Arab states suffer from ‘regressive’ education programmes

The Arab world has experienced a “glaring regression” in the quality of its cultural and education programmes, according to Director-General of the Arab Organisation for Education, Culture and Science (ALESCO), Dr. Abdullah Hamad Muhareb.

He explained in an interview with TAP that inadequate cultural policies had made young people “vulnerable to dismissing certain kinds of knowledge and more prone to follow extremist movements that do not recognise or accept diversity”.

According to the director, existing cultural policies in the Arab region are unable to meet the main development goals, since many of these policies are irrelevant to the lives of the average Arab citizen.

Government strategies He further explained that the regression of culture was not unexpected. “The failure is understandable given that cultural strategies in the region are proposed by governments and not by intellectuals,” he stressed. Muhareb said that education programmes had been similarly affected and had not been given the importance they deserve, “education in the Arab world is not on the agenda of member states; even the richest ones”. Currently, he claimed ALESCO is unable to provide a clear vision for education; mainly because the organisation would first need access to credible and transparent statistics. Muhareb stressed that statistics presented by Arab states are often contestable, as countries often embellish information and data to provide a positive image of themselves – despite the real facts.

We are faced with major challenges to prepare studies and programmes that reflect the experience of the Arab citizen.

ALESCO is currently working to “combat illiteracy in Arab countries in conflict zones [Syria, Yemen, etc.] where according to a report by the United Nations Fund for UNICEF, 13.5 million children are without schooling.”

The schemes to benefit these children includes the project of “education under occupation”.

“We signed a cooperation and partnership agreement with a Distance Learning and Training Company to conduct some of the activities of the initiative…for the schooling of children in conflict zones in the Arab world.”

However, the director explained that without support from member states the initiatives of ALESCO can only achieve partial success. “With the large budget allocated to ALESCO programmes and strategic plans, the sectors of education, science and culture cannot be developed unless they are adopted and implemented by Arab governments.”