Education system in the Gulf needs to tailor curricula and teaching methods to suit changed scenario, says research report

Among the ills affecting the education system were outdated theoretical studies and lack of correlation with today's job market, according to the study conducted by Dubai-based Madar Research Group.

The report highlights that while some of the countries in the Gulf region had record admission levels to higher education with the majority of secondary school graduates moving into college and university, the quality of education fell short of the levels of the developed world.

The report points out that the authorities were aware of the shortcomings and some of them have initiated long term plans to overhaul the education system. Among the major recommendations were the development of teaching methodologies and programs that adhere to contemporary international standards, with a particular focus on introducing the latest IT resources at all levels.

This view is shared by ICDL GCC Foundation, the regional office of the ECDL Foundation and the governing body of the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) programme in the Gulf States. "Evidently, there is an obvious gap between the education standards and the job market in the Arab world. This is because the dynamics of modern business have altered dramatically over the past few years," said Jamil Ezzo, Director General of ICDL GCC Foundation. "The need of the hour is to customize education to suit the requirements of the modern world."

"All over the world, there has been a paradigm shift in education systems, with the major emphasis being laid on computer literacy. Computer skills have become as essential as reading and writing in today's society. The International Computer Driving License around the world has been helping governments further IT literacy and improving people's chances of achieving greater success in the workplace through basic and advanced computer courses attuned to the needs of today's business. The Gulf was among the first regions to widely adopt the ICDL as part of government public awareness and e-Citizen programs, and several countries are either implementing it or supporting its integration into their education system. This is a highly encouraging sign," added Ezzo.

A UNICEF study recently revealed that there is a high rate of dropouts at the school level in the Gulf. It showed that nearly 20 per cent of children in primary schools were either not attending regularly or had dropped out.

"Part of the solution to this problem of dropout is to provide IT learning opportunities from the school level," said Ezzo. "In the UAE, for example, the education authorities and academic organizations have joined hands to organize summer camps in an effort to trigger a higher interest in computers among the younger generation. The program has been highly successful and will be expanded to more years in coming years."

Recent developments point to dramatic changes in the Gulf education sector, as a result of increased awareness about the need for enhanced computer education. Many Gulf countries are taking remedial measures to ensure that today's graduates have all the prerequisites needed to fit into the modern job market scenario.

In the UAE, the Ministry of Education and several education zones have signed MOUs with ICDL GCC Foundation to integrate the ICDL syllabus into the school curriculum. Higher Colleges of Technology, Emirates University, Zayed University and a number of private universities have all endorsed the ICDL model. The Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum IT Education Project (ITEP) has signed an MOU with the Foundation to enhance computer literacy using the ICDL syllabus.

In Oman, 13,000 teachers are to be provided with ICDL training as part of a government move to offer computer education to students at all levels. Of these, some 8,000 would be completing the ICDL training by the end of 2005. The Oman Ministry of Education had started this academic year to teach the ICDL syllabus to every eleventh grade student receiving education in public schools.

The Ministry of Education in Kuwait is implementing a plan in which some 45,000 teachers will get ICDL certified. In Bahrain, some 4,500 teachers will get ICDL certification during 2005, as part of its plan to certify 13,000 teachers. Qatar has set up ICDL accredited centers to train and test teachers in preparation for its plan to offer IT education to students.

ICDL GCC Foundation is the governing body of ICDL programme in the Gulf States and the regional arm of European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), the not-for-profit global governing body of the ICDL member countries, dedicated to helping raise the basic computer competency in societies and providing access for all to the information society.

The ICDL program covers seven modules that provide each trainee with the basic concepts of IT, management of computer files and equipment, word processing, use of spreadsheets, databases and presentation packages.

Since its launch in the Middle East by UNESCO - Cairo Office in 2001, ICDL is being offered by quality training and testing centres across the GCC and has also been adopted by major training and academic institutions, as well as governmental organisations. ECDL/ICDL is the world's largest vendor-neutral end-user computer skills certification and is internationally recognized as the global benchmark in computer literacy. ECDL/ICDL is currently available in 136 countries and has been translated in 36 languages, including Arabic, making it the world's leading and largest certification programme.