Nahyan calls for investment in education for growth

Dubai: Over 1,200 students from 120 countries, scholars and world leaders came together in Dubai yesterday for a three-day international conference on education and global recession.

The conference, titled "Education Without Borders", is a biennial conference being held for the fifth time in the UAE.

In his opening speech Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology discussed the impact of the global economic crisis on education.

"The global economic downturn has created significant difficulties to national economies and now threatens education as well," Shaikh Nahyan said.

"Already we know of library budgets being slashed, professional development programmes being eliminated, upgrading of information technology being postponed, purchase of essential educational equipment deferred and reductions in the number of teachers and faculty members. While educational institutions can sustain these budget reductions for a very short time, the projected long-term economic recession bodes poorly for education and the research needed to allow our nations to continue to grow and prosper."

The growth of higher education, he added, is due to the strong political commitment to educational goals and sustained econ-omic growth assisted by international aid.

Education is a short- and long-term investment in a country's economic growth and to be successful it cannot be a start and stop operation, he said.

"We should emphasize that there are important and complex linkages between education, social mobility, innovation and economic competitiveness."

He enumerated the benefits of proper eduction.

"Let us begin by briefly looking at the state of the world's educational systems. A 2009 report by Unesco states that 776 million adults, two-thirds of them women, lack even the most basic literacy skills and that 75 million children currently are not in school. Further, the report notes that in many of the developing countries the level of learning achievement is very low in whatever type of schooling is offered."

He said this is a tragic situation for how those children and adults, and through them their countries, hope to be a part of the new economies.

"But there is some hope as Unesco reports the following signs of improvement in the early part of this decade:

National spending and international aid for education increased between 2000 and 2007;

Primary school enrolment shows impressive gains for both genders in Africa and Asia;

Demand for secondary level enrolment has increased but these are still far below those at the primary level; and

Enrolment in higher education has increased dramatically."

Other participants of the conference include Margaret Spelling, former US Secretary of Education, John Secton, President of New York University, Princess Astrid of Belgium and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, and renowned scientist in his keynote address stressed the importance of righteousness and citizenship and said education enables the evolution of righteous citizens. He drew similarities between the UAE and India, saying that both are multicultural environments that should inspire young minds.

He highlighted the importance of science and engineering in today's world and said that they should be used for the advancement of societies.

Participating students said that they were inspired by the speeches and by the open invitation to contribute their own ideas and discussing solutions for global problems.

"I am interested in what students like me, from all over the world, have to say about certain issues, what their ideas are and how they're thinking," said Deborah Ramamoorthy, an Indian student studying in the US. Deborah is one of several students presenting research papers over three days.

- With inputs from WAM