For years people have been talking about only two types of illiteracy — the inability to read and the inability to think. During the last decade, however, they have begun to talk about a new kind of illiteracy — electronic illiteracy. A person is said to be electronically illiterate if he does not know how to use a computer. These days, there is e-government, e-commerce and probably even e-war: everything is electronic and people must know how to use the technology. The world is connected and linked electronically and computer education is an important part of the curriculum in all forward-looking countries. In some countries, Japan for example, children’s toys are designed to teach children how to use computers in early childhood. These toys are not only for entertainment but also for using the brain and preparing the mind. The toys are also aimed at developing children’s innovative capabilities as early as possible so that they will be able to live in — rather than out of - the modern world.
Today’s Arab families are happy if their children receive a school certificate of whatever sort. Unfortunately, most of the certificates they receive are useless. They are like currency that has been withdrawn from circulation or a car that can no longer be driven or a medicine that is past its expiry date. We Arabs are in great need of changing the educational tools and means which we use and of developing a syllabus relevant to the modern world. I am quite sure that those who call for educational reform in the Arab world have no intention of giving less importance to religious education or of diminishing the importance of the Arabic language or of ignoring our heritage. All those things are important and we don’t want them to change. At the same time, there is plenty which we should change and if we neglect to do so, we will never progress beyond our present state. Japan has entered this new world and made remarkable achievements without relinquishing its values or heritage. So could we.
