ahmad education

How a supportive community empowered Ahmad through his education in the United Arab Emirates

Meet Ahmad, a high school graduate and young man from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was enrolled in the Al Qasimi Foundation’s Hands on Learning (HOL) programme, which is profiled in the UNESCO report as a good practice to address boys’ disengagement from education. This is his story. 

“Before beginning the HOL programme, I was really mischievous and got into trouble”, explains Ahmad. However, the programme changed my perspective toward education.” Ahmad is one of many boys who could have abandoned his education early on. He did not like to learn, repeated three grades and struggled with discipline. He is not alone.

The UAE is an example of a high-income country where boys are disengaged from education. Emirati boys, especially those from low socio-economic backgrounds, are at greater risk than girls of being marginalized and alienated from the education system. Boys are about one year behind girls of schooling in reading ability: girls aged 15 scored on average 50 points higher than boys in reading in the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Finding support in the HOL programme

Enrolled in the Hands on Learning programme for 3 years, Ahmad is very grateful for the structure it gave him: “Since we would go out every Wednesday and work on different projects as part of the programme, I would always look forward to that because it was different from our regular routine at school. This personally helped me become more focused and disciplined.”

Ahmad also participated in HOL’s Overseas English Language Programme and travelled to the United Kingdom for the first time. “I had never considered doing something like that before, but this experience broadened my horizons.” Ahmad adds, “The programme generally made me more confident in myself and in my capabilities.”

The HOL programme supports at-risk students in school. The model aims to re-engage students who are at risk of dropping out of school by creating a safe and educational environment for their active engagement. Through the programme, boys are provided a dedicated space to grow and develop critical life skills such as collaboration, leadership, problem-solving, resilience, communication and empathy.

Community and family support for boys’ education

Receiving support from his community was also key for Ahmad’s education. Boys’ awareness must be raised on the long-term benefits of higher education, including through school counselling. To address gender gaps in education at boys’ disadvantage, the UNESCO report also recommends measures to increase parents’ involvement and in particular, the involvement of fathers in their boys’ education.

Ahmad was encouraged and accompanied by his teachers, administrators, fellow students and his family. “Our family would tell us to focus on our studies and future…My brother and my dad, they both got really well-educated, so I wanted to be like them.”

Ahmad’s plans for the future

A country case study for the UAE produced for the UNESCO report notes that boys often pursue careers in the military and police, which do not require high levels of education but provide relatively high salaries. Ahmad is presently doing his mandatory military service but has already applied to the United Arab Emirates University for electrical or mechanical engineering and is planning a career in this field.

In the future, he wants to give back to his community. “No matter how hard I try, I can never give back enough and repay others for how much they helped us. However, I would like to open a company that can benefit society in the future, and just have a legacy of some sorts.”

The Hands on Learning (HOL) programme was founded in Australia in 1999. The Al Qasimi Foundation adopted the programme in 2014 to support at-risk students in schools in the United Arab Emirates. The programme specifically targets Emirati boys, who are more likely to underperform academically and drop out of school than girls, in the attempt to redress gender gaps and contribute to the achievement of gender parity in schools across the UAE.

To leave no child behind, UNESCO published the first global report on boys’ disengagement from education. The report shows that more boys are out of school than girls today, and much needs to be done to advance the education for all. Supporting boys’ education does not mean that girls will lose out.

More information:

• Leave no child behind: Boys’ disengagement from education
• Download the case study on the UAE
• Hands On Learning: Ahmad and Khaled
• UNESCO’s work on education and gender equality

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Learning in Distress: Plight of Education in Afghanistan

A panel discussion held via Zoom on Friday, November 19, 2021

Asia Center Seminar, Fall 2021

Kamal Ahmad, Founder,  Asian University for Women ; President & CEO,  Asian University for Women Support Foundation

Shirin Jaafari, Reporter, The World

Sakena Yacoobi, President & Executive Director,  Creating Hope International  and  Afghan Institute of Learning

Chair/Moderator:  James Robson, James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations; Harvard College Professor, and William Fung Director of the Harvard University Asia Center

Biographies:

Kamal Ahmad  is the Founder of the Asian University for Women (AUW) and leads its strategic planning and fundraising operations as President & CEO of the Asian University for Women Support Foundation. AUW is located in Chittagong, Bangladesh and draws students from 18 countries across the region. It offers a residential, undergraduate program in the liberal arts and sciences with plans for the establishment of a number of graduate schools. Kamal has served on the staffs of the World Bank, Rockefeller Foundation, UNICEF, and the General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank. He is a recipient of a number of awards including the United Nations Gold Peace Medal & Citation Scroll, given by the Paul G. Hoffman Awards Fund; Time magazine College Achievement Award; World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow Award; and the John Phillips Award from the Phillips Exeter Academy. He is a trustee of Harvard-Yenching Institute; Leadership Board Member of the Beth Israel Deaconness Hospital at Harvard University; and a Member of the Council of Luminaries of Yidan Education Foundation in Hong Kong. He holds a B.A. from Harvard College and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.

