apart from the teachings of the mullahs, the Arab World suffers from some of the same psychology as the black American culture: they have an inherent hostility toward all things associated with the western nations' power structure. Such as intellectualism.

Which is ironic, considering that in the Middle Ages they were the intellectuals compared to what the West had to offer.

And it would seem they are going through their middle ages now.

[Guardsman Bass]

Female scientists working on embryonic stem cells...in Iran? That's amazing, good for those guys!

Oddly enough, apparently the Supreme Leader (and yes, that's the actual title for Ayatollah Khamenei) strongly supports stem cell research. Go figure.

I wonder how much of this decline has to do with shitty education for women and girls. It wouldn't surprise me; if the fanatics in Afghanistan going after women's schooling are anything like the fundamentalists in the rest of the Arab world, it's no wonder their educational process is going down the drain.

[Guardsman Bass]

And yes, I'm aware Afghanis aren't Arabs - but you see the same type of Wahabist bullshit.

[Sarevok]

Afghans and arabs are two different cases. Afghans are extremely poor, sad people who you would expect to be perfect fundie recruiting material. Arabs are spoiled rich people who have access to modern education and technology. Yet it has not changed them.

[Lord Poe]

Arabs are spoiled rich people who have access to modern education and technology. Yet it has not changed them.

These are the guys I went to film school with in the mid-80's. Their apartment was provided for, their sports cars provided for, and they'd angrily throw pennies away because they were useless in the coffee machine.

[Sidewinder]

Arabs are spoiled rich people who have access to modern education and technology. Yet it has not changed them.

If Arabs were to be more like Paris Hilton, i.e., spend their time and money getting drunk, laid, and photographed doing harmless things like not wear underwear, instead of bombing everything they find offensive to their religion, the world would be a better place.

[TithonusSyndrome]

Arabs are spoiled rich people who have access to modern education and technology. Yet it has not changed them.

If Arabs were to be more like Paris Hilton, i.e., spend their time and money getting drunk, laid, and photographed doing harmless things like not wear underwear, instead of bombing everything they find offensive to their religion, the world would be a better place.

Until their indulgences accelerated us all over the far side of the oil peak.

[eyl]

Afghans and arabs are two different cases. Afghans are extremely poor, sad people who you would expect to be perfect fundie recruiting material. Arabs are spoiled rich people who have access to modern education and technology. Yet it has not changed them.

That's something of an oversimplification - there's a great difference in the wealth of the average Arab (or the country, for that matter) in the Gulf States and, say, Jordan or Egypt.