My Contribution to the debate – Breaking the cycle of poverty through education

This week, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has launched a charity initiative to educate more than a million children worldwide, reported Gulf News. 'Dubai Cares' will run throughout Ramadan, with the goal of raising money from across Dubai's diverse community to provide primary education for poor children across the world.
http://www.ameinfo.com/132581.html

Here is a talk I had with someone about the advantages education gives to the young.

RLF: Why would you say education is crucial in the fight against poverty?

AN: For the very simple reason that a poor education or a total lack of any formal education are both sure signals to the world that poverty exists. In countries in which people live below the poverty line, the accompanying characteristic is the absence of schooling from a child’s day.

RLF: So you are saying that were we to help provide those children with an education, poverty would decline?

AN: I am saying exactly that. If you consider what an education does for a child, it follows that poverty can only decline – first for that individual, then for the family and for society at large as education becomes the norm.

Education gives a child many, many important things.

Confidence
Learning gives anybody confidence – a child learns why the sun rises every day, why the grass grows greener in Spring, browner in autumn, why it rains and very soon that child begins to put things together in his mind and start to work things out for himself. He starts to connect with everything, and in that act of connecting, he comes to realize his place in the world. That gives him confidence – the realization that although he’s no different from other kids, he is special – to his mother and his father, sure, but also to everyone he meets. His personality develops rapidly because of what he has learnt, what he is continually learning, and the knowledge he gains locates him in his world – the more he learns, the higher up in the world he moves – in his own eyes and in the eyes of those around him.

Knowledge
Knowledge is not the same as wisdom – wisdom is the ability to manipulate knowledge in ways that accord with how the world is, and a child can only gain wisdom accompanied with knowledge. Wisdom can hardly be created in a vacuum. Wisdom is said to be an innate characteristic, but when applied to knowledge, it becomes apparent, it develops and forms that person’s intellect.

Wisdom
Wisdom has been defined as various things – as accumulated philosophic or scientific learning-knowledge, as the ability to discern inner qualities and relationships-insight, and as good sense and judgment. It cannot, they say, be taught, or indeed learned, but what can be done is to develop wisdom by constantly exercising the mind, that is to say, by continually learning.

Opportunity
Opportunities do appear out of thin air, but more often than not they have to be forged, worked at until the opportunity that does come is almost inevitable – the outcome of diligence, resulting in some recognition by others.

A chance to interact
A child’s life, were that child to stay near its mothers apron strings would surely be a disjointed one. It is in going to school that children learn how to relate to others outside the family circle. Within that circle, learning how to be does occur, but it is always coincidental with relationships that have been founded. Outside the home, first at school, then in the world of work, the person has to work out what is acceptable and what is not. School is a place where a child is socialised into the normality of the world in which he is about to enter.

Pure and lasting enjoyment
The young scholar, finding, discovering for herself what is all around her, is bound to find real, lasting enjoyment of the kind that does not come merely from a sweet taste in the mouth, or from the cooling feel of water. Lasting enjoyment comes from those discoveries that expand the child’s mind so that she comes to learn that which she has not actually been formally taught.

The chance to break with deviant behaviour
Such behaviour that derives from sloth, from boredom and from a reliance on pleasures that can easily be got, not from diligence, but from superficial stimuli, is easily avoided once it is seen by the educated for what it is – nothing more than a trick played upon the mind by those who would have you fall into the same pit they themselves are entrapped.

Physical health
Physical health comes from purity – from good, wholesome food, eaten in moderation, and from exercise. Healthy are those children who, having finished their school day, run out into the sunshine and recreate the ideas they have been unconsciously forming – which is play. Play is the more enjoyable, delightful and jolly if it is contrasted by some more disciplined activity such as learning. If play was all there was in life, it would soon not be play at all but worthless drudgery – or it would not exist.

Mental health
Using the mind, moving away from the inward feelings that prey upon us, is best found in those mental exercises that seem to have no other purpose than to tax us. Removed from the world of interrelationships between self and fear, mental health is the product of reacting to phemonena that are no less real, but are, as I have said, one step removed from us.

A chance to realize your fullest potential
There is but this one life on Earth, and our next in the Hereafter whence we will be judged. The potential in all of us to do and to be, to become and to achieve is present. What is less so is our taking those opportunities, chances, if you will, to use what God has given to their highest extent.

