Educational tourism in the Arab world

Asharq Alawsat (Zahi Hawass)

I have almost lost my voice considering the number of meetings I have held with university directors and school principals, either in Egypt or elsewhere in the Arab world, about the need to promote education and tourism. In every Arab country I visited, I met with officials in charge of education and culture and I urged them to promote pan-Arab educational tourism. This policy would provide considerable benefits. Most notably, our children would understand the meaning of history and civilization, instead of sitting inside classrooms where a history teacher talks about the ancient Egyptian civilization, the Mesopotamian civilization, or Islamic civilization, without any aides or props to illustrate the facts he is explaining to his students.

What does it actually mean, for example, when a teacher says that Islamic civilization contributed greatly to the development of all fields in the arts and sciences, and that it served as a key factor in the Western renaissance?