FT SPECIAL REPORT

Education in the Arab WorldTuesday November 22 2016 www.ft.com/reports | @ftreports

Seeking a refuge in work

Inside

The tyranny ofreligious educationColumn: criticalthinking is essentialfor democracyPage 3

An Arab-IsraeliinnovatorDalia Fadila is tryingto introduce newskills to her pupilsPage 4

An education inenterpriseCharts: areuniversities in Arabcountries preparingstudents for work?Page 5

Saudi Arabia turnsto private schoolsBudget cuts thanksto low oil prices areforcing innovationPage 6

Moocs tempt newkinds of studentOnline learning isspreading educationacross the regionPage 7

I f you leave Beirut’s glimmeringskyline behind and drive over thehills into Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley,the extent of the crisis among Syr-ian refugees is immediately clear.

Here, thousands of tarp-and-sticktents are dispersed in camps through-out dusty fields and tucked behindhalf-finished concrete buildings,packed with men and women desper-ate forwork,unable to findit.

Abu Abed, head of one of the camps,says just over half the men of workingage in his camp have found work, and

then only irregularly and for lowwages. “They get some seasonal work— agriculture, construction. But sta-ble, regular work? The kind of thing you need to make a life? There’s noth-ing likethat.”

His camp’s case is typical. Syria’sfive-year civil war has led to one of thegreatest migrations in modern history,and of the 4.4m Syrians who have fledinto neighbouring Turkey, Jordan andLebanon, many hundreds of thou-sands have struggled to secure evenbasic incomes.

European governments, alarmed atthe influx of refugees into their ownborders, are now taking notice of thisfact,aidworkerssay,andaregraduallyshifting donor focus toward longer-term projects, such as vocationaltraining and small business develop-ment, largely aimed at getting Syriansto make livings in the Middle Eastinsteadof tryingtomigrate toEurope.

The “Jordan Compact”, drafted inFebruary, was one recent and notableexample. The agreement aims to

Continuedonpage2

Creating opportunities: a Syrian refugee learns to be a tailor on an International Rescue Committee programme— Jacob Russell/International Rescue Committee

Syrian exiles inLebanese camps areoffered vocationaltraining — but no jobs,saysAlexanderDziadosz

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Education in the Arab World Education in the Arab World

T ounderstandthedespondentstateofaffairs intheArabworldtoday,oneneedonly

lookat theregion’seducationsystemsandhowtheyhaveevolvedthroughdecadesofdeliberateattempts tosuppress theArabmind.Hyper-nationalistpropaganda,exclusionaryrhetoricanddogmaticreligiousdiscoursehavebeentheirdefiningfeatures.TheresulthasbeenthatgenerationsofArabshavenotonlybeendeprivedofagoodeducation,but theyhavebeentaught tobenarrow-minded,intolerantandill-equippedforparticipation inaglobalisedworld.

Whennewpostcolonialstates like Iraq,AlgeriaandLibyawerecreatedaroundthemiddleof the lastcentury,leadershastenedtofashioneducationsystemswheretherehadbeennone.Nationalfervourandtheassertionofregimeandterritoriallegitimacybecamedeeplyentrenchedineducation,which inturnbecamethetoolfor the impositionofstate-sponsoredideologiesandmilitaristicdoctrines.Anti-colonial sentiments ledtotherejectionofmost foreignteachingsandtheadoptionof

parochial systemsofknowledgeandvalues.

ConstructinganationalidentitywaspredicatedonpatriotismtothefreshlyconceivedmotherlandandasharedArab-Muslimhistoryandbelief system.Educationwasthedevice forensuringthat thishappened.

TheKoranasanexemplaroftheArabic languageservedanimportanteducationalfunction.But thisresulted inthe infiltrationofreligiousideology intoall subjects,includingmodernandostensiblysecularones,

heighteninganinsistenceondisciplineandcontrolandonacceptanceofabsolutetruths.Rigidpedagogicapproaches,rooted intraditional IslamiclearningatKoranicschools,requiredpassivemethodsofrotememorisationanddiscourageddebateorcriticismofauthority figures.

Strict—oftendistorted—interpretationsof Islamproliferated, intandemwiththegrowingroleofreligion.Saudieducationpolicy,practicallyunchangedsincea1969codification,dictatesninehoursof IslamandeightofArabiceachweekforelementaryschoolchildren,butonlythreeforscienceandfive formathematics.Everysectionof theJordanianthird-gradesciencetextbookbeginswithaverse fromtheKoran.