Wealth measured in more than just monetary terms
Wealth, that word that is synonymous with money, means far more than figures in a bank account, fine raiment and jewelry, but rather should be measured in other ways, but is usually not measured in those ways. Wealth is man’s estate, found and used to its highest and its fullest – it is to be gotten by work, not by merely sitting back and accumulating.

Life itself
Life is for living, it hardly needs saying, and yet there are many who never get to realise it until it is too late. That realisation should come early rather than late in one’s life, and learning brings it so much earlier into a young life.
Robert L. Fielding

Inconvenient truths - a good place to look for ideas

Breaking the cycle of child poverty
By Neera Sharma
Policy officer, Barnardos

Poverty is the single greatest threat to the well-being of children in the UK. More than one in four children lives in poverty. In some regions, child poverty is even higher: rising to 54% in inner London. But the starkest deprivation is found in tiny, almost hidden pockets: there are some wards in the UK where over 90% of children live in poverty. Basic needs Poverty is increasingly seen in relative terms: it is about not having access to what others in your society take for granted. Children from the bottom social class are four times more likely to die in an accident A third of children in poverty go without the meals, or toys, or the clothes that they need.

For poor families, raising a child is not just about struggling to make ends meet; it's about struggling to give their child a chance to grow and thrive. Serious threat Growing up in poverty can affect every area of a child's development - social, educational and personal. Living on a low income means that children's diet and health can suffer. Poorer children are more likely to live in sub-standard housing and in areas with few shops or amenities, where children have little or no space to play safely.

Children from the bottom social class are four times more likely to die in an accident and have nearly twice the rate of long-standing illness than those living in households with high incomes.

They are also more likely to be smaller at birth and shorter in height. Children who grow up in poverty are less likely to do well at school and have poorer school attendance records. And the long term effects of being brought up in poverty can be even starker. As adults they are more likely to suffer ill-health, be unemployed or homeless. They are more likely to become involved in offending, drug and alcohol abuse. They are more likely to become involved in abusive relationships. Persistent poverty Once in poverty, children often stay in poverty well into adult life.

Recent research has found that most people remain in the same quarter of income distribution as their parents. In fact, the chance of being better off than their parents has reduced for people who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, compared with people who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. The key factors which suggest that children will fail to break free of the poverty cycle include: missing periods of school, being in care, being known to the police, misuse of drugs, teenage parenthood, and being out of education, employment or training between the ages of 16 and 18. Targets Ending child poverty by 2020 is one of the long term goals of the government.

The government has concentrated on employment as the primary way out of poverty for families with children. Tax credits have been introduced to supplement the incomes of working families. The government can claim some success with child poverty, despite well publicised difficulties with tax credit overpayment: Overall, 700,000 children have been lifted out of poverty. However, if the government wants to help the remaining children in poverty, more than tax credits are needed. There are 600,000 children under three living in poverty and only 42,740 free or subsidised childcare places for disadvantaged families The widespread availability of good quality child care is crucial, both in enabling parents to work or train for jobs, and in giving children a head start in life.

Early years care and education is known to improve children's future educational achievement and health, but almost all child care services for children under three are private sector arrangements for those whose parents can pay. There are 600,000 children under three living in poverty and only 42,740 free or subsidised childcare places for disadvantaged families. Work is not an option for all families, especially if they are caring for a disabled child or have health or disability problems themselves.

The children in these families grow up in persistent poverty and they must be the target of specific government policy if the goal of ending child poverty is to be realised. Even where they are able to overcome the obstacles to work, the gains from earning for many families will be modest, and some families may even find themselves worse off after returning to work. Work does not guarantee a route out of poverty.

Some of the initiatives set up to tackle exclusion are actually pushing those people not involved further towards the margins. State benefit link The Child Tax Credit established a guaranteed minimum income level for families in work, but there are no minimum levels for those on benefit. For those who do not have paid work, income can be far below the poverty line. Weekly income support for a couple with two children is around £178, compared with £253 in earnings at poverty level.

