Syrian girls, carrying school bags provided by UNICEF, walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings on their way home from school in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP
Syrian girls, carrying school bags provided by UNICEF, walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings on their way home from school in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP
Syrian girls, carrying school bags provided by UNICEF, walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings on their way home from school in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP
Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership
August 01, 2021
Even before the pandemic gripped the world, the education scenario globally was far from ideal. Despite decades of hard-won progress in education for all children, millions more across the world needed to be in school, studying and improving their prospects for life. In 2018, the estimate was that globally more than 258 million children and adolescents were out of school, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). In April last year, when Covid-19 upended all our lives, perhaps one of the biggest developmental setbacks was that the virus endangered decades of progress made in global education – last year, close to 1.6 billion children and youth were out of school.
The worst affected continued to be pupils in developing countries, for whom the chances of an education, and thus a life rid of poverty, were slipping away by them remaining out of the classroom. And an unfortunate reality is that girls are rendered especially disadvantaged in developing countries. The pandemic further exacerbated reasons why so many – 129 million girls worldwide, according to the UN – had to stay home.
It is up to wealthier countries to ease the obstacles in the path of every girl's progress. In fact, a former president of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete recently called it the “moral duty” of wealthy nations to invest in the education of children in the developing world.
At last week's Global Education Summit in London, where people such as Malala Yousafzai and the WHO's Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, spoke, these challenges that stand in the way of education for all – as per the fourth UN Sustainable Development Goal – formed a part of the discussion. The aim of the summit was to raise at least $5 billion to support the work of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the largest global fund to transform education in lower-income countries.
To this end, the UAE has pledged Dh367 million ($100m) to the GPE. In a promising development, over the next five years, the Emirates will support educational programmes in developing countries – prioritising the plight of girls. Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE Minister of State for International Co-operation, rightly said that children's education is a priority when it comes to foreign aid for developing countries around the world.
The UAE is a long-standing supporter and advocate of education, providing aid where needed, for years. Previously, in 2018, the Emirates pledged $100m to support the GPE, in Dakar, Senegal. And in January 2019, to mark International Education Day, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development granted Dh2.5 billion for 129 projects in the education sector across 14 developing countries.
These instances illustrate the importance of the point Dr Tedros made last week at the summit when he said that investment was needed to provide safe schooling in the age of the pandemic. "The pandemic has hit the world’s children hard," Dr Tedros said. "This has magnified inequities for already marginalised children, especially girls."
When Ms Al Hashimy talks of developing the skills women, girls, and youth needed for long-term success, it is necessary that we listen and do what is in our individual capacities to make sure every child has the opportunity to overcome socioeconomic disadvantages and get his or her due – fundamentally, the right to learn and the right to a good education.
Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
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The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
How Apple's credit card works
The Apple Card looks different from a traditional credit card — there's no number on the front and the users' name is etched in metal. The card expands the company's digital Apple Pay services, marrying the physical card to a virtual one and integrating both with the iPhone. Its attributes include quick sign-up, elimination of most fees, strong security protections and cash back.
What does it cost?
Apple says there are no fees associated with the card. That means no late fee, no annual fee, no international fee and no over-the-limit fees. It also said it aims to have among the lowest interest rates in the industry. Users must have an iPhone to use the card, which comes at a cost. But they will earn cash back on their purchases — 3 per cent on Apple purchases, 2 per cent on those with the virtual card and 1 per cent with the physical card. Apple says it is the only card to provide those rewards in real time, so that cash earned can be used immediately.
What will the interest rate be?
The card doesn't come out until summer but Apple has said that as of March, the variable annual percentage rate on the card could be anywhere from 13.24 per cent to 24.24 per cent based on creditworthiness. That's in line with the rest of the market, according to analysts
What about security?
The physical card has no numbers so purchases are made with the embedded chip and the digital version lives in your Apple Wallet on your phone, where it's protected by fingerprints or facial recognition. That means that even if someone steals your phone, they won't be able to use the card to buy things.
Is it easy to use?
Apple says users will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app on their iPhone and begin using it almost immediately. It also tracks spending on the phone in a more user-friendly format, eliminating some of the gibberish that fills a traditional credit card statement. Plus it includes some budgeting tools, such as tracking spending and providing estimates of how much interest could be charged on a purchase to help people make an informed decision.