Theuseof Islamasapolitical toolbyrulingregimesfurtherbolsteredreligion’sdominance. InEgypt,PresidentGamalAbdelNasserwantedtocounter theMuslimBrotherhoodandtocompetewithSaudiArabia’s IslamicweightbydefiningEgyptasaleadingArab-Muslimstate.Hethereforepermittedtheal-AzharMosqueuniversity toregulate theteachingofreligion.

JustasbadeducationcanhelpexplainwhytheArabworldhasstruggled,Tunisiaoffersacounter-exampleofhowgoodeducationcanhelpproduceademocraticsociety.Thecountry’s firstpresident,HabibBourguiba, introduceda liberaleducationsystemwhoseethoshasendured.Hispolicies limitedreligiouseducationtooneortwohoursaweekandmaintainedabilingualsystemthatensuredthatstudentswere introducedtowesternaswellas Islamicthought,whilekeepingreligionfromsecularsubjects.

Educationwasaformidableingredient intheconditionsthatenabledTunisianstostandupagainst theiroppressor, long-timepresidentZineElAbidineBenAli,andtoconsolidate thegainsof their2011revolution.Educationensuredapropensitytowarddemocracyandconsensus-building.

ThetrademarkofArabeducationhasotherwisebeenoneof intellectualdespotism—discouraging individualthinkingandrepressingcuriosity,creativityandself-expression.Studentsarerobbedof theopportunityto

developreasoningfaculties, toacquiresociolinguisticskills,to formtheirownopinionsandto learntocoexistwithdifferentpointsofviewandwaysof life.

Unlessanduntil thesetrendsarereversedand

exclusivereligiousandnarrownationalistichegemonyovereducation isdiminished, theArabworld is likelytocontinue itsentanglement inintoleranceandsectarianism,andtobe ill-preparedfordemocracy.

SafwanMasri is executivevice-president forGlobalCentersandGlobalDevelopment,ColumbiaUniversity,andhasaforthcomingbookonTunisiaandeducationbeingpublishedwithColumbiaUniversityPress in2017

Reform learning to enable democracyGUEST COLUMN

SafwanMasri

Education enabledTunisians to standup against theiroppressor

Prof SafwanMasri arguesthat religionhas infiltratededucation

create jobs for Syrian refugees(of which Jordan has 657,000,according to the UN) by givingJordan easier access to theEuropean Union for productsproduced in special economiczones with at least 15 per centSyrian labour.

“For Syrian refugees, thenecessary shift is very muchfrom a provision of communi-ty-based training in a humani-tarian context to a more sus-tainable approach to skillsdevelopment — where youbuild bridges with the privatesector to make sure that theskills Syrians are trained onare market-relevant,” saysPatrick Daru, who works forthe International LabourOrganisation inAmman.

In Lebanon, nearly twodozen organisations offervocational training pro-

Continued frompage1 grammes to Syrian refugees,from large international NGOsto community-based localgroups. The International Res-cue Committee runs three-month vocational trainingcourses for Syrian refugeesand Lebanese nationals — it isa government requirement toinclude locals — in fields likefood processing, beauty careand tailoring. The trainingreaches about 120 people amonth and results in an aver-age increase of 20 per cent inincome, thegroupsays.

Development officials arealso discussing programmes toemploy Syrians in infrastruc-turemaintenance.

Onthe local side,BasmehwaZeitooneh is an organisationrunning programmes largelyin Lebanon’s Palestiniancamps — decades-old slumshome to the descendants of

those who fled or wereexpelled at Israel’s foundationin 1948, and where many Syr-ian refugees have now settled.The group organises a microfi-nance project that has traineddozens of refugees to set uptheir own businesses. The pro-gramme selects students for acourse in running small busi-nesses — skills like customerservice, basic accounting andmanagement — and then givesthem grants of $1,000 to getstarted.

Um Taleen, a 28-year-oldwoman from Syria’s Deraaprovince who was enrolled inthe programme, fled to Leba-non with her husband andyoung daughter about threeyears ago: “It was like we werealready dead. It was very, veryhard for us. My husbandcouldn’t find work, and whenwecameitwasstillwinter.”