For a single parent with two children, income support is £147, compared with £175 in earnings at poverty level. League tables on child poverty among developed nations show a clear relationship between levels of state benefits and the rate of child poverty. All countries that have a high rate of social expenditure, such as Denmark, Finland and Sweden, have correspondingly low rates of child poverty. However, many families even miss out on benefits they are entitled to because of the complexities of the system, language barriers and a lack of clear information.

What families need to get out of poverty are good local services, employment opportunities that support family life and an adequate income. Child poverty is a social injustice, it is wasteful and it carries huge costs, both for the children involved and for society. The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated. Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/4123676.stmPublished: 2005/07/25 09:43:33 GMT© BBC MMVII http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4123676.stm

Author and Page information · by Anup Shah · This Page Last Updated Friday, November 24, 2006 · This page: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp. Consider the following poverty statistics

1. Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day. source 1

2. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined. source 2

3. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. source 3

4. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen. source 4

5. 51 percent of the world’s 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations. source 5

6. The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation. source 6

7. The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money. source 7

8. 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods. source 8

9. The top fifth of the world’s people in the richest countries enjoy 82% of the expanding export trade and 68% of foreign direct investment — the bottom fifth, barely more than 1%. source 9

10. In 1960, the 20% of the world’s people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% — in 1997, 74 times as much. source 10

11. An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about: 3 to 1 in 1820 11 to 1 in 1913 35 to 1 in 1950 44 to 1 in 1973 72 to 1 in 1992 source 11

12. “The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this year [2000] because world governments have failed to reduce poverty levels” source 12

13. The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants. source 13

14. A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world’s poorest 2.5 billion people. source 14

15. “The 48 poorest countries account for less than 0.4 per cent of global exports.” source 15

16. “The combined wealth of the world’s 200 richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined incomes of the 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.” source 16

17. “Of all human rights failures today, those in economic and social areas affect by far the larger number and are the most widespread across the world’s nations and large numbers of people.” source 17

18. “Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.” source 18

19. According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.” That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children under five years of age, each year. source 19

20. For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years [of the current form of globalization, from 1980 - 2000] have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades [1960 - 1980]. For each indicator, countries were divided into five roughly equal groups, according to what level the countries had achieved by the start of the period (1960 or 1980). Among the findings: Growth: The fall in economic growth rates was most pronounced and across the board for all groups or countries. Life Expectancy: Progress in life expectancy was also reduced for 4 out of the 5 groups of countries, with the exception of the highest group (life expectancy 69-76 years). Infant and Child Mortality: Progress in reducing infant mortality was also considerably slower during the period of globalization (1980-1998) than over the previous two decades. Education and literacy: Progress in education also slowed during the period of globalization. source 20

21. Water problems affect half of humanity: Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day. More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day. Access to piped water into the household averages about 85% for the wealthiest 20% of the population, compared with 25% for the poorest 20%. 1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.) Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhoea The loss of 443 million school days each year from water-related illness. Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits. Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water. To these human costs can be added the massive economic waste associated with the water and sanitation deficit.… The costs associated with health spending, productivity losses and labour diversions … are greatest in some of the poorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa loses about 5% of GDP, or some $28.4 billion annually, a figure that exceeds total aid flows and debt relief to the region in 2003. source 21

22. The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the same income as 2.7 billion poor people. “The slice of the cake taken by 1% is the same size as that handed to the poorest 57%.” source 22

23. The world’s 497 billionaires in 2001 registered a combined wealth of $1.54 trillion, well over the combined gross national products of all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa ($929.3 billion) or those of the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa ($1.34 trillion). It is also greater than the combined incomes of the poorest half of humanity. source 23

24. A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World. source 24

25. Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998 Global Priority $U.S. Billions Cosmetics in the United States 8 Ice cream in Europe 11 Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12 Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17 Business entertainment in Japan 35 Cigarettes in Europe 50 Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105 Narcotics drugs in the world 400 Military spending in the world 780

26. And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries: Global Priority $U.S. Billions Basic education for all 6 Water and sanitation for all 9 Reproductive health for all women 12 Basic health and nutrition 13
27. source 25

28. Number of children in the world 2.2 billion Number in poverty 1 billion (every second child) Shelter, safe water and health For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are: 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3) 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5) 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7) Children out of education worldwide 121 million Survival for children Worldwide, 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy) 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation Health of children Worldwide, 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom) source 26

