In the decade before the Arab Spring, the UNDP report on Arab Human Development (2003 – 2009) cited three causes for what it called the severe "backwardness" in the Arab World. One of these principal causes was the widespread lack of opportunity for a good education. Not just having the chance to go to school and learning how to read, but children need to be taught to think for themselves, be equipped and encouraged to question, to be creative and to learn essential life skills.