Um Taleen — an Arabicnickname meaning “Taleen’smother” — registered with theUnited Nations refugeeagency, but because she onlyhad one child, she says, she didnot qualify for cash assistance.The Basmeh wa Zeitoonehprogramme gave her theopportunity to open a storeselling affordable householdgoods, first out of her homeand then, after accumulatingenough capital, out of a smallshop on a bustling narrowstreet inthecamp.

Hiba Daher, who runs theprogramme, says all but one ofthe businesses in the mostrecent round of grants havesurvived the first six months,and that another 35 grants willbegivenout inthenextround.

The reality, however, is thatsuch programmes, while oftentransformative for those whoreceive them, are far too smalland scattered to come any-where close to addressing theneeds created by the Syriancrisis. Recent ILO analysis putsunemployment rates amongSyrian refugees at over 60 percent in Jordan and 36 per centin Lebanon, with high rates ofunderemployment as well —that is, hundreds of thousandsof people who cannot findenoughworktogetby.

Apart from the sheer size ofthe crisis, the Lebanese gov-ernment has also put heavyemployment restrictions onSyrians. Technically, Syriansare only allowed to work inthree sectors — agriculture,construction and cleaning —which limits the training aidgroups can offer, as well aswhat sort of work Syrians canfind, according to aid workersanddevelopmentofficials.

This is unlikely to change.Apart from the desire todefend citizens’ jobs — a ten-dencyalsoseen inJordan—theLebanese government has asectarian power-sharing sys-tem which many officials feelwould be unbalanced by inte-grating the largely Sunni Mus-lim Syrian refugees into theeconomy.

Critics of the restrictions saythis is a missed economicopportunity. Thousands ofSyrian-run businesses haveopened in Turkey, which hashad the least restrictive poli-cies on Syrian residency andemployment. They haveemployed Syrians in fields asdiverse as textiles and the hos-pitality industry, where theirArabic language skills are par-ticularly useful in speaking toGulf Arab tourists, forinstance. “[The Turks] saw itas an investment — they’re get-

ting a lot of money coming intothe country,” says one SyrianeconomistbasedinBeirut.

The economist, who askedthat his name not be usedbecause he was not authorisedto speak to the media, saysLebanese officials have beenresistant to even seeminglyinnocuous proposals such asallowing Syrian refugees tocultivate land lying fallow inthe Bekaa. This is a major con-trast to the time before Leba-

non’s 1975-90 civil war, whenLebanese officials allowed Syr-ians fleeing nationalisationprogrammes under the Baa-thist regime to set up busi-nesses within their borders,many of which grew into someof thecountry’sbiggest firms.

Even if the conflict ends,many Syrians will lack theresources to return, or theywill be too old, or they will findthat their homes have beendestroyed and there is nothingto return to. Meanwhile, anentire generation will havespent its most formative yearsgrowing up in camps with lim-ited education and employ-mentopportunities.

One need not look beyondLebanon for vivid illustrationsof what long-term neglect ofsuch problems can yield. TheShatila camp, where Basmehwa Zeitooneh operates, was setup in 1949 in the hope that Pal-estinianswouldonedayreturnhome. Instead, they have grad-ually turned into slums wherelarge parts of the economy arebased on making the most ofendemic poverty — mechanicsin small garages and shopstinker at ancient TVs or try toresurrect decades-old jalopies.

For the Lebanese, memoriesof their own civil war, whichmany link to the upheavalcaused by the arrival of Pales-tinians,arestillvivid—andthePalestinian camps are a con-stant reminder that Syria’s ref-ugee populations could createanother dangerous challengeto the country’s uneasy politi-calbalance.

“They have every right to beworried, the Lebanese,” theSyrian economist says. “Butthey’re not doing the rightthing.”

Syrian exiles in Lebanonseek a refuge in work

Lebanese officialshave been resistantto even seeminglyinnocuous proposals

Food for thought: a Syrian man in a Lebanese refugee camp works selling sweets — AFP

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Education in the Arab World Education in the Arab World

FT graphic Source: Alghanim Industries, marketing services and insights team, May ˜°˛˝

For comparison

FT photo montage Photos: Dreamstime* Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE)

Kuwait has the highest proportion of people in the Arab world who want to be entrepreneurs – but the lowest who actually are

Do you feel your university educationequipped you for the competitive job market?

