What If We Are the Problem?

By Mustafa Abitoğlu  |  A Whole New Mind

Last week, I asked whether our challenges must define our imagination. This week, I want to look for an answer somewhere unexpected: Vietnam.

The obvious objection comes first. Vietnam has around 100 million people. We number a few hundred thousand. Comparing size would be absurd. But size is not the lesson. Decision is.

Once associated primarily with war and poverty, Vietnam has become an increasingly important player in global manufacturing, technology and innovation.

This transformation did not happen overnight. Nor did it happen by accident.

On 22 December 2024, Vietnam's leadership adopted Resolution 57, placing science, technology, innovation and digital transformation at the heart of its national development strategy.

By 2030, the country aims to invest 2% of GDP in research and development and expand its digital economy to at least 30% of GDP.

Ambitious? Certainly. But ambition becomes meaningful when it is translated into priorities, institutions and measurable commitments.

And that brings us home.

This week, I read a thought-provoking interview with economist Dr. İlhan Bora, who called for a fundamental transformation of our education system.

His message was strikingly simple: we cannot prepare tomorrow's generations with yesterday's educational thinking.

He challenged a model centred on memorisation, curricula and diplomas, arguing instead for internationally recognised standards, artificial intelligence, coding, financial literacy and genuine professional competence.

What caught my attention was not merely his criticism. It was the connection between education and the future of an entire society.

Vietnam's experience and Bora's arguments point towards the same uncomfortable truth: economic transformation cannot be separated from educational transformation.

We cannot talk seriously about innovation while preparing young people primarily to reproduce existing knowledge.

We cannot dream of a competitive economy while measuring educational success by the number of institutions rather than the capabilities of their graduates.

And we cannot expect different outcomes while protecting the very habits that produced our present limitations.

Of course, North Cyprus is not Vietnam. Our political circumstances, international isolation and economic realities are different.

But those differences should shape our strategy, not become excuses for having none.

We have universities, talented young people, entrepreneurs and access to knowledge that previous generations could scarcely imagine.

The question is whether we can connect these strengths around a shared direction.

Perhaps our greatest shortage is not resources, but the collective courage to rethink how we use them.

Vietnam offers a lesson in national determination. İlhan Bora reminds us where that determination must begin: education.

The future does not arrive fully formed. We build it through the decisions we make today.

And perhaps the first infrastructure we need to modernise is not physical at all.

It is the way we think.