Edraak matters

Edraak (Arabic for: to recognise, appreciate, grasp, understand, comprehend), the brainchild of Her Majesty Queen Rania, is a massive open online course (MOOC) platform that provides courses in Arabic.

Launched a month ago in Amman, the initiative is a step in the right direction and if we continue to expand people’s choices, which is the very essence of development, there is hope for development in the region.

Edraak, which powered by the Open edX platform is the first not-for-profit Arab platform for MOOCs aimed at bringing world-class education to Arab-speaking learners anywhere, aims to deliver high-quality online education from some of the best Arab instructors, regional academic institutions as well as Arabic-translated courses from prestigious universities worldwide.

At the launch ceremony, Queen Rania made some interesting citations, the most powerful of which, in my view (also cited in the Arab Human Development Report 2002), that the number of books translated by all Arabs since the days of the Abbasid Caliphate, some 1,000 years ago, is less than the number of books translated in Spain in one year.

Furthermore, although Arabs spend a higher percentage of their GDP on education than any other developing region, the quality of education is low.

In addition, there is a severe mismatch between education and the labour market in a region where 38 per cent is under 14 years of age and two-thirds of the population are below the age of 30.

It is no wonder that the unemployment rate in the Arab world is a stubborn 15 per cent.

Edraak, if properly funded and expanded, and given the enthusiasm and the success already achieved, may enable Arabs to better access knowledge.

Before Edraak was launched, I only saw one course that is presented in Arabic on MOOC, and that offered by a non-Arab university.

The creation of courses in Arabic is especially important not only for those who cannot afford (in terms of funds and time) acquiring knowledge otherwise but also for transferring knowledge and enabling it to become part of the culture and civilisation of Arabs today.

Having the possibility to access knowledge for free fills one with hope. Thanks to Queen Rania, we have perhaps the greatest contribution to Arab learning and development in the past decade.

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