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D aliaFadila, the firstfemaledeanofanArabcollege inIsraelandthefounderofagrowingnetworkofschools, isnot

onetounderstateherambitions.Throughlessonstaught inEnglish inherprivateQSchoolsprogrammeinIsraelandJordan,shewants tonurtureagenerationof IsraeliArabsable tooperateasglobalcitizens.Themission,sheexplainsduringavisit toLondon, is to“transformthe ideaofyoungArabsaboutthemselves”.

MrsFadilastartedQSchools in2008—theQstandsfor“quality”—inherhometownofTira inthe“triangle”ofArabtownsandvillagesadjacent totheWestBank.Havingstartedwithafter-schoolclubs, thenlessons forboysandgirlsofschoolage, sheexpandedtheoriginalTirainstitution in2014toofferpre-schoolclasses tochildrenasyoungastwo.QSchoolsnowalsooperate inNazareth,Jaljulia,Tayibe,RamallahandAmman, theJordaniancapital.

Pupils studyinEnglishusingbooks,materialsandmethodsdesignedbyMrsFadilaherself—whichshecloselycontrolsandwhicharedesignedto impartvaluesofpersonal freedom,encouragingthestudents toexpress theiropinionsandvaluetheir individuality.

Parentswereoriginally luredbythelanguage learning,admitsMrsFadila:“EveryonewantedtohavethesenewkidswhocouldstandupandtalkconfidentlyandspeakEnglish.”Butthefirstyearwas, shesays,“adisaster”,because“wewerechallengingeverythingconservative”.Parents,expectingtheconventionalapproach,werehorrifiedto findtheirchildrenbeingtaught fromMrsFadila’s storiesaboutbravegirls travellingtheworld.

Traditional textbooksusedinIsraeli-Arabschools, sheexplains,aretakenfrommid-20th-centurymaterialswritten inSyria,EgyptorIraq,andlackfemalecharacterswithanyrolebeyondfamily life.Usingclassroommaterialswhichfeatureactive, self-directedfemalecharacterscanbringabouta“subtle,soft revolution” intheexpectationsofArabgirls, sheargues.Shehopesherpupils,bothmaleandfemale, somefromdeprivedbackgroundswiththeir feespaidbyscholarships,willbecome“anewgenerationofArabswhohavetheright thinkingtools, the

right leadershiptools, toseethemselvesaspartof theelite”.

MrsFadilawas invitedtotakehermethods into Jordan,whereschoolsaretryingtoadjust tothe influxofrefugeechildrenfromSyria,andshehasprovidedQSchools-styleEnglishclasses for JewishEthiopianimmigrants inreligiousschools.

English, sheargues,createsaneutral space inwhichtofosterintellectualandpersonaldevelopment foryoungpeopleawayfromthepressuresofdefiningthemselvesbyethnicorreligiousidentity—intheIsraeli systemallschooling,except inaveryfewinstitutions, is separatedbylanguage.

Marginalisedgroupscanalsodevelopavoicetorepresentthemselves in international

diplomacybylearningEnglish, sheadds.

Inconversation,MrsFadilacomesacrossasarticulateanddetermined.ShewasthefirstwomanfromhertowntostudyforaPhD,whichsheobtainedwhileherthreechildrenwereyoung.AspresidentofAl-QasemiEngineeringandScienceCollegeandduringeightyearsasprovostofAl-QasemiTeacherTrainingCollege, localmediaaccountssayshedefiedexpectationsofwhata femaleacademiccoulddowithinanArabhighereducationinstitution.AninterviewerfromtheTimesof Israelwrote inJanuarythatArabwomenwithwhomhediscussedMrsFadila’scareer toldhimhemustbemistaken—nowomancouldbe inchargeofsuchinstitutions.

TheArabminority,whomakeupjustoverafifthof Israeli citizens,havefewerqualificationsacrossbothsexes:49percentofpupils in Jewishschoolsgainthescores inthegraduationcertificate(theBagrut) toenteruniversity,comparedwith36percent inArabschools.

Fundingchoiceshaveresulted inalong-termlackofresourcesandovercrowding inIsraeliArabschools,campaignerssay.

