Dubai ruler sets up a $10bln Arab education fund

He said the fund will provide grants to students, researchers, academics and experts to write, research and help translate books into Arabic.

ShAikh Mohammed, who was speaking at an international economic conference in Jordan, said he is investing money in education and “the development of knowledge” in the region to eliminate illiteracy and to create an educated generation in an attempt to curb high unemployment rates.

”Our region needs at this moment 15 million job opportunities, and our Arab world will need in the next 20 years between 74 to 85 million job opportunities,” he said.

“We need to develop the infrastructure so we can create jobs.”

UNESCO said in its report the high illiteracy rate was hindering economic and social development.