Teach commerce to build future...

A funny clip of a student from one of the Gulf countries has gone viral these days. This clip says why students do not study commerce and entrepreneurship from the primary level till they get general diploma. In fact, this is not a problem of any country. Instead, it is the dilemma of all our Arab countries. It is a real problem which cannot be ignored. This is because, it develops lots of other complex issues in the later stages of the lives of the students and particularly when they enter into practical world after completing studies.

While discussing this let us raise the most important question. Why our curricula do not include entrepreneurship from primary level to university level so that our children learn at least basic principles of business and entrepreneurship from the very beginning. If this is done it will open their minds to broad horizons. This will qualify them to become entrepreneurs.

The Ministry of Education can take serious and real steps in this direction. Following old approach does not have any importance keeping in view the challenges ahead. When everything is changing in the world, the preparation to match with its pace is highly required.

The importance of instilling the knowledge of principles of commerce and business in the hearts of young people even when they are in schools cannot be denied. Gradually, they should also be made familiar with the sciences of financial project management and marketing etc. Such subjects have become a necessity of life and should be part of the curriculum in schools and universities as they are responsible for building future of the society and the nation.

We need e-commerce experts who can reap millions of dollars which are reaching other continents, and we are unable to pick up even a single dollar from it due to lack of knowledge of these easy and complex electronic commercial developments.‏

‏We all know that Prophet Zakariya was a carpenter and the last Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), was himself a businessman trading between Mecca and Al Shaam. This is enough to prove the virtues of commercial activities, thus preparing ourselves for this from early stages of our education.

One of my colleagues said that there is an expatriate community school which teaches commerce and its principals from the very beginning, theoretically, and practically. This is because they realise the importance of the subject. For this purpose, they have lot of innovative ideas which they implement as part of their curriculum and extra-curricular activities.

At Sultan Qaboos University, there is a compulsory subject, which is repeated at this level and it is the same what we studied in middle school and high school. Instead of repeating it, the university and colleges should have taught entrepreneurship as a university course till the end of university studies. This could have given students an opportunity to learn business skills and how to manage it.

Because there is lot of ignorance of such sciences, we face obstacles in the way of entrepreneurship of small and medium enterprises. New entrepreneurs lack familiarity with the principles of accounting, marketing and finance. The natural result is that many beneficiaries of development finances and loans fail to manage their businesses.

We hope that the ministries of education and higher education, colleges, universities, other institutions of higher education and training centres, will begin preparing such curricula for the levels starting from the school till the university. It is important that the new generations learn these sciences.

When we plan educational curriculum, we should not ignore the current and future requirements. These are expectations from schools and universities because they are responsible of producing leaders of tomorrow.