Mostof theNGOsorcivil societyinstitutionsworkingoneducationforIsraeliArabs focusonfosteringunderstandingbetweencommunities.TheAbrahamFundledacampaigntoconvincetheministryofeducationtorequire that Jewishprimaryschools teachArabic,adecisionwhichreceivedpreliminaryapproval inOctober2015.Otherexamples includetheHandinHandintegratedschools; teachertrainingandworkshopsfor JewishandArabpupilsandschoolstaffat theGivatHaviva institute, inculcating loyaltiestothe locality toreplaceethnicandreligiousdivides;andtheMerchavimInstitute’s schemetoplaceArabteachers into Jewishschools.

“Therearenumberofkeyinitiativespromotingsharedsociety,”saysToniRickenbackof theUKTaskForceonissuesrelatingtoArabcitizensof Israel,anorganisationwhichpromotesequality inIsrael.“Dalia isdifferentbecauseshehascreatedanentirelynewmodelandgrownitrapidly.”She isalso,MsRickenbackadds,“creatingchangefromwithinaverytraditionalcommunity”.

Inaddressingthegenderimbalancesodirectly,MrsFadilahaschallengedthesociety inwhichshegrewupinTira,aswellasofficialdom.QSchools,whichhadtobe licensedbythedepartmentofArabeducationinsideIsrael’seducationministry,met initial resistance.OneinspectorclaimedthatQSchools’ teachingmethodswere“harmful”—becausetheychallengedconservative ideas,saysMrsFadila.

Ithasnotonlybeenthe lessoncontentortheempowermentethosthathasalarmedtraditionalelements:“Itwascontroversialalsotohaveapre-school,”sheexplains,“becauseIwanteda longdaytofreeupthemothers forworkandstudy.”

If futuregenerationsofgirlsandyoungwomenaretohaveafulfilling,prosperouscareer, thisrequiresadirectchallengetoconservativefamilyculture,arguesMrsFadila.“Therearesomanypressures tostaywheretheyare,as if theyaretheguaranteesof traditionfor thefamilyinacontextofchange,”shesayswithpassion.“Thetwotoolsyouneedtobevisibleareeducationandeconomicemployment.”

The new school subject: girl powerInterview Dalia FadilaMiranda Greenmeetsan Israeli Arabacademicwho is usingher ownmethods toempower children

Parentswerehorrified tofind theirchildrenbeingtaughtaboutbrave girls

Teach first:Dalia Fadila ischangingmethods andattitudesDov Lieber

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Education in the Arab World Education in the Arab World

W ith oil prices lan-guishing around $50a barrel for the sec-ond year, in SaudiArabia economic

diversification has transformed froma phrase in vogue to a necessity. Thekingdom, burning through foreignreserves, faces another year of dou-ble-digit fiscal deficits and plans towean itself off oil revenues by shiftingnationals from the public payroll andintotheprivatesector.

Despite education making up aquarter of all budgeted spending,however, some experts feel the sys-tem of rote learning and omnipresentreligious schooling has left youthslacking the critical thinking and tech-nical skills needed for productive pri-vatesectorwork.

“Education is the fulcrum of Vision2030,” says Rasheed Eltayeb, vice-president in Booz Allen’s Middle Eastpublic sector practice, referring toSaudi Arabia’s official blueprint forthe future. “So the next logical step is

to get into reforming the core of edu-cation.”

Private enterprise will play a lead-ing role in the transformation of edu-cation, says Ahmed al-Issa, the Saudieducation minister, who has a doctor-ate in curriculum and instructionfrom the University of Pennsylvania.He has said he wants to increase thenumber of privately-educated chil-dren from 15 per cent to 25 per cent.The reform programme is dependingon the private sector to deliver betterquality teaching, not least for the 29percentofSaudisundertheageof15.

“The role of the private sector is tokeepupwiththedemandtoenrolstu-dents — and it is a gargantuan task tokeep doing that,” says Mr Eltayeb.“The best performing schools, more-over, are private — so you get theknow-how and performance culture,aswellascostefficiency.”

The government had been leaningtowards that view well before KingSalman empowered young, and pri-vately educated, Mohammed bin Sal-man — in his role as second deputyprime minister — to overhaul theeconomy and give private enterprisea bigger part to play at the heart ofdevelopment.

“Now, given this climate of privati-sation as a buzzword magic wand foreconomic challenges, we will see evenmore private operators,” says MrEltayeb. “It will be interesting to seehow they are regulated and how

much leeway they get in curriculum,teacheraccreditation, teachingmeth-ods.”