29. The total wealth of the top 8.3 million people around the world “rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world’s financial assets.” In other words, about 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s assets in 2004. source 27 Online Sources: (Note that listed here are only those hyperlinks to other articles from other web sites or elsewhere on this web site. Other sources such as journal, books and magazines, are mentioned above in the original text. Please also note that links to external sites are beyond my control. They might become unavailable temporarily or permanently since you read this, depending on the policies of those sites, which I cannot unfortunately do anything about.)
1. 'PPP Glossary Definition', Biz/ed web site, http://bized.ac.uk/cgi-bin/glossarydb/browse.pl?glostopic=1&glosid=401
2. http://mondediplo.com/1998/11/01leaderNote, if the above link has expired, please try the following alternative http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/hunger.htm
3. http://www.transparency.org/iacc/9th_iacc/papers/day1/plenary/d1pl_jwolfensohn.html
4. Web Archive’s archive of the article,
http://web.archive.org/web/20010321003640/http:/www.earthtimes.org/oct/developmentmarchrecognizesoct24_00.htm 5. http://www.povertymap.net/mapsgraphics/index.cfm?data_id=23417&theme=
6. Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, 'Global Falsehoods: How the World Bank and the UNDP Distort the Figures on Global Poverty', TFF, 1999, http://www.transnational.org/features/chossu_worldbank.html
7. '30 Days Minimum Wage', More4 (part of Channel 4 in the UK), first broadcast November 2005, http://www.channel4.com/more4/documentaries/doc-feature.jsp?id=12
8. Sanjay G. Reddy and Thomas W. Pogge, 'How not to count the poor', Columbia University, June 14, 2002, http://www.columbia.edu/~sr793/count.pdfNote, if the above link has expired, please try the following alternative locations: o This reposted version is in HTML, whereas the original link is to a PDF documenthttp://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd%5b126%5d=i-126-241b14a5be9a5b47cd5a88778ac79532 o Institute of Social Analysis, an organization set up by Colombia Universityhttp://www.socialanalysis.org/
9. http://www.un.org/events/poverty2000/messages.htm
10. http://mondediplo.com/1998/11/01leader
11. http://www.unicef.org/sowc99/index.html
12. http://www.newint.org/issue287/keynote.html
13. http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/aug98/16_20_084.html
14. http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/top200.htm
15. http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/feature/planet/fact_3.html
16. http://www.newint.org/issue312/facts.htm
17. http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/1998/en/
18. http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/1999/en/
19. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/press/releases/target.htm
20. http://www.worldbank.org/prospects/gdf99/ 21. http://www.panos.org.uk/global/reportdownload.asp?type=report&id=1000&reportid=1006 22. http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2000/en/
23. http://www.wri.org/wr2000/agro_food.html
24. http://www.unicef.org/pon00/immu1.htm
25. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673603137798/fulltext
26. http://www.cepr.net/globalization/scorecard_on_globalization.htmNote, if the above link has expired, please try the following alternative http://www.attac.org/fra/toil/doc/cepr05.htm 27. http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/Note, if the above link has expired, please try the following alternative Full report, 8Mb in sizehttp://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/pdfs/report/HDR06-complete.pdf
28. http://www.guardian.co.uk/debt/Story/0,2763,636624,00.html
29. http://www.ips-dc.org/projects/global_econ/billionaires.htm
30. http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/backgrdrs/2001/s01v7n3.html
31. http://volunteernow.ca/take_action/issues_consumerism.htm
32. http://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/index.htmlNote, if the above link has expired, please try the following alternative locations: o Actual reporthttp://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/sowc05.pdf o Home page for the reporthttp://www.unicef.org/sowc05/ o News report mentioning these stats from Inter Press Servicehttp://ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=27504
33. http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/industries/11853644.htmNote, if the above link has expired, please try the following alternative locations: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/world_wealth Google search resulthttp://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Some%20600%2C000%20join%20millionaire%20ranks%20in%202004 http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=1062 This page has been auto-generated from http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp Robert L. Fielding http://www.rlfielding.com/

Dubai cares - let's all care!

