ALECSO chief underlines Arab education revamp drive

Director General of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) Abdullah Mhareb stressed here on Monday the significance of the Arab educational improvement program as part of a holistic educational plan in the Arab world, which was adopted at the Arab Summit in Damascus in March 2008. Addressing the second meeting of the scientific advisory board for the Arab program for improving educational quality in a speech read out on his behalf by the ALECSO's assistant secretary general Mohammad Al-Qudsi, Mhareb said the educational improvement plan marked an ambitious program purposed to disseminate the educational quality culture in the Arab world. He spoke highly of the scientific advisory board as an advisory body that brings together a constellation of regional and international partners and experts. In this context, Mhareb appreciated the effective role of the World Bank in the implementation of this program by means of supporting the scientific advisory board and, thence, the Arab educational improvement drive. He renewed the interest of the ALECSO and its member states in the promotion and development of efforts to put this plan in place and to create a knowledge-based society. Common Arab action in the educational domain marks the strategic basis for the Arab educational revamp program out of belief in cooperation as the most successful way to notch up significant results, he pointed out. For his part, Chairman of the scientific advisory board Alejandro Tiana addressed the gathering by saying it was necessary to stress more backing and coordination for this advisory body. He also called for reconsidering the structure of the board and its means of work and providing it with more experts and specialists in relevant domains as well as improving methods of work, communication and assessment.