The struggle for the future of the Arab and Muslim worlds that is being fought now will be won or lost not on the battlefield, but in the classroom. Radical Islamists recognized this long ago, but it is a lesson that the West has yet to learn.
BEIRUT – Report after report from the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and the Arab League emphasize that the education deficit in the Arab world is among the main causes of its underdevelopment. With 5% of the world’s population and the bulk of the world’s oil and gas, the Arab world nonetheless lags behind most of the rest of the world, and suffers from what can best be termed “educational poverty.” Without dramatic improvement at all educational levels, unemployment, illiteracy, and income inequality will continue to worsen, and the region will remain a danger to itself and its neighbors.
BEIRUT – Report after report from the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and the Arab League emphasize that the education deficit in the Arab world is among the main causes of its underdevelopment. With 5% of the world’s population and the bulk of the world’s oil and gas, the Arab world nonetheless lags behind most of the rest of the world, and suffers from what can best be termed “educational poverty.” Without dramatic improvement at all educational levels, unemployment, illiteracy, and income inequality will continue to worsen, and the region will remain a danger to itself and its neighbors.