Dubai cares!
His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has launched a charity initiative to educate more than a million children worldwide, reported Gulf News. 'Dubai Cares' will run throughout Ramadan, with the goal of raising money from across Dubai's diverse community to provide primary education for poor children across the world.
http://www.ameinfo.com/132581.html
Education key to break 'cycle of poverty'
http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/dubaicares/sub_story/10154927.html

09/20/2007 12:44 PM By Emmanuelle Landais, Zoi Constantine and Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporters
Dubai: Over a million children will benefit from the 'Dubai Cares' campaign, launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which aims to break "the cycle of poverty" and empower children with education for a better future.

The 'Dubai Cares' campaign aims to raise at least Dh200 million from across Dubai's diverse community to provide children in some of the world's poorest countries with primary education.
It sets out to build new school facilities; renovate and rehabilitate existing, abandoned or damaged school premises; distribute school materials; award scholarships; coordinate a food programme at schools; an annual medical check-up for pupils and teachers; and provide training and workshops for teachers.

The campaign is being spearheaded by Shaikh Mohammad and his children, who will unveil a number of initiatives over the next six weeks.
According to organisers, in addition to raising money for the less fortunate around the world, 'Dubai Cares' also seeks to get Dubai's community, including individuals and the private sector, involved in the project, instilling a sense of social cohesion.

"I expect both Emiratis and expatriates to compete in charity and to participate in any way you find suitable .... In our country, we added to our Arab and Islamic tradition a diversity of values represented by the diverse mixture we have here of companies, cultures and nationalities from all over the world," Shaikh Mohammad said in his speech.

Launched in Madinat Jumeirah, 'Dubai Cares' is a charity drive during Ramadan to raise funds for primary education, effectively laying the basis for sustained economic growth, sound governance and effective institutions.

Soon after the announcement of the campaign, Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Airlines and Group, announced the donation of Dh10 million.

Major General Musabeh Rashid Musabeh Al Fattan, Director of Diwan of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and his family also announced a donation of Dh10 million per year to 'Dubai Cares', pledging to build seven schools throughout the world every year.
Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai World, pledged Dh20 million every year.
Shaikh Hasher Al Maktoum, Director of Dubai Information Department, pledged Dh10 million.

Expatriate community leaders said they have full confidence their respective nationals residing in the UAE will make the maximum effort to support the campaign.

Role of community
French Consul General, Robert Jongeryck, said the campaign could not have been launched at a better time as Ramadan is the perfect backdrop for such a charitable initiative. "I'm confident French businesses and individuals as well as other nationalities will do their utmost to support the campaign," said Jongeryck.

Venu Rajamony, Consul General of India, echoed similar views. "I'm sure the Indian community will be happy to support all good initiatives of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad. We look forward to hearing about the details of the campaign," he said.

http://www.gulfnews.com/

Full text of speech
http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/dubaicares/puffs/mid_right/10154747.html
09/20/2007 12:42 PM Staff Report

Below is the full text of Shaikh Mohammad's speech at the launch of a multi-million dirham initiative to educate more than 1 million children worldwide.

Ladies and Gentlemen

First, let me congratulate you on the occasion of the Holy Month of Ramadan. I pray that God will give each of us the strength to fulfill our duties during the Holy Month, the desire to absorb its values to the core of our being, and the integrity to ensure these values are reflected in our deeds. Ramadan is a blessed month for Moslems around the world. Our hearts fill with shared joy in our religion, our souls are lifted and we are swayed by the spirit of the Holy Month to offer mercy and compassion. Let the enduring spirit of Sadaqah (Charity) be the guiding light for our actions throughout the Holy Month. Let it shape our good intentions so they become deeds whose consequences are positive, immense and far reaching.

Education offers one of the clearest and most effective ways to turn good intentions into actions that change the lives of people immeasurably and for the better. The satisfaction to be gained from a single act that helps the needy or curbs injustice can be immense. Imagine how much stronger that satisfaction must be if that act helps – as only education can – to free generation after generation from grinding poverty. The patrons of education leave a lasting mark on history.

The opening of the first school in the UAE in 1903, for example, is a defining moment in the history of the nation and continues to be regarded as one of the greatest events in the country's modern history. Our history books record the contributions of UAE's education pioneers such as: Mohammed bin Ahmad Dalmouk, Khalaf bin Oteiba, Ali Mahmoud, Mohammed Zeinal and a host of others. The names of those pioneers who put their efforts into opening schools and providing the funding to support education, will be longest remembered and are an undeniable part of our history. Those who forget their responsibilities towards their community are soon forgotten.

