Youth will maintain pace of achievement in region

A teacher's success comes from his students' success. When I was walking in a trade complex in Kuwait, a young woman stopped me to tell me that she had been one of my students.

Although her words of praise and compliments made me feel happy, I was extremely overjoyed when she told me that she held a high-profile post as the director of a human-resources-development department.

Undoubtedly, the most beautiful moments of my life are when I see my students holding high positions and earning prestigious status through their competence and abilities.

This is simply because any teacher or academician would be as proud of the success of his students as he is of his personal success. The former is the teacher's real source of capital.

Teachers feel very proud when they see that their efforts have not been in vain, and that there are still some who appreciate their noble profession.

I have noticed that a lot of my students, particularly women, preferred to work in the private sector in investment, banking, insurance and telecommunications.

Different paths

Some among them never worked in the government sector as they joined the private sector right after their graduation, meeting tough demands. Many of those of my students who did work in the government sector later transitioned to the private sector. Their experience in the public sector motivated them to make the leap.

Of course, working in the private sector is not inherently better than working in the public sector as both are vital. Anyone who is competent and ambitious could succeed in either sector.

However, the prevailing conditions in the Gulf dictate that it is desirable for young men to have the courage to take on jobs in the private sector, and especially in banks, telecommunications and transport.

I have noticed that many young people from the Gulf region prefer to take on such jobs, yet the percentage is still unsatisfying when compared to the number of graduates from universities and applied institutes. The government sector still attracts the lion's share of graduates.

Not all of my students were as outstanding or ambitious as the young woman who succeeded in acquiring a high-profile position at a young age. In fact, many of them set no clear targets. It is well known that setting goals and sincere endeavour are the keys to success.

Hence, 1 dedicate some time in my lectures to raising the morale of these students. I encourage them to diversify their skills and boost their self-confidence. Also, I always work to make my students aware that their destiny and occupational success is not solely determined by their choice of subjects at university.

No doubt, Gulf countries give priority to education and the range of academic specialities offered because they aspire to correct imbalances in their demographic structure.

Obviously, one of the aims that guides university and occupational education in the Gulf is the goal of encouraging students to enter fields that suffer from a national workforce shortage.

This can be achieved only through appropriate guidance, as well as moral and financial incentives — cash rewards and bonuses — during and after university education.

Investment in human capital is important for us as Arabs in the Gulf region and in the entire Arab world, where the young people constitute the majority of the population. Elsewhere — in Western Europe and Russia — societies are ageing.

We are a young society to which education is the basic element of prosperity. Progress is achieved through educating and training the young, as well as through guiding and instructing them to choose fields that suffer shortages and need to be developed.

It is very pleasant to see Gulf citizens who have become managers, leaders and senior officials in various fields. They manage to run businesses with high degrees of efficiency and competence.

GCC citizens carry out their work and duties at their establishments sincerely and successfully in a manner that is no different to that of their counterparts in other countries.

We should give credit, in particular, to the leading women whose presence in positions of power provides strong evidence of the success and efficiency of Gulf women in particular, and Arab women in general.

Perhaps the emergence of a white-collar class can become a model for all our young people to follow, thereby achieving more success in various walks of life.

Dr Mohammad Hussain Al Yusefi teaches at Kuwait University.