His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, on the occasion of the International Literacy Day, which falls on September 8th each year, stressed that the UAE, through the efforts of all concerned, is today seeking to eradicate spoon-feeding and traditional education in our universities, and reinforce creativity, innovation, and smart learning instead. His Excellency referred to the United Nations Report which commends the State’s policies in this area, and emphasizes that the UAE leadership sees education as a key element of sustainable development, and one of the main factors for increasing investment in human capital, which is manifested in the UAE Vision 2021 that aspires to the contribution of all citizens in the country’s development through the development of their knowledge, and providing equal opportunities for the citizens to receive a modern education through a policy and strategy that align building the qualifications of the citizen and the outputs of the educational system with the labor market needs on the basis of creative balance, in order to deal with the requirements and needs of social and economic development.
The United Nations Report included an assessment of the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals by the countries, which showed that the education system in the UAE has seen a remarkable development over the past decades thanks to the high government spending rates on education, in addition to the private sector’s contribution in investment in the educational projects.
The indicators and statistics contained in the Report reflected the growth and progress for all education components and infrastructure indicators, educational services, and the number of students and graduates, and they clearly showed the successes achieved by the UAE since its founding in the promotion of all forms of education, which in turn contributed to the growth of education indicators at all levels.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ‘UNESCO’ is celebrating the International Literacy Day 2015 on September 8th, under the theme ‘Literacy and Sustainable Societies’, and this year’s celebration is seeking to confirm that literacy is the key driver for sustainable development, and that the reading and writing skills are a prerequisite to learn a wide range of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values required to create sustainable societies.