Literacy is the cornerstone of all science. Without the ability to read well and comprehend and express scientific thought, inventions and ideas will be consigned to float within the limited space of those who understand science.
In the United States, the national science education standards committee defines science literacy as the “means that a person can ask, find or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences. It means that a person has the ability to describe, explain and predict natural phenomena.” This marks the relationship between science and language as one that needs to be nurtured and worked on in schools, universities and the public arena.
The idea that science and literacy are two different worlds or parallel lines that shall never meet is now obsolete and defunct. Today, we must embrace the notion that science and literacy are inseparable entities.
However, what does this mean for educators?
First, they should acknowledge the close relationship between literacy and science and start looking at the two disciplines as closely intertwined. Jokingly, I would say we need literacy in science to make sense to the masses.
Second, literacy and science experts should work together to come up with ideas, concepts, projects and possibly products that can modernise the Arabic language and bring its instruction into the 21st century in schools and universities. I dream of reading texts about the life cycle of a frog or of questions being asked about whether we can hear a scream in space in Arabic language classrooms.
Third, women should be encouraged into STEM professions. According to US census bureau statistics, women made up 7 per cent of the STEM workforce in 1970.
That number increased to 23 per cent in 1990, but the number is still hovering around that number even now. If those are the numbers in the US, what do you think the percentage would be in the Middle East?
Teresa K Woodruff, director of the Women’s Health Research Institute at Northwestern University, told National Geographic in 2014 that even the rats used in scientific lab experiments have been mainly males. This has led, it is claimed, to many mistakes being made over the years in diagnosing illness in women and in prescribing the correct dose of medicine for them.
Based on that, the national institutes of health announced in May 2014 that researchers who received funds from the US agency would have to test their theories on female lab animals, tissues and cells, and that gender would be considered a variable in experiment design and analysis.
Involving more women in the STEM world can usher in all sorts of different perspectives and possibly make the sciences more accessible and attractive to some hesitant youth.
I will leave you with the thoughts of the poet T S Eliot: “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.” Next year’s words might well be literacy and science or shall we call it SciLit?
If the Arabic language classroom does not embrace the SciLit revolution, then it may find it is working its way towards a bygone era.
Hanada Taha is the endowed chair professor of Arabic language at Zayed University
World Test Championship table
1 India 71 per cent
2 New Zealand 70 per cent
3 Australia 69.2 per cent
4 England 64.1 per cent
5 Pakistan 43.3 per cent
6 West Indies 33.3 per cent
7 South Africa 30 per cent
8 Sri Lanka 16.7 per cent
9 Bangladesh 0
Results
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Company%20Profile
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Representing%20UAE%20overseas
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COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X
Price, as tested: Dh84,000
Engine: 1.4L, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: Six-speed auto
Power: 142hp at 4,900rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 1,850rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L / 100km