King Abdullah, who died last year,spent billions on education, buildinguniversitiesandcreatingagenerouslyfunded programme to send Saudis tostudy abroad. In 2014, more than200,000 students took part, costing overall $6bn, according to govern-mentdata.

The government is retreating fromtheexpenseof suchaprogrammeandturning its attention to reforming theschool system at home. “We wantSaudi children, wherever they live, toenjoy higher quality, multi-facetededucation,” reads the Vision 2030document, which was released thisyear. Early-childhood education is amainpriority, it says.

Meanwhile, the so-termed nationaltransformation programme, adetailed series of investment priori-ties and targets for 2020, calls for thenumber of 3-to-6-year-olds in nurs-ery education to rise from 13 per centto 27 per cent. That is still far off

global benchmarks of some 80 percent.Theprogrammeaimstocut illit-eracy among adults from 5.3 per centto 2.5 per cent, which would bring thekingdom more in line with the 2 percent levelofregionalpeers.

Vision 2030 seeks to gear the edu-cation system towards marketrequirements, setting up bodies todetermine which skills are mostneeded. More vocational training is aprimeobjective.

As well as targets for teacher train-ing and better developed educationpaths for students, a principal aim ofcurrent plans is to achieve a clear risein basic skills. A sharp improvement,for example, is called for amongSaudi13-yearolds in theirmathemat-ics and science examinations in orderto bring them roughly in line withtheirregionalpeers.

Yet critics say even the most basicelement of educational reform —changing the country’s conservativecurriculum—remainssomewayoff.

In the wake of the New York 9/11attacks in 2001, US officials lobbiedSaudi Arabia to remove elements ofthe curriculum believed to be foster-ing anti-western sentiment and sec-tarian intolerance. The externalnature of this pressure has createdsystematic resistance to reform, saysAndrew Hammond, a doctoralresearcher at St Anthony’s CollegeOxford. He argues that only somequite minor elements in schoolbooks

and teaching methods have beenremoved.

“The wider issue is that so much ofthe curriculum is bound up with reli-gious issues, so that subjects such as‘history’ and ‘Arabic language’ areeffectively religious classes, too,” hesays.

The al-Saud family has ruled thekingdom alongside Islamic clerics fordecades. Matters became yet moreconservative with an Islamic purismrevival in the late 1970s. EasingIslamic strictures, including in educa-tion, threatens to prompt a backlashfrom the establishment just whenofficials fear radicalised youths join-ing jihadistgroupIslamicState.

“The late King Abdullah and nowKing Salman have pushed the reli-gious establishment in different waysand to different degrees but there isno systematic rollback of their pow-ers in general,” says Mr Hammond,author of The Islamic Utopia: The Illu-sionofReforminSaudiArabia.

Booz Allen’s Mr Eltayeb agrees thatthere is more to be done to modernisethe Saudi curriculum, while addingthat he feels it has been addressed tosomeextent.

He is more concerned about chang-ing teaching methods, which acrossthe country’s 30,000 schools com-prise traditional learning by rote.“Saudi needs to focus on the class-room and then everything else willfall intoplace,”hesays.

Saudis seek value for moneyEmphasis is shiftingfrom expensiveeducation abroad toreforming schoolsat home, reportsSimeon Kerr

‘The role of the privatesector is to keep upwiththe demand to enrol farmore students’

Facing the test: Saudi students are going to have to apply themselves to producing much improved results in their examinations for such as mathematics and science—Reuters

When Jordan’s Queen RaniaFoundation launched the Arabworld’s first non-profit Arabic-language learning platform in2014, it was tapping into agrowing trend. The Edraakwebsite offers Moocs (massiveopen online courses) that aresupported by top global uni-versities and are available toanyonewith internetaccess.

Today, the platform reportsthat it has more than 900,000registered users with figuresgrowing by 1,000 a day andreaches people in 22 countriesin the Middle East and northAfrica. The majority of stu-dents come from Egypt, Jor-dan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia andMorocco, with significantnumbers in the UAE, Syria,Palestine, IraqandYemen.

Edraak’s launch was partic-ularly well timed, as 35m peo-ple worldwide registered for atleast one course on a Mooc in2015, twice the figure for 2014,according to the Class CentralMooc hub. It has createdcourses in emarketing, entre-preneurship, technology, prac-tical healthcare and other sub-jectsbyusingMooctechnologydeveloped by edX, a Harvard-MIT consortium founded in2012, and working with Ara-bic-speaking experts in theregion and among the Arabdiaspora.