Brothers and Sisters, Education holds out hope for the future, enrichment for the present, and dignity for mankind. It helps us to communicate with each other. It helps nations to hurdle the barriers to understanding. It provides a solid basis from which societies can grow and flourish. God Almighty said: "O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allâh is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa". (Al Hujurat – 13) But, could the ignorant communicate with the educated? Do societies that continue to accept widespread illiteracy have any chance to bridge the gap between themselves and the educated world?

Education, through its ability to open eyes to new possibilities and extend horizons, offers a channel for communication between humans, a necessity as the Holy Quran tells us. The importance of education has increased tremendously in the "Knowledge Age". Promoting education and providing the support it needs to flourish are now prerequisites for global development. Those who are deprived of education will inevitably fall behind and dwell in a shadowland. They will never know the true essence of their religion, nor learn its valuable teachings. They will always be dependent on others and face the prospect of becoming burdens on themselves, their societies and the whole world.

Brothers and Sisters. Since the era of the late Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid, may God ensure their souls rest in peace, the UAE has been committed to offering support and help to our fraternal brothers and sisters in the Arab and Moslem worlds across Africa and Asia. The country's contributions were made in many fields, and especially in the field of education. From early on in our history pioneering UAE businessmen have appreciated the importance of education. Mr. Juma Al Majid, for example, has been an outstanding role model. His support for education has resulted in Mr. Juma being considered an outstanding figure and a celebrated patron across the Arab and Islamic Worlds. The UAE's remarkable successes at various local and regional levels have increased its prominence as an economic and cultural bridge between the East and the West.

By accepting this crucial role we accept at the same time the duty to promote education in its entirety. Last May, I launched the "Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation" for human development. Knowledge and Education are key components of the vision and mission of the foundation and underpin its activities. We expect the Foundation to become a showcase for the benefits of long term education initiatives for humanity in general and for our region in particular.

Today, I seize this opportunity presented by the Holy Month of Ramadan to announce the "Dubai Cares" campaign, which focuses on supporting education for children in a number of the world's poorest countries. I invite you to take part and support this campaign. I strongly believe that together, we can reshape the future of underdeveloped countries in the region and globally.

The campaign's mission is to help spread education in these countries by securing necessary funds. Building new schools and classrooms, providing books, food and medical care for unprivileged children are among the campaign's key objectives. Brother and sisters. Eight years ago, the international community set the millennium development goals all countries pledged to fulfill. One of the main goals was to guarantee that every child will receive a basic education by the end of 2015.

The realities on the ground are not promising and it looks unlikely that this goal will be met on time. There are 120 million school-age children across the world who do not have access to education. A third of the children in developing countries cannot complete five years of education, the minimum required to achieve basic literacy.

Unfortunately, the biggest proportion of these deprived children are in Asia and Africa, especially in the Islamic world and the neighboring countries. This is in spite of the value placed on education in our holy book, as the first Aya that was sent to the world was a call for reading: IQRA’A. Even the holy sayings of our prophet place education on the same level as worship, and even at a better place.

Brothers and Sisters. Thanks to Allah, we, in the UAE, enjoy a high standard of living. One of the secrets of our success and progress has been our ability and readiness to create opportunities and seize them in a timely fashion. But opportunities do not grow on trees and cannot be achieved by wishing or dreaming. They are attained by taking the one clear path - the path of knowledge. Education is the bulldozer that makes this path navigable, guiding people along its course and towards their destination.

Knowledge gives people the chance to live in pride, progress and prosperity. Expanding education in all of our emirates, and encouraging thousands upon thousands of university and higher colleges graduates, from our boys and girls, is the solid platform on which we will achieve progress and prosperity. Advancing education remains an unquestionable priority. We have started the race against time to achieve an Emirati education that meets the highest international standards.

This Dubai Cares campaign, that I am launching today, seeks to shine the light of knowledge and dispel the darkness of ignorance. Its aim is to give the children of poor countries hope for the future and opportunities to break the cycle of poverty that threatens to entrap them and consign their families to a life with no real future. Through education they can become positive contributors in the prosperity of their communities and countries.

