Ahmad Sayyed Khalil, professor of education and director of education department at ALECSO in Tunisia, made the suggestion in his paper presented at the high-profile Global Education Forum held in Riyadh.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has allocated about 26 percent of the Kingdom’s budget for 2011 to the education sector (SR150 billion) as it is considered a distinctive and a key component of investment and development.

Elaborating on his theme, Khalil said: “They should prepare an Arabic electronic information system for maintaining IT institutions and encouraging both public and private Arabic institutions to undertake translations from and into scientifically rich languages to enhance their creative and scientific aspects in future.”

Outlining the ALECSO proposal in this regard, Khalil pointed out there are suggestions for building a knowledge society in the form of an Arabic strategy for information development and creation of an Arabic body for this purpose. Such an initiative could help preserve Arabic works online by making use of ICT and prevent the loss of great works in Arabic by relying on modern technology. To this end, it is necessary to create knowledge society in the Arab world and qualify Arabic teachers for developing the Arabic framework and content.

Khalil said Arab states should hold high-profile conferences for Arab ministers and professionals as well as educational experts in the Arab world to discuss critical issues. They should also capitalize on the efforts of ALECSO in terms of qualifying teachers in this regard and emphasizing their professionalism.

The starting point of this exercise should include an action plan for educational development in the Arab world and teacher training in accordance with the needs of a knowledge-based society with a future vision.

One of the merits of a knowledge society, according to him, is that the person who creates the system is also the one who controls it. Consequently, those in the command and control systems are qualified to lead the team and work as decision-makers. This helps teachers and learners acquire knowledge producing techniques so as to cope with such challenges amid a knowledge explosion.

Khalil said education principles have been developed and transformed from knowledge for learning to knowledge for employment, from knowledge for co-existing with others to knowledge for emphasizing own identities.

A person has to learn to become a source of knowledge, instead of remaining just a consumer of knowledge. In other worlds, he should create his own identity within the process of coexisting with others.

“Knowledge has become globally accessible and the principal influential factor in everyday life of individuals and communities,” he said. “The knowledge society is continuously developing and moving toward the best. It is a well-connected and interacting society through communication media and it is able to easily have access to information resources.”

It is characterized by four principal sectors: information and telecommunication technology, intellectual property, databases and biotechnology. The most significant challenges that face knowledge societies and formation of scientific societies include the following:

The digital gap is one of the most critical issues that face the knowledge society; poor knowledge as a result of accumulating shortcomings in the main constituents of knowledge; and the scientific dilemma resulting from the economic differences between communities and institutions and between knowledge type in relation to technology.

There is also a decrease in science students at universities and other higher education institutions.

Knowledge society has various and interrelating dimensions, of which the most important are the following: the economic dimension, the technological dimension, the social dimension and the cultural and political dimension, he added.

One of the highlights of this year's forum is the participation of Malaysian professor Sufean Hussin who is listed as one of the “Top 100 Educators in the world” and as one of the top 2,000 intellectuals in the 21st Century, according to Cambridge, IBC administrative position.

Hussin's paper discussed Malaysian teachers’ standards and challenges for teacher educators.

Referring to the case of Malaysia, Hussin said it has brought about an educational renaissance to improve the quality and outcome of education in his country which has culminated in the articulation of standards for teachers. The Malaysian Teacher Standards (MTS), launched in 2009, is to establish high competency standards for the teaching profession and to increase the status of the teaching profession in Malaysia. He said that teachers’ standards encompass several aspects, including teacher's effective attributes such as attitude, commitment, ethics and personality.

The professor’s theory is rooted in Arab and Islamic teachings as the Holy Qur’an and the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) are the reference and sources of knowledge foundation. “In the journey of our life, we constantly falter and err; thus, to improve ourselves, we must constantly reflect and evaluate (muhasaba) upon ourselves, and then identify what are the aspects of our beauty, and what are the aspects we need to improve," he explained.

He said the major clients of Malaysian schools are the children and youth, and thus the process of education in schools is to develop them in many domains of human endeavor, according to the aspirations of the society and nation and stipulations of Allah.

“The Holy Qur’an and Sunnah are also rich sources of socialization of Islamic children and youth worldwide,” he said, adding education organizations have four main components of human development; literacy, construction, socialization and vocationalization.

Thursday’s session dealt with topics including, among others, the experience of colleges at King Saud University and preparing and qualifying teachers for a knowledge-based society.

The speakers were Ibrahim Abdulaziz Almaikel, assistant dean, faculty of education at KSU; professor Ferdaos Saud Alsaleh, dean of the Princess Noura University; and Fahad Al-Hammad.