CHANGING THE EDUCATION YARDSTICK

By Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood

We always talk about how Female Labour Force Participation – FLFP – is speeding up the economy in our part of the world.

The biggest example of course is Saudi Arabia where social reforms have made education, labour and financial rights more accessible for Saudi women.

But did you know that there is also a global women’s health action plan?

At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, the Global Alliance for Women’s Health announced 42 organisations have collectively pledged $55 million to improve women’s health outcomes worldwide.

There is a specific report called ‘Closing the Women’s Health Gap’ which shows that addressing the women’s health gap could potentially boost the global economy by at least $1 trillion annually by 2040.

World leaders pause in the business of governance each year and converge at Klosters, Switzerland for ideating on the way forward and taking stock of global economic goals and assessing their own country’s performance indicators.

This year AI and climate change dominated discussions because, going forward these two power ful disruptors are going to shape our world.

And while talking about rebuilding trust between nations, economic leaders such as Ajay S. Banga, President of the World Bank Group, emphasised the interconnectedness of crises; “We cannot think about eradicating poverty without caring about climate, about healthcare or about food insecurity and fragility.”

As a small island nation in an arid zone of the world, all these are valid points for the Kingdom of Bahrain to ponder. We are looking at rapid change in our country’s economic profile.

Bahrain’s hydrocarbon sector is expected to register small growth of 0.1% during 2023-24 while the non-hydrocarbon sectors will continue expanding at nearly 4% supported by the recovery in the tourism, service sectors, and the continuation of infrastructure projects.

That means we are moving steadily to a knowledge and service economic growth model.

I hope our education sector is looking at this and working with the private sector to reshape education priorities to suit this futuristic goal.

We have a responsibility to our young people who need to be properly equipped and trained for the future which they will be stewards of.

Each country must march to the drumbeat of its own progress blueprint. Only then can we converge on the global canvas with the assurance of making a mark in the future.