Special Report: UAE Businessman To Spend 5000 Crore In Charity For Educating Underprivileged Students

By S A Mannan in Dubai

It's commendable effort by a UAE businessman to support the education for underprivileged students in gulf, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

Calling education the “cornerstone of prosperous, progressive and inclusive societies”, Al Ghurair, a UAE businessman announced the largest privately funded philanthropic education initiative.

High performing students forced to drop out of higher education due to financial constraints have been given new hope. As one of the country’s leading businessmen, Abdullah Al Ghurair, has pledged one-third of his assets to education empowerment, with many hailing the move as a “brave decision” that others should follow.Initially, 15,000 underprivi-leged Emirati and Arab students will benefit from the Abdullah Al Ghurair Education Foundation, which aims to pledge Dh4.2 bil-lion in its first 10 years.

Following the announcement, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minis-ter of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, took to his Twitter handle, @HHShkMohd, to say: “Brothers and sisters (of the UAE) would love to commend the initiative of businessman, Abdullah Al Ghurair, offering a third of his fortune — Dh4.2 bil-lion — to support education.”He went on to thank Al Ghurair for “clearly identifying from the outset” the need to support edu-cation, knowledge and innovation, throughout the Arab world.With less than a third of high school graduates in Arab states en-rolled in tertiary education, which is below the world average, chair of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and son of the celebrated business-man, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, said empowerment through philanthro-py is a “priority”.

“Historically, philanthropy has been great in the UAE, but before it was always done quietly. Now we need to institutionalise our philanthropy to empower our peo-ple and our country.”

At the official announcement in Dubai on Tuesday, Abdul Aziz said the Dh4.2 billion sum would not be a one-time pledge.

“As long as the economy is doing well, the foundation will continue to put money into the education system here.”

Speaking to Khaleej Times, he said though the foundation would love to “financially support students all over the world”, to begin with, it will directly benefit Emirati and Arab students in the UAE, as well as Arab students in neighbouring Arab countries.

Al Ghurair, who was not present during the announcement, has been a long time champion of education, describing it as the “cornerstone of prosperous, progres-sive and inclusive societies”.

The foundation aims to identify outstanding students who can’t afford proper education, by equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to become future leaders in the region.The Abdullah Al Ghurair Edu-cation Foundation’s first programme will launch in the first quarter of 2016 and will comprise three phases.

The first will see standout Emirati students in grades 6-12 being taken out of public schools and put directly into private ones. The second phase will provide UAE-based Arab expatriates with a university scholarship, and the third will provide university scholarships to Arab students in the Arab world. These students will be educated in the top ranking uni-versities in their home country.

Emirati Nisrin Al Harmoodi expressed hope that this “brave and great” decision by Al Ghurair will pave the way for more UAE businesspeople to do the same.

“We shouldn’t wait on the government to launch such initiatives anymore. Shaikh Mohammed has already led the way. It’s now time for businessmen and women here to take action and make an impact on the future of the people and the country.

“This announcement has come at such a crucial time, what with the crisis we are seeing in the Arab world. The students in these affected countries are lucky to have someone like this endorsing them by giving them an education. This is a powerful lesson to all.

”Noted as the largest privately funded education foundation in the region, Abdul Aziz said the founda-tion’s selection process will be “very transparent”.

“We are conducting a lot of field research to rank the best universities in the UAE and the sur-rounding countries.”

In 1964, Al Ghurair established the UAE’s first boarding school in Masafi. In 1990, he founded another school in Dubai which is still noted as one of the emirate’s model educational facilities, and today, it continues to have one of the largest waiting lists for student enrolment.