Brother and sisters. Wherever ignorance reigns so does poverty, illness, misery and despair, and people start believing in fiction and illusions. The worst disease in this world is the unbreakable partnership between ignorance and poverty. This partnership is the source of all evil from which many countries suffer and it is the root of persecution, and the main reason for divisions in the world between a wealthy North and a poor South, between advanced countries and deprived countries, between societies that know, and societies that do not know. The only way to break this partnership between ignorance and poverty is by relentlessly attacking ignorance and by exerting every effort to spread education.

We are doing our duty, regardless of the fact that many countries have resigned from playing their role in combating illiteracy worldwide and the international community is not able to fulfill its promises. We are doing what we see as our duty by our religion, our traditions, our humanity and our deep belief that the person who turns his back on the suffering of his brothers and sisters doesn’t deserve to be called as human. Therefore I am confident that you will participate in Dubai Care initiative for education.

I expect you, Emiratis and expatriates, to compete in charity and to participate in every way you find suitable. And I expect from the private sector a substantial contribution, including the international corporations and their offices in the UAE. In our country, we added to our Arab and Islamic values a bright international horizon with a diverse mixture of companies, cultures and nationalities from all over the world. This mixture offers a successful model of coexistence and collaboration. We are all invited today to develop this model and give it a humanitarian dimension through our collaborative donation to our brothers and sisters who are less fortunate than our Emirati nationals and the expat residents who have helped our country and helped themselves to achieve what they could not in their home countries.

Today, I announce the start of Dubai Cares campaign, empowered by your will and determination. I am pleased to announce that I, together with my sons and daughters, will participate actively to ensure the success of this campaign. I expect everyone to participate personally and that you will motivate your family members to contribute as well, so we can all fulfill our duty in what pleases our Creator and our own conscience. We need to implant the culture of donation in our society and give our children a heritage that incorporates the noble values that we inherited from our ancestors and which have now become one of the highest universal values. These values gain more territory every day. They have new heroes every day, competing for the welfare of their brothers and sisters in humanity.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/print_friendly_version.jsp?


Dubai Cares’ for children in poor countries
By Meraj Rizvi (UAE Editor)20 September 2007

DUBAI — His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, yesterday launched the ‘Dubai Cares’ campaign, a new charity initiative during the holy month of Ramadan to help educate one million children in poor countries around the world.

The fund, to be raised in a six-week long drive, will go to countries which lack resources for education and face major impediments to growth and stability.

Addressing a large gathering of VIPs, local dignitaries and representatives from the private and public sectors as well as charity organisations at the Madinat Jumeirah, Shaikh Mohammed said:
“The campaign will assist countries in achieving their UN Millennium Development Goals set eight years ago for providing primary education to every child by 2015.

“The millennium development goals, which the countries pledged to fulfil, emphasised on education as the best long-term solution to alleviate poverty in the developing world,” he said, reinforcing the call of experts that educating children, especially girls, is the key to ending the global cycle of poverty.

Global statistics significantly add to the urgency of this campaign, Shaikh Mohammed said, adding that 120 million school-age children around the globe are not enrolled in primary schools, and one in every three children in developing countries does not complete five years of primary education, the minimum required for achieving basic literacy.

Of the children who do not attend schools, 58 per cent (more than half) are girls, and it is this gender gap in education which poses a major obstacle to alleviating poverty.

Shaikh Mohammed stressed on the need for urgent action to meet the UN development goal, urging both Emiratis and expatriates in the UAE to compete in charity and to participate in their own suitable way in the charity campaign. He urged the private sector, including the international corporations and their offices in the UAE, to make a substantial contribution to the charity drive. Shaikh Mohammed and his sons and daughters, all of whom are making personal commitments to the cause, are offering their direct support — both financial and moral — in order to achieve the campaign’s objectives. These efforts run parallel to the call of Shaikh Mohammed to Dubai’s multicultural residents to contribute to and participate in this global initiative. “Joined by my sons and daughters, I will participate actively to ensure the success of this campaign and invite everyone to participate personally and motivate your family members to contribute as well, so we can all fulfil our duty in what pleases our Creator and our own conscience,” said Shaikh Mohammed.

