The Middle East

Abstract

According to the World Bank (2005), providing students with a full secondary education has become a need for three main reasons. First, most countries, having achieved universal primary education and instituted “basic education” systems of nine or ten years of schooling, now want to provide opportunities for students to attain higher levels of education. Second, the number of students eligible for upper secondary education has increased significantly in the past few decades, especially in developing countries such as the Arab nations. Building up the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of these students through quality secondary education will ensure that they become active and productive citizens of their societies. Third, modern knowledge-based economies require a sophisticated and educated workforce that is equipped with competencies, knowledge, and work skills that cannot be satisfactorily developed at lower educational levels.