With a regional populationof more than 350m and only 3per cent of online content writ-ten in Arabic, according toGoogle, there is plenty of roomtoexpandonline learning.

Fouad Al-Farhan, a Saudi-based entrepreneur whofounded rwaq.org, an Arabic-language learning platform

with more than 500,000registered users across theregion,says:“Living inaregionwith the highest youth unem-ployment and a significantskills gap requires newthinking, initiatives andideas.”

Rwaq’s most popular coursehas been an introduction tothe Java programming lan-guage, with over 25,000 regis-tered users. The average com-pletion rate for Rwaq coursesis 25 per cent, Mr Al-Farhanreports, which he is proudto say is higher than popularMooc platforms in developedcountries. (HarvardX’s com-pletionrate is6percent.)

Ahmad Fahad Al-Shagra,co-founder of nadrus.com, anArabic-language online learn-ing platform based in Omanbut working regionally,believes: “The education gapin the region is ridiculouslyhigh and by 2020 there willbe 105m Arabs in need of jobsand 17m at risk of not havingthe qualifications to beemployable.”

The gender breakdown ofregistrants for Edraak coursesis around 60 per cent male and40 per cent female, accordingto data provided, although inSaudi Arabia, where societalbarriers and mobility con-straints are the most restric-

tive intheregion, it is reversed.“Over 60 per cent of learnersfrom Saudi Arabia are female,and across all countries in theregion female learners com-pletecoursesatdoubletherateof men,” says Nafez Dakkak,

Edraak’s chief executive. TheSaudi ministry of educationreports that there are morewomen than men enrolledin its universities, although farfewer intheworkplace.

One of Edraak’s most popu-lar courses is on child mentalhealth, taught and developedby Hesham Hamoda, consult-ant psychiatrist at Boston’sChildren’s Hospital. Havinggrown up in the UAE andKuwait, Dr Hamoda says theregion is still decades behindthe US in terms of awarenessthat children may experiencemental health problems. Heanticipated 2,000 peoplewould register, but more than33,000did.

“There is a dire need foronline content in Arabic, par-ticularly when it comes totopics like mental health,” DrHamoda says. “As we put thesecourses on YouTube, I expectthey will reach millions ofpeople.”

Mohammad Alsurayefounded dawrat.org, a hub forGCC training courses, inKuwait in 2011 and has sincelaunched short Arabic Moocsin topics such as business,marketing and photography.When he worked with theKuwait ministry of youth tointroduce online courses, over10,000 students enrolled, fivetimes the number expected.“In six months, we trainedmore people online than anyministry could have done withjust [face to face] training,” hesays.

But Mr Alsuraye’s businessis struggling to grow despitehis having won a nationalexcellence and creativityaward and he says much moreneeds to be done in Kuwait toeducate government bodies onthe opportunities of onlinelearning.

Moocs are not the only edu-cational technology platformsin the Arab world. Teachme-now.org is an online globalmarketplace where registeredteachers and students can

connect. The first connectionon the platform was a youngman in Saudi Arabia whowanted Spanish lessons with aprofessor from Venezuela; hepaid $20 an hour. “In-persontutoring in the Gulf can easilybe over $150 an hour,” saysTeachmenow founder TheaMyhrvold.

Edraak has also seen poten-tial in this demand. It signeda partnership with theministry of education in

Dire need forteaching inArabic drivese-lessonsMoocs

Free courses in avariety of skills andsubjects are enjoyingrapid growth, writesRahilla Zafar

‘In sixmonths, wetrainedmore peopleonline than anyministry could havedonewith [face toface] training’

Dotcom doctors: online courses in Arabic include healthcare (but not medical degrees)—AFP

Jordan last month after pilot-ing a remedial maths course toprepare students for their gen-eral secondary educationexams.

MrDakkaksaysthepartner-ship’s courses, which includesSTEM subjects (science, tech-nology, engineering, maths)as well as Arabic and English,will serve as an equalising fac-tor in the region by helpingstudents who cannot affordprivate tutors.

ContributorsAlex DziadoszFreelance journalist

Miranda GreenFormer educationcorrespondent

Simeon KerrGulf correspondent

Rahilla ZafarCo-editor, ‘The Internetof Women’

Josh SperoCommissioning editor

Steven BirdDesigner

Michael CrabtreePicture editor

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