On a global and a local scale, education is considered an integral part of society and even a human right to at least obtain a basic level of education. Data scientists have noticed a drastic improvement with regards to global literacy rates at the beginning of the 20th century. With an exception of Africa and Afghanistan, countries have literacy rates above 50% while countries in sub- Saharan Africa have a literacy rate below 30%. (Rozer and Ortiz-Ospina, 2016)

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 Figure 4: Literacy rate global map,

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Unfortunately, there continues to be a notable gap in literacy rates between developing and developed countries. And while it is projected that these rates are more likely to increase in the coming years as governments begin to place greater emphasis on the importance of education, generational gaps still exist. The younger generation is significantly a lot more educated than older generations. An interesting prediction by The International Institute of Applied System Analysis suggests that by 2050 an estimate of only 5 countries will have literacy rates no higher than 20%. (Rozer and Ortiz-Ospina, 2016)

 

Meanwhile, the UAE prides itself on the notion of investing in the country's youth as they are the leaders of tomorrow. The country has an approximate literacy rate of 95%. Constantly improving the education standards while creating a well-rounded curriculum in both schools and higher education institutes and universities. Furthermore, the UAE also places high importance on special needs education. In 2006, the UAE signed the protocol proposed by the United Nations during the convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which soon after the federal government passed the law ensuring people of determination are given the same educational rights and are not secluded from society but are rather encouraged to be a part of conventional settings.  (UAE government. n,a)