CAIRO: How can Arab economies dodge the bottleneck that slows their integration into today's global market? The buzzword is education, which currently presents itself as the ultimate solution to swiftly push forth Arab competitiveness. The consensus was reached by more than 100 political and business leaders from some 25 countries that gathered for the fourth annual meeting of the Arab Business Council (ABC) of the World Economic Forum recently held in Cairo. Experts emphasized that the region's education system must equip the younger generation with critical and analytical skills needed to meet demands of a highly competitive global labor market rather than focus on summarization and conventional methods of education. "Education is the foundation on which everything else grows, said Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. "There is no doubt that in order to catch up with the rest of the world, we need to build the skills of our youth. He explained that education tops the Cabinet's agenda. Human resource and capacity building, he reiterated, are the "opportunities that make us important players in today's global world. However, outdated means of learning plague most of the region's educational facilities, which encourage memorization rather than analytical thinking and creativity. "Education means to encourage innovation, said Akil Beshir, chairman and CEO of Telecom Egypt. "Teachers, particularly in Egypt, teach students how to pass exams while they should be teaching them how to learn, how to do research, and how to think creatively. Panelists argued that education is the sector that needs the most reform since it affects all other sectors. As it stands now, they said, the education system does not equip graduates with the skills needed in the market. "There exists a mirage in the [Arab world] which is the notion that we can train and use the education system to produce people with labor skills, stated Ismail Serageldin, director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina. "New businesses and technologies are created everyday and that changes parameters of the workplace. He pointed towards the development of information technology, which created the demand for new skill sets. However, while the world was changing, the region was clinging to obsolete learning tools. "Fields that did not exist before, for example microbiology, are now profound. We have to think in totally new paradigms, he added. "The mirage is the notion that structures that exist today will meet these new demands. On this note came the need to empower teachers and educators with tools to build students creative thinking and problem-solving skills at an early age. Speakers called on the private sector to come together to inspire a spirit of entrepreneurship and corporate citizenship in the younger generation, which will eventually close the gap between output of the education sector and requirements of the private sector. "The private sector [should] integrate the current change in the workplace into the educational system, explained Soraya Salti, senior vice president of Injaz Al-Arab. "Schools teach students reading and writing, but private sector involvement gives these students real-life skills. Injaz Al-Arab is an entity affiliated with Junior Achievement (JA), a non-profit international organization that seeks to prepare young people to succeed in today's global economy. It annually invites CEOs and managing directors to volunteer and send staff members to educate schoolchildren on best financial and business practices. JA Worldwide annually reaches approximately eight million students around the world. Through age-appropriate curricula, JA programs begin at the elementary school level and continue through high school, focusing on the key content areas of entrepreneurship, work readiness, and financial literacy. Salti sees a necessity to create philanthropy within the business community, whereby staff members of corporations take their skills and competence to classrooms. "Skills needed in the workplace today [include] analytical thinking, teamwork, communication skills, professionalism, and entrepreneurial skills, she added. "Corporations have a major role to play in this. We have some 80 corporations under the ABC, if each one adopts one school, we can bridge this gap very quickly. Panelists also highlighted the need to create a dialogue between business leaders and the younger generation, whereby business tycoons educate students on the know-how of leading a successful enterprise. Such efforts, as speakers illustrated, can also help reverse the brain drain, whereby the region's most talented immigrate in search of greener pastures abroad. "Wealth is perceived to be on the other side of the border, in developed countries, Salti clarified. "Via [such programs], the younger generation will realize that wealth can be created in their own countries. Give them entrepreneurial skills and educate them on means of starting a company, and you start creating wealth. Another way to reverse the brain drain is to bridge the gap between supply and demand on the labor marketplace. Speakers argued that current job opportunities available in the region are either not rewarding enough or require skills graduates do not possess. "The Arab world is creating jobs, but for expatriates and not for the nationals of these countries, said Samir Radwan, managing director and chairman of the National Competitiveness Council. "Currently in the region, human resource is abundant, and capital is flowing at unprecedented levels .What we need to do is to speed up that trickle-down effect that prevents the majority of people from gaining access to the [ongoing] reform process. One way to accelerate the trickle-down effect is to pay attention to vocational and technical education rather than academic education. "Technical education is what this region needs. It has long been seen as second-rate education.for the poor, and is therefore poorly financed and ill equipped, said Ali Hilal, economics professor at Cairo University. "We need to create a paradigm shift in technical education and improve its image to make people proud of being part of it. "If you look at medicine or engineering schools, they were looked upon as vocational schools in the past. Now, these are among the most prestigious schools in the region, he added. "Our problem in the region is that knowledge is not prized; only wealth is.
