Mark Schulte journalist, teacher, IT enthusiast

Dire straits in the Gulf

After major infusions of cash in school systems throughout the Arab world, young people are now much more likely to receive an education, or at least attend school, than ever before. The problem, according to a significant recent study, is that the quality of the education they receive is, in many cases, shockingly poor.

And for students who face more than one of a host of identified risk factors, including geographic isolation, gender, language, and disability, the picture grows ever more desperate. If, for instance, you are a physically handicapped girl in rural Qatar, and worse, a recent immigrant, you will likely not receive an adequate education.

On the other hand, recent advances offer more to the neediest than to the wealthy. Special needs students, such as those with dyslexia or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and students with physical handicaps, can benefit tremendously from new technologies, such as voice recognition software, and diverse learning environments, such as multimedia instruction, but only if they have access to the materials and expertise.

Opportunities, it seems, are abundant, yet "the low quality of education has undermined" prospects for young people in much of the Arab world, according to "Generation in Waiting, The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East," the report by the Brookings Institution. The total spent in school for Iranians under 30, for example, has more than doubled from the prior generation, but test scores have dropped significantly, especially among the poorest.

In this seemingly dire climate, the Qatar Foundation, an educational non-profit funded by the Qatari royal family, convened its first annual World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha in mid-November, paying travel expenses and lodging for teachers, administrators, and businesspeople from as far as Cameroon, Japan and Australia to begin what the organization hopes will be a lasting collaboration to improve education in the Middle East, and worldwide.

David Arnold, president of the American University in Cairo, feels that the recent gains in access in the Middle East are a prerequisite for improvements in quality. "The sequencing is important," said Arnold at a panel session. "We are not living up to a fundamental responsibility if we provide excellent educations only to a select few."

But following access with quality may not be enough, said Katy Webley, who heads the education branch of the UK-based advocacy group Save the Children. The poorest families must bear the cost of sending their children to school, rather than work, she noted. "If they decide that their childrens' education is not relevant, they will pull them out of school" before the schools have improved. Quality, in her view, must go hand in hand with access.

They may differ on methods and solutions, but the panelists at WISE 2009 agreed on at least one thing: young people in Arab states are falling behind, and, warns the Brookings report, "institutions which once ensured intergenerational equity and improved economic wellbeing are no longer working."