Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

countries and providing a picture of their relative progress with respect to the general level of education that agiven generation of children can obtain, other factors being equal.17See Statistical Annex Table 17. Note that Syria, Saudi Arabia and Somalia are not listed due to the lack ofstatistical data sufficient to calculate this indicator.18The blue curve represents the exponential relationship between the two variables, the other line shows thepolynomial relationship between them. Palestine and Somalia are not included in this or similar figures due tothe lack of available data on per capita GDP in Palestine and the state of education in Somalia.19Figures 3-2 through 3-7 were assembled by Ramzi Salama, Report core team member, from data available atthe UNESCO Institute for Statistics.20Identified as the most prevalent form educational phase in the Arab region, it consists of nine years of primaryand intermediate education. Calculations have therefore been made on this basis, even for countries that use adifferent system, as is the case with the Jordanian system and the new system in Oman.21See Statistical Annex, Table 18, which excludes Palestine and Somalia, due to the lack of data, and the Comorosand Djibouti, which are special cases due to the virtual absence of Arabic language instruction in their curricula.22It should be borne in mind that a one per cent difference in the amount of time allocated to a subject isequivalent to about 100 class hours in the basic education phase. This is not inconsiderable.23See Statistical Annex, Table 19.24These countries, in order of their results, were Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Palestine, Morocco,Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.25These countries, in order of their results, were Jordan, Bahrain, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia,Morocco, Lebanon, and Yemen.26Kuwait and Morocco took part in the international study on fourth-grader reading skills, ranking thirty-fifthand thirty-sixth out of the thirty-seven participating countries or regions. Their average scores were verylow compared to the overall global average (see the report by the International Association for EducationalAchievement, PIRLS, 2003). Jordan, Tunisia, and Qatar participated in the study on maths, science, and readingacquisition conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development . In maths they rankedfifty-second, fifty-fourth, and fifty-sixth respectively out of fifty-seven participating countries; in science theyranked forty-fourth, fifty-fourth, and fifty-sixth out of fifty-seven; and in reading they placed at forty-seventh,fifty-second, and fifty-fourth out of fifty-six participating countries. In all areas, their results were far below theglobal averages.27These countries, in the order of their widely differing results, are Dubai/UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Bahrain,Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.28These countries, in order of their widely divergent results, are Dubai/UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, Syria, Tunisia, Oman,Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Qatar.29These countries, in order of their widely divergent results, are Dubai/UAE, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait,Qatar, and Yemen.30These countries, in order of their divergent results, are Dubai/UAE, Algeria, Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco, Qatar, andYemen.31The above tests were conducted in the participating countries with the support of the UNDP regional office forArab countries. We took the results of the three participating regions of Canada as representative of a singlecountry.32See Statistical Annex Table 20. Statistical data is lacking for five countries: Lebanon (which likely belongs to thefirst category), Djibouti, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan (which most likely fall into the third category).33Given as the ratio of females to males.34In addition to Somalia, for which there are no accurate statistics. Statistical data on this point is also lacking forSaudi Arabia.35See Statistical Annex, Table 20.36See Table 3-2.37To these we can add the Comoros, Djibouti, and Somalia, for which we have no precise statistical data.38No statistical data are available for Somalia.39See Statistical Annex, Table 11.EDUCATION AND THE FORMATION OF KNOWLEDGE CAPITAL135