International Scientific Conference
Education Challenges in the Arab World and Prospects for Reform
17-18 May 2022 
Monastir Science Palace Tunisia

Monastir Science Palace, Tunisia, in partnership with the Turkish-Arab-African Institute for Strategic Studies of the TASCA Organization, is organizing an international scientific conference entitled "Education Challenges in the Arab World and Prospects for Reform", at the Monastir Palace of Science, 17-18 May 2022. This announcement is an open invitation to all academics, researchers, experts, and specialists in the field of education.

Conference Concept

The countries of the Arab world started early to invest in education, as they allocated nearly 5% of their total domestic output and 20% of their government expenditures on education, which enabled them to achieve a set of goals, such as equality between the primary stage and obtaining some good results in international tests in the fields of mathematics and science.

However, these successes do not hide the fact that scientific achievement in the Middle East and North Africa region is still lower than that of countries with similar levels of economic development, and that the adopted educational systems still overlook many structural phenomena, such as the increasing importance of the knowledge economy, which makes them call for building policies that are more effective ability to address core breach situations. In this context, we list some of the basic bets on Arab educational systems; such as:

• To solve the civilizational crisis experienced by the educational systems in the Arab world. The crisis is that education is based on an educational legacy that bears the characteristics of tradition by virtue of their attachment to the culture of the past, including that Arab cultural thought is based on the concept of the absolute while contemporary thought is based on relativism and circumstantialism. That would be by working to build a person who believes in their values, is proud of their identity, and are open to universal values, exchange and acculturation without being followed or ruminated.
• The necessity of establishing an authentic Arab knowledge model based on main directions: stimulating diligence, advancing the Arabic language, evoking the cultural heritage of knowledge, enriching cultural diversity within the nation, and being open to other cultures...
• Linking education to strategies for eradicating poverty, eliminating unemployment, providing employment, and achieving balanced social and spatial development.
• Adopting a methodology for reforming educational systems in the Arab region based on two main directions: The first is to rationalize reform by adopting a method that is familiar with immaterial technology. The second trend is the attempt to unify the reform methodology in the Arab countries involved in this project.
• Enhancing the spirit of citizenship and democratic participation among young people by spreading a culture that accepts diversity, tolerates opposition and considers facts as relative, as well as developing basic skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving, to enable them to achieve effective and sustainable development.

In these circumstances, in which the educational system in the Arab world, like the rest of the world, is going through a huge crisis, not least the learning poverty rate, which exceeded 50% in low- and middle-income countries, the Covid pandemic emerged, which exposed and deepened the recorded violations and inflicted new negative effects such as high learning losses. Increasing dropout rates and inequality in educational systems. While this pandemic has stimulated innovation and innovation in the education sector, such as the development of distance learning strategies, the use of the Internet, and the involvement of audio-visual media to ensure continuity of learning and training, this pandemic has exacerbated the inequality of opportunities in most Arab countries. Many children find it difficult to connect to the Internet, as well as to own laptops, or to find support from their parents as hoped.

Future educational systems are called to build programs that provide the necessary skills that qualify for employment and the ability to adapt for equitable and sustainable development that will enable them to better deal with future crises. Here, “Education 4.0” emerges as the most prominent option to ensure quality education, equitable and inclusive for all, and enhances lifelong learning opportunities. It is based on important technological developments such as the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, open learning and others to provide continuous, flexible, personalized and detailed learning for students, according to their needs, interests, levels and understanding, which makes learning more effective, stimulating and fun. It has become certain that the jobs of the future will be completely different from the jobs available today, and this necessarily requires preparing a workforce that is capable of the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as it is armed with a composition based on innovation, renewal, advanced and problem solving for a rapidly changing world.

Conference Objectives 

• Determining the main and collective factors controlling the low performance of educational systems in most Arab countries.
• Illustrating the features of the relevant methodology (or methodologies) that guarantee an actual improvement in the performance of most Arab educational systems.
• Defining general directions for reforming Arab educational systems in light of the repercussions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
• Adjusting the general directions for reforming the Arab educational systems in light of the repercussions of the new Coronavirus in the post-Coronavirus period.
• Setting the stages of the Arab educational system reform project.
• Representing the methodology and techniques for integrating the repercussions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the repercussions of the new Coronavirus in the post-Coronavirus period.
• Defining the methodology for integrating the competencies of the twenty-first century into educational curricula and school life.
• Determining evaluation criteria for educational reform projects in most Arab countries.

Conference Themes

• Reading from Arab and international reports and studies of the state of education in most Arab countries.
• Systematic analysis of the factors that explain the low performance of educational systems in most Arab countries.
• Analysis of the methodologies used and that can be used to reform Arab education systems.
• Stages of reform for Arab educational systems.
• Evaluation criteria for reform projects (plans and strategies) for Arab educational systems.
• The repercussions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the field of education and training (training) as an element of reform.
• Post-Coronavirus repercussions in education and training (training) as an element of reform.
• Integrating the competencies (skills) of the twenty-first century in the educational curricula and in school life, as one of the entrances to reform.

Fees:

Specify the fee for the International Scientific Conference “Learning Challenges in the Arab World and Prospects for Reform” as:

• 150 d. Tunisian for participants from inside Tunisia (or the equivalent of approximately 46 euros).  
• 250 d.  for participants from outside Tunisia (or approximately EUR 77).

Fees include:

1. Certificate of participation in the conference.
2. Conference supplies (bag, notebook, pen....).
3. Lunch during the conference with 4 coffee breaks.
4. A brochure containing all accepted abstracts.
5. Printing all accepted articles in a special book and giving each participant a copy of it.

Cultural Trip:

On Thursday, 19 May 2020, the Science Palace in Monastir will organize a cultural and tourist trip for those wishing (participation fees is TND 50 ).

Note:

In the event that it is not possible to organize the conference in attendance for reasons related to the general health situation, the notification will take place at latest on 10 May 2022, and the conference activities will be secured remotely (online). In this case, the registration fee for all is TND 100 in exchange for a certificate of participation and a book for the accepted articles.

Accommodation:

We inform all participants that the conference management proposes the following hotels in the city of Monastir, and you can contact directly to arrange your stay:

Suggested Hotels:

Monastir Center Hotel, Monastir (city center) Tel: +21673467800 
Email: akram@hotelmonastircenter.com

Dolphin Habib Hotel, Monastir (city center), tel. +21673466750
Email: resa.delphingroupe@gmail.com

Rosa Beach Hotel, Monastir, tel. +21673520088
Email: resa@rosa-hotels.com

The Science Palace in Monastir will take care of the transportation of the participants residing in Rosa Beach inn, back and forth to the Science Palace.

Contacting the conference management:

Monastir Science Palace psm@psm.rnu.tn

TASCA International: turkisharab@gmail.com

Conference Registration:

To register for the conference, please fill out the participation form accurately through the following link:
https://form.jotform.com/220112808430543

Please send the abstracts by adopting the accompanying form obligatory (in terms of the places designated for the address of the intervention, postal address, axis, abstract....etc. With respect to the size and type of font used), through the following link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zMDLy7v6HwJspQT0bTl9cvMYRLngW8de/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=100135160512837793786&rtpof=true&sd=true

Note: Accepted entries will be notified via e-mail