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.
More editorials on education
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.
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
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Non-oil%20trade
%3Cp%3ENon-oil%20trade%20between%20the%20UAE%20and%20Japan%20grew%20by%2034%20per%20cent%20over%20the%20past%20two%20years%2C%20according%20to%20data%20from%20the%20Federal%20Competitiveness%20and%20Statistics%20Centre.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIn%2010%20years%2C%20it%20has%20reached%20a%20total%20of%20Dh524.4%20billion.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ECars%20topped%20the%20list%20of%20the%20top%20five%20commodities%20re-exported%20to%20Japan%20in%202022%2C%20with%20a%20value%20of%20Dh1.3%20billion.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EJewellery%20and%20ornaments%20amounted%20to%20Dh150%20million%20while%20precious%20metal%20scraps%20amounted%20to%20Dh105%20million.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERaw%20aluminium%20was%20ranked%20first%20among%20the%20top%20five%20commodities%20exported%20to%20Japan.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ETop%20of%20the%20list%20of%20commodities%20imported%20from%20Japan%20in%202022%20was%20cars%2C%20with%20a%20value%20of%20Dh20.08%20billion.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 640hp
Torque: 760nm
On sale: 2026
Price: Not announced yet
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck
Fast%20X
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Traces%20of%20Enayat
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Match info:
Wolves 1
Boly (57')
Manchester City 1
Laporte (69')
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
SUZUME
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Makoto%20Shinkai%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStars%3A%20Nanoka%20Hara%2C%20Hokuto%20Matsumura%2C%20Eri%20Fukatsu%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine 60kwh FWD
Battery Rimac 120kwh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power 204hp Torque 360Nm
Price, base / as tested Dh174,500
