Dubai–Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian scientist Ahmed Zewail said in a lecture here yesterday that Egypt cannot expect progress in the immediate future, stating that progress requires two or three generations in any country.
However, Zewail said in his lecture “Science Age,” which was organized by the Egyptian consulate in Dubai, when he discusses reform with government officials they tell him that because Egypt is poor, it will take more time to achieve progress.
The scientist assured that change in Egypt is not impossible. “Achieving development and progress in Egypt needs decades, not centuries as it was believed before,” he said.
Zewail compared Egypt’s economic progress to that of other countries and concluded that their success was largely due to leadership. “Egypt just needs to look around and see what happened in Malaysia, Turkey and to Dubai, which achieved remarkable development in all fields, depending on brains not natural gas or petrol,” he said.
He continued to say that Egypt can achieve progress by “will, vision and serious work, on condition of investing brains, which will not happen unless education and scientific research are developed, democracy is established, in addition to a leader who wants to make it through cooperation with his people.” Zewail has long advocated for educational reform in Egypt.
Zewail told the crowd that he has noticed desperation and depression among Egyptians recently, which he described as a crime against the homeland. He also asserted that reforming education wouldn’t require more than five years, but Egypt lacks a plan.
Zewail also criticized the private universities that he says turned education into a business. He accused them of putting profit over education, which results in unqualified graduates.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