Pashtana Durrani  started her journey as an activist and human rights defender. She is now a Community development expert. Focusing on Digital literacy, SRHR, MHM, and WASH. She is the founder and Director of grassroots-level non-profit LEARN Afghanistan. Through LEARN's project Soraya, she has educated 7000 girls and boys in Kandahar. Through Project Ayesha Durrani, she has trained more than 80 teachers in digital literacy. Through LEARN's Project Malalai, Durrani has reached out to 150 girls and trained them in Menstrual Hygiene Management. Durrani received the Malala Fund Education champion award and received a development Fellowship on sexual and reproductive healthcare from Aspens Institute. She is an International member's youth representative for Amnesty International. She is a Board member of the UNDP GEF steering committee. She contributes to national newspapers like Afghanistan times and Kabul times. Durrani is the winner of the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize for 2021.

Shirin Jaafari  is a reporter for The World, a public radio program based in the US. Her reporting focuses on the Middle East and Afghanistan. Most recently, she was in Afghanistan to cover the US withdrawal. Shirin has also reported from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Before joining The World, Shirin worked for the BBC in Washington DC.

Sakena Yacoobi  is a founder and Executive Director of Sakena Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization. She manages grantor and donor relations and fundraises for Sakena Fund and the Afghan Institute of Learning, raising awareness about Afghanistan in the USA and the world. Each year, Yacoobi speaks at numerous events, conferences, and institutions such as the UN, Stanford University, and Oxford University. She particularly enjoys engaging with youth at schools, inspiring them to be globally-minded citizens. She is a respected expert and speaker especially on the subjects of girls' education, life in Afghanistan, health, refugees, and women’s empowerment. Yacoobi serves on several boards and panels including, the Women’s Refugee Commission, International Advisory Council for the International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation, New Global Citizens, the Advisory Council for the Center for Social Impact Learning at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and is a former board member of the Global Fund for Women. She is an advisor to the Fetzer Institute and a member of the US-Afghan Women’s Council. Yacoobi has 6 honorary doctorates from US universities including Princeton University. She has been honored with: 2017 Sunhak Peace Prize Laureate, 2016 Harold W. McGraw Prize in Education, 2015 WISE Prize for Education Laureate and 2013 Opus Prize, 2012 Lotus Leadership Award, 2007 Gleitsman International Activist Award. She is both a Kravis Prize and Gruber Prize awardee. Yacoobi is a Skoll Social Entrepreneur, Schwab Social Entrepreneur, Ashoka Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education fellow, and was nominated as one of 1,000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize. Yacoobi is the founder and Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL). Under her leadership, AIL provides education, health, and training services to the underserved in Afghanistan. Yacoobi has also established private facilities in the country, including four schools, a hospital, and TV and radio stations in Herat.

James Robson  is the James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and the William Fung Director of the Harvard University Asia Center. He has served as the Chair of the Regional Studies East Asia M.A. program. He teaches East Asian religions, in particular Daoism, Chinese Buddhism, and Zen, as well as the sophomore tutorial for concentrators. Robson received his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford University in 2002, after spending many years researching in China, Taiwan, and Japan. He specializes in the history of medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism and is particularly interested in issues of sacred geography, local religious history, and Chan/Zen Buddhism. He has been engaged in a long-term collaborative research project with the École Française d’Extrême-Orient studying local religious statuary from Hunan province. He is the author of Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak [Nanyue 南嶽] in Medieval China (Harvard, 2009), which was awarded the Stanislas Julien Prize for 2010 by the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres and the 2010 Toshihide Numata Book Prize in Buddhism. Robson is also the author of "Signs of Power: Talismanic Writings in Chinese Buddhism" (History of Religions 48:2), "Faith in Museums: On the Confluence of Museums and Religious Sites in Asia" (PMLA, 2010), and "A Tang Dynasty Chan Mummy [roushen] and a Modern Case of Furta Sacra? Investigating the Contested Bones of Shitou Xiqian." His current research includes a long-term project on the history of the confluence of Buddhist monasteries and mental hospitals in East Asia.

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