UAE women still trail in literacy race

The UAE women are still being left behind in the race towards literacy and future plans are to upgrade adult education, according to a senior Ministry of Education and Youth official.

Although most college and university students in the country are females, it is surprising that illiteracy is high among females as compared to the males, Hamad Saif Al Muhaire, Acting Director of Adult Education at the ministry said.

"Today, the illiteracy rate has dropped to seven per cent from 17 per cent in 1995. The UAE is one of the Arab countries with the lowest illiteracy rates," he added.

Today, there are 122 centres which cover all areas of the UAE, including remote areas. The number of students at the adult education centres is 27,666 among which 13,738 are female.

He added according to Vision 2020, there are many suggestions for the future of education in the country and the most important one is to evaluate and develop adult education.

"A committee was formed to evaluate the current adult education programmes. This was necessary to find out the problems and try to overcome them. It will be initiated next year," Al Muhaire said.

The illiteracy rate among females is more than males, because of their social condition.

"For example, some of them leave schools at an early age, or because their families refuse to provide them education. Things are changing, and illiteracy among females will decrease further," he added.