Effective education is vital, essential for future of our young people: UAE Minister

Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, said the UAE is moving in the right direction thanks to 'wonderful examples of young Emiratis'.

Sheikh Nahyan inaugurates the Arab Knowledge Forum in Dubai. Wam

ABU DHABI // Education is essential for the future of young Emirati men and women and the whole nation, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak told the Arab Knowledge Forum in Dubai this week.

The UAE Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development said the UAE is moving in the right direction thanks to “wonderful examples of young Emiratis”.

“We must provide an education that empowers our youth to embrace technology and its associated potential, while at the same time unleashing their creativity and innovative capacities. We must provide Arab youth with an education that cherishes their Arabic heritage, particularly the Arabic language, while at the same time enabling them to be critical and nimble thinkers,” Sheikh Nahyan said at the event held at the American University in Dubai with the theme Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Capacity-Building of the Youth in the UAE.

Stressing that the youth will reshape Emirati culture, the minister said: “We will be stronger for their energy, vision, and commitment.

“The UAE has always moved in the right direction, as our country is filled with wonderful examples of young Emiratis who are capitalising on their technical competence, their creativity, and their innovation particularly in the cultural industries. “

Quoting the President, Sheikh Khalif, who once said “work is the real criteria of patriotism, and our biggest achievement is the development of Emirati citizens,” Sheikh Nahyan said the leaders of the UAE support the national commitment to building and maintaining a knowledge economy and to achieving a much higher rate of employment for young people, especially in the private sector.

“You will be dealing with issues that confront the entire Arab world. I maintain the conviction that until all Arab nations educate their young women and young men well, Arab countries will be marginalised and inadequate competitors in the global society and the global economy,” Sheikh Nahyan concluded.

The Arab Knowledge Forum brought together leading figures from industry, academic leadership, and government as well as cohorts of the brightest young graduates and students for a constructive dialogue to enhance the empowerment of youth within the UAE, reported Wam, the state news agency.

“However overused a phrase, you are the future. In a country and in a city that incubates, accelerates, and fosters ideas, talent and enterprises designed to shape the future,” US Ambassador to the UAE Barbara Leaf told students at the forum.