Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

Literacy ratesamong adults havenot reached thesaturation point (95per cent and above)in any Arab stateThe available datashows steadyprogress in theaverage number ofyears of schoolingcompleted in allArab statesBOX 3-7The internet site of Saudi Arabia’sMinistry of Economy and Planning 76provides precise statistics on theeducation level of the Saudi people. Onthe basis of this data, we have calculatedthe level of education of the latter asan illustration of how the same may bedone in other countries. Each individualwas given a mark according to his levelof education, starting from zero forilliterate and ending with eight for adoctoral degree graduate, according tothe scale of educational levels attainedby adults. 77According to the findings, theaverage educational level of Saudiscurrently employed is the secondaryschool level (with a mark of 3.97), whichis not bad from the perspectives of theknowledge economy and knowledgesociety. The average level of educationamong Saudis not employed, most ofwhom are women (79 per cent), is justleaving only 5 per cent at the top end ofthe scale, students from the USA range asfollows: 38 per cent with grades of failedor poor, 42 per cent with grades of passor good, and 20 per cent with grades ofvery good or excellent (four times the ratioamong students of Arab countries in thiscategory). It follows that the Arab highereducational institutes under study havea 50 per cent success rate of producingacceptable levels of knowledge in computerscience. But this is not good enough togenerate a critical mass of highly skilledhuman resources capable of engaging inthe processes of development, renewal,innovation and other such activities thatwould propel Arab countries toward theknowledge economy.KNOWLEDGE CAPITALACQUIRED BY ADULTSTHROUGH EDUCATION 70Literacy rates among adults have notreached the saturation point (95 per centand above) in any Arab state. 71 However,they do approach this level (with rates ofbetween 85 per cent and 94 per cent) inThe Educational Level of Saudi Arabiansa little beyond primary school (2.13),which suggests deficiencies in meetingthe requirements of a knowledgesociety. Thus, the overall rate ofschooling among Saudi adults is 2.95,or the equivalent of the intermediarylevel. 78It is clear from these findings thatthe higher a person’s educational level inSaudi Arabia the greater the likelihoodof his participation in the country’seconomic life. Therefore, even thoughthe general level of education in SaudiArabia falls short of the minimal levelfor creating a knowledge society, wecould say that the forces active in thedevelopmental fields in society haveattained the required educational level, 79while the educational level of more thanhalf of Saudi adults, especially women,is clearly too low to enable them toparticipate in the knowledge society.eight countries, and have attained lowerrates (from 70 per cent to 84 per cent) ineight others. They remain poor (from 54per cent to 65 per cent) in five countries.There is a noticeable discrepancy betweenmales and females in these rates. It isabout 20 per cent in favour of malesoverall in the Arab region, with the highestdiscrepancy (38 per cent) in Yemen. Theonly exceptions to the gender discrepancy(with differences of 5 per cent or less) areQatar, the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain.The average number of years ofschooling completed is consideredthe best indicator of the quantitativeknowledge capital acquired by adultsthrough the educational system. However,to calculate this indicator requiresaccurate information on the school gradereached by every member of a society.UN organisations involved in populationstudies use a clear scale of completedlevels of education among adults 72 for thispurpose. Although countries have used thescale for their comprehensive and interimcensuses, Arab countries rarely publishthis data. Therefore, two approaches havebeen brought into play in order to estimatethe knowledge level of adults. The firstrelies on past school life expectancy rates,since the adults of today are the childrenwho entered the school system nineteenor more years ago. Accordingly, the rateof school life expectancy was calculatedfor the period from 1990 (those born in1984 at the latest) working backwards to1970 (beginning with those born in 1958),which is to say as far back as statistics areavailable. This approach thus coveredadults who, in 2008, were between aminimum of twenty-five and a maximumof fifty years of age.The available data 73 shows steadyprogress in this rate in all Arab statesfor which statistical data is available. Themedian school life expectancy rates inArab states ranged from the primarylevel to the intermediate level, withdiscrepancies favouring males, except forin Qatar, the UAE, and Bahrain in recentperiods, when the discrepancies favoured118 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009