Education

Bahrain: Aiming for top of the class

Bahrain has embarked on major educational reform, tailoring the system to meet the needs of the Kingdom's people and the nation's economy, seeking to learn from past mistakes and the success of others. The Kingdom has placed great importance on developing a knowledge-based economy, with education being one of the cornerstones of Vision 2030, the long-term plan spearheaded by the Economic Development Board (EDB) that is guiding the economic future of the country. Unveiled in October 2008, the core objective of Vision 2030 is for Bahrain to develop "a productive, globally competitive economy, shaped by the government and driven by a pioneering private sector" diversified away from a dependency on energy. In order to achieve this, the state has identified education as key. Vision 2030 acknowledged that, in its present form, "The education system does not yet provide young people with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in our labor market." [source: OBG]

Global leaders achieve major outcomes at first World Innovation Summit for Education - WISE

The closing plenary session of the first World Innovation Summit for Education - WISE has produced a number of ground-breaking outcomes that signal the beginning of a new era in global collaboration on education. WISE concluded with a declaration of 10 core education priorities, an announcement of two initiatives and a renewed commitment to the three main areas of focus for WISE in the future. Held in Doha, Qatar and attended by 1,000 influential opinion leaders from diverse sectors across the globe, the Summit, through its theme of "Global Education: Working Together for Sustainable Achievements" has created a new dynamism towards addressing the most challenging educational issues in the 21st century. Dr. Abdulla bin Al-Thani, chairman of WISE explained: "This Summit represents the beginning of a long-term process of innovation. The approach of WISE to date has been comprehensive and wide-ranging, however action springs from a focused approach. Throughout the series of plenary and breakout sessions, we have been listening very closely to the contributions and the key concerns of the participants with a firm commitment to move from debate to concrete outcomes. The identification of 10 strategic priorities is a milestone as it represents a convergence among global educational leaders on the key issues that will affect and shape education in the 21st century."

Turkey: Learning curve

Though there have been marked improvements across Turkey's educational infrastructure, the system needs further investment and development to meet the growing demands being placed upon it by the market. Education is the single biggest budgetary outlay for the national government, with allocations regularly topping 10 per cent of total state expenditure. For the 2010 budget, which was placed before the parliament in mid-October for consideration, the National Education Ministry is to receive US$19 billion from the US$193 billion of planned expenditure. Next year's allocation for education is almost twice that of defense, and is well up on the US$18.5 billion set aside for 2009. While this level of expenditure on education is commendable, the funding is spread somewhat thinly across the needs of more than 15 million school students, 60,000 schools and the wages of over 700,000 teachers, administrators and ancillary staff. Added to this are the costs of Turkey's higher and vocational educational facilities, with the country having just over 100 state universities and colleges, along with more than 25 private universities, the majority of which are concentrated in Istanbul. [source: OBG]