UAE is a center for higher education on Arab Literacy Day

“Arab Literacy Day” is celebrated on January (8^th) of every year, the first literacy movements in the Arab began world after the "Arab League" Conference on (29) December 1954, the "Arab League"  decided in 1966 to create the “Arab Network for Literacy and Adult Education”, which aims to make literacy efforts across the Arab world, the "Arab League" adopted in memory of creation of the network in 1970 celebrating it on the 8^th of January of each year, the "Arab League for Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization” said in a statement that the number of illiterate people in the Arab world, rose to (70) million in 2005, up from (50) million in 1970.

The education sector is one of the most important priorities in the UAE, for its role in the development process and to raise the level of economic and social life of its citizens, education in the past ten years has achieved significant progress in terms of diversity of curriculum, teaching methods and learning styles that control quantity and quality, this has been accompanied by a significant growth in the numbers of students, academic and administrative staff and the increase in spending. As a report by the "Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation" and its strategic partner the “United Nations Development Program” also stressed  the decrease in literacy rate in the UAE from (27.7%) in 1985 to (10%) in 2010, an average decline of (17.7%),reaching to less than (1%) in 2013, thanks to the efforts of the leadership in spreading education.

The UAE “Cabinet  of Ministers” approved a law for the Federal Government's budget for the fiscal year 2014, with total appropriations of (46.2) billion Dirhams, and the education sector topped the list of social development projects with allocations for public and higher education programs allocated (9.8) billion Dirhams, representing (21%) of the total budget. The UAE has also become a global center for higher education, having attracted the finest universities in the “United State” and “Europe” to open accredited branches in the State, and the “Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research” under the guidance of his Excellency Sheikh “Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan” seeks to give higher education institutions by providing them with continuous, strong support and complete care, as it is supplying qualified graduates from various disciplines to meet the requirements and needs of the labor market from all technical disciplines, the State has more than (80) Universities and Colleges accommodating more than (110 000) students studying (780) academic and research programs.

Education is the biggest concern of the State, so it is implementing future plans for educational development for the next (20) years, working on Emiratisation of education, so that the proportion of citizens working in education to reach (90%) by 2020, considering that literacy is a starting point toward higher education, valuable opportunities, personal development and social success by linking education with competitive knowledge economy and its output to the needs of the labor market, and to provide children with access to basic education, ensuring their access to the basic skills needed to take the first steps towards independence, and from here the Government of the UAE started implementation of strategies in education, higher education and scientific research, to maintain the quality of education, its output and competitiveness.