© UNESCO
The Arab States are populated by 320 million inhabitants across two continents – Asia and Africa – who share the same language, culture and history. In addition to wealthy countries, the region also includes poor countries in which 23% of the population lives in abject poverty, with an income of less than US $2 a day.
In some of these countries, conflicts, wars and foreign occupation have led to social, political and economic instability and the loss of material and human resources. Situations like this adversely affect efforts to identify national priorities, undermine education infrastructures and systems, cause human damage, and generate a climate of fear and insecurity within the region.
Around 60 million inhabitants of the region, two-thirds of them women, are illiterate. […] Despite a substantial increase in the number of girls attending school, women in the region are still under-educated, 50% of them illiterate. They are also disadvantaged in terms of citizenship rights, legal rights, representation in professional and technical positions, and parliamentary and ministerial representation. Freedom of speech and democracy are limited if not entirely nonexistent.
The region is also suffering from a digital divide; access to information and communication technologies remains limited, and the region lags behind in terms of knowledge production since investment in research and development barely exceeds 0.5% of GDP, which is below the international average.
Although the region spends a higher proportion of its GDP on education than other regions and developed countries, around 60 million inhabitants of the region, two-thirds of them women, are illiterate. Investment is insufficient to provide a high standard of education, cater to the needs of employers or keep up with the rapid pace of globalisation and technological change. It is therefore imperative to establish better governance across the public sectors in order to encourage adequate investment in adult education and the building of education and knowledge societies.
From: Statement on Investing in Adult Education: Building Learning and Knowledge Societies in the Arab States, adopted at the CONFINTEA VI Preparatory Conference for the Arab States, Tunis, Tunisia, 5 – 7 January 2009