“We need to implant the culture of giving in our society and give our children a heritage that incorporates the noble values we inherited from our ancestors which have now become one of the highest universal values,” he noted. Among the campaign’s goals is social cohesion, which is in line with Shaikh Mohammed’s commitment to enhance a collective sense of belonging among all communities in Dubai.

Another important goal is to instill the spirit of proactive fund-raising for a global cause, which stems from Shaikh Mohammed’s focus on global citizenship and broadening the scope of Dubai’s philanthropic obligations to a global level.

‘Dubai Cares’ joins a list of international initiatives launched in Dubai that express Dubai’s will to play an effective role contributing to achieving a better tomorrow for future generations.

Events and promotions will be organised over a six-week period to tap into the spirit of giving and the tradition of philanthropy deeply rooted in the Emirati community — elements that will be key to achieving the campaign’s objectives.

The campaign will also create the necessary conditions for students to excel and take their rightful positions as positive contributors to their societies.

Specifically, the campaign sets out to build new school facilities; renovate/rehabilitate existing abandoned and/or damaged school premises; distribute school supply materials; award student scholarships; coordinate a feeding programme at schools; an annual medical check-up for students and teachers; and provide training and workshops to benefit teachers.

By promoting education in other countries, Shaikh Mohammed said, he aims to reinforce the principle that education — as a vehicle for development in countries globally — guarantees stability, prosperity and progress and brings about positive change throughout the world.

'Dubai Cares' Secures First Donation at Launch


19 September 2007Major General Musabeh Rashid Musabeh Al Fattan Announces AED 10 million per year to Fund Education in Poor Countries
Dubai - Major General Musabeh Rashid Musabeh Al Fattan, Director of Diwan of His Highness

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and his family today announced a donation of AED 10 million per year to 'Dubai Cares', following the launch of the campaign by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Launched at the Madinat Arena in Madinat Jumeirah, 'Dubai Cares' is a charity drive during the Holy Month of Ramadan to raise funds for primary education for needy children in poor countries around the world, effectively laying the basis for sustained economic growth, sound governance and effective institutions.

The donation will help lay the foundations in poor countries for students - and their communities - to escape the reins of poverty. 'Dubai Cares' sets out to build new school facilities; renovate/rehabilitate existing abandoned and/or damaged school premises; distribute school supply materials; award student scholarships; coordinate a feeding programme at schools; an annual medical check-up for students and teachers; and provide training and workshops to benefit teachers.

With every school - including student fees, teachers and equipment - valued at AED 1.4 million, Maj. Gen. Al Fattan and his family are helping 'Dubai Cares' build 7 schools throughout the world every year. Villages, towns and remote areas struggling to provide children basic education, will soon have the resources to give children the means and opportunity to be positive contributors to their societies.

'Dubai Cares' joins a list of international initiatives launched in Dubai that express Dubai's will to play an effective role contributing to achieving the world's mission to secure a better tomorrow for future generations - a huge responsibility given Dubai has chosen to assume yet another initiative with the welfare of the person as its focal point.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20070919113413

Shaikh Mohammad: Dubai Cares
XPRESS
http://www.xpress4me.com/news/uae/dubai/20003212.html

The “Dubai Cares” campaign, a charity drive to educate children in poor countries, was launched yesterday.

The campaign recognizes education as the best long-term solution to alleviate poverty in the developing world, reinforcing the call of experts that educating children is the key to ending the global cycle of poverty.

Global statistics add to the urgency of this campaign: 120 million school-age children are not enrolled in primary education; one in every three children in developing countries does not complete the minimum requirements for basic literacy.

Of the children who do not attend school, 58% are girls. This gender gap in education is a major obstacle to alleviating poverty.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, was on hand to launch the campaign. In his speech he said: “Education is the most effective way to turn good intentions into concrete actions that change the lives of people immeasurably and for the better. The satisfaction of helping the needy or curbing injustice can be immense.”

Shaikh Mohammad described how the campaign will help over 1 million children and assist countries in achieving their UN Millennium Development Goals for providing Primary Education to every child by 2015.

The recipient countries will include those who lack resources for education, growth and stability.
The campaign sets out to build new/renovate schools; distribute school supplies; award scholarships; coordinate a feeding programme; setup annual medical check-ups for students and teachers; and provide training and workshops for teachers.
http://www.xpress4me.com/news/uae/dubai/20003212.html