Cashing in on education

The Life: Few companies in the UAE have tried to take advantage of the booming business of education.

The Ministry of Educations seeks to transform educators and students into "knowledge seekers" by embracing modern technologies. Andres Stapff / Reuters
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Helping children to learn is an enormous industry, with billions of dollars up for grabs for businesses tapping into the world's growing educational technology sector.

Yet few companies in the Emirates have tried to take advantage of this growing market thus far, experts say.

More than £1 billion (Dh5.85bn) is spent annually on educational resources in UK schools, according to the British Educational Suppliers Association (Besa). In the US, academic institutions from kindergarten through university are projected to spend more than US$56 billion (Dh205.69bn) on information technology by the end of the year, according to research from Compass Intelligence, a consultancy.

Major investments have also been under way in the Emirates within recent years, where education remains a top priority of the federal government.

One of the Ministry of Education's major strategies includes transforming educators and students into "knowledge seekers" by embracing modern technologies that help promote creative thinking, says Dr Abdalla Mohammed Al Amiri, chairman of the Global Education Forum, which was held this year in Dubai.

One popular product in the sector is the interactive white board. This technology typically includes the capability to display graphics and video, and is paired with hand-held wireless devices. These devices let students respond to a teacher's questions without the fear of being embarrassed if they are wrong. The teacher is the only one in the classroom who sees the answers, and student responses can be monitored over time to assess their progress.

These systems can certainly command a high retail price. Genee World, a learning technology company based in the UK, sells 32 units of its Pebble voting remotes for £800, and 32 of its Genee Pads cost £2,000.

But experts note that few companies from the region have actively reached out to schools despite growing budgets for - and interest in - such educational technology.

"How do you really attract and engage young people of any age to be motivated to learn?" says Dominic Savage, the director general of Besa.

"Traditionally, some teachers used to be able to do that … [but] they need professional support and resources to help lessons come alive," says Mr Savage, who was in Dubai last month for the Gulf Educational Supplies & Solutions exhibition.

Some regional players have started dipping into this market by localising offerings that have proved popular elsewhere.

Rufoof, a mobile application that was created in the Emirates, offers schoolchildren, tutors and teachers in the region access to more than 2,000 books, about 70 per cent in Arabic. While the app is free, much like Apple's iBooks or Kindle for the iPhone, Rufoof charges fees for many of its books and offers lifetime packages that run from $50 for students to $8,500 for corporate subscribers. For now, the app works on certain tablets and MP3 music players, as well as the iPhone and smartphones using Google's Android operating system.

Local distributors are also moving into the educational technology space. One dealer based in the Emirates was considering offering the i-interactor, which works as an interactive pen on any screen or wall but leaves no physical mark behind.

"One of the things that we can always be certain of is education as a business opportunity will always be there," says Mr Savage. "I don't see any country closing down it's education system. Even when times are tight, you've still got a market there."