Egypt: Education For All 2015 National Review
Egypt: Education For All 2015 National Review
Egypt: Education For All 2015 National Review
This report was prepared by the relevant national authorities in view of the World Education Forum (Incheon, Republic of Korea,
19‐22 May 2015). It was submitted in response to UNESCO’s invitation to its Member States to assess progress made since 2000
towards achieving Education for All (EFA).
The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not commit UNESCO. The designations
employed and the presentation of material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO
concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its
frontiers or boundaries.
The paper can be cited with the following reference: “Education for All 2015 National Review Report: Egypt”. For further
information, please contact: [email protected]
The Report Team
Prof. Dr. Salah ElDin Abdel Aziz Ghoneim Head of the report team
Language Revision:
Dr. Akram Ibrahim Qahoof
Hanaa Boles
This report was commissioned and supported by the UNESCO Office in Cairo
a
"Whenever we make our children's lives brighter,
the brighter future of our country"
b
The constitution of 2014 ensured, through the articles concerned with
education, the increasing importance of education and the interest by the
State in education as it is an issue of national security and as a basic right
for all like water and air, and that education is forefront of progress and
prosperity. It ensured also that education is free and compulsory until the
end of the secondary stage or its equivalent. The State is working hard to
seek sources to finance and develop education.
Through persistent endeavors for disseminating Education For All in
Egypt, MOE establishes the conditions suitable for providing real
education for every learner focusing on ensuring the quality of education.
Based on renewing our commitment and striving to achieve EFA six
goals, it is hoped we can fulfill our desired goals.
Dr. Mahmoud Abo Elnasr
c
Preface by
Prof. Dr. Jihan Kamal
Director of the National Center for
Educational Research and Development
d
currently education development and the major challenges facing the
future.
In this regard, I'd like on behalf of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Abul Nasr,
the Minister of Education and Chairman of the center, and on behalf of all
researchers of the center and myself to express my gratitude to everyone
who contributed to the completion of this report and the special mention
of Prof. Dr. Salah Eldin Abdel Aziz Ghoneim, the head of the educational
planning research unit and the assistant team, for their professional
performance that has a wonderful impact on this great achievement.
We ask God to guide us to what is good for our beloved Egypt.
e
Introduction by
Prof. Dr. Salah ElDin Ghoneim
Head of Educational Planning Research
Unit
National Center for Educational
Research and Development
f
who wants and is able to embrace the continuing human development in
every sense of economic, social and humanitarian implications State is
also seeking to expand and extend the obligation to further stages, which
has been achieved with the new Constitution 2014, which confirmed the
extension of compulsory till secondary education.
I would like here to give my great thanks and appreciation to His
Excellency Prof. Dr. / Mahmoud Abul Nasr, the Minister of Education for
the genuine and continuing support to the National Center for Educational
Research and Development, and the team preparing the national report of
Education for All.
I am also pleased to express my, highly gratitude, appreciation and
respect to Prof. Jihan Kamal Mohamed, director of the center, for not
saving any effort or advice to provide for the team to prepare this report
efficiently and professionally.
I also wish to express about my appreciation to the UNESCO
Office in Cairo on the continuing positive support, and the adoption of
several projects for the development of education in Egypt, and my
special thanks to Dr. Ghada Gholam, Senior specialist of Education
Programs in the UNESCO Cairo office.
Finally, I am pleased to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation
to all my colleagues of the team preparing the report for their outstanding
efforts to bring this work into the light, in terms of preparation and
coordination, writing, directing, revision of language and translation into
English and reviewing the translation.
Through issuing this National Report on Education for All in Egypt
and the progress made in the period of 2000 to 2015, we ask God to
prevail its benefit, serving our nation and the decision-makers, and others
who are interested and working in the field of education.
g
TABLE OF CONTENTS
h
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
Enrolment in the kindergarten according to gender in the academic
Table (1/1)
year 2012/2013
Table (2/1) Newly enrolled children in primary 1 who attended the early
childhood program 2012-2013)
Table (3/1) Enrolment in the Public and private education in 2000/2001-
2012/2013
Table (4/1) Increase in number of KG teachers in 2000/2001-2012/2013
(Gender; Educational, non-educational; public, private)
Table (5/1) Percentage of trained teachers according to gender
Table (6/1) Increase of the child/ teacher rate in 2000/2001-2012/2013
Table (7/1) Density of kindergarten classes in the academic year 2012/2013
Table (1/2) progression of schools, classrooms and students' number in primary
cycle in the interval 2001-2013
Table (1/2) progression of schools, classrooms and students' number in primary
cycle in the interval 2001-2013
Table (2/2) The total of schools in the primary cycle (public + private)
according to the school shifts through 2000-2013
Table (3/2) The total access of learners in the first and second grades primary,
total and net enrollment ratio for years clarified in the table
Table (4/2) The total of new pupils in the first grades during the interval 2001-
2013
Table (5/2) The progression of the access number of the first and second grade
secondary and net and total enrollment ratio of the years 2007-2013
Table (6/2) Females' access ratios at the primary cycle from 2000/2001 to
2012/2013
Table (7/2) Number of Schools, classrooms and learners in Community
education in 2012/2013
Table (8/2) Progression of the number of special education schools, classrooms
and learners during the interval 2006-2013 (all cycles)
Table (9/2) Progression of special education teachers' number during the
interval 2003-2013
Table (10/2) Total access and repetitions in the primary cycle 2012/2013.
Table (11/2) Promotion rate from the primary cycle to the preparatory one
between 2011/2012 and 2012/2013
Table (12/2) Success ratio of the primary Certificate (Males + females) during
the interval 2000-2012
i
Table (13/2) Classroom density and teacher's ratio of students in public and
private sectors in primary cycle
Table (14/2) Progression of teachers' number in 2002 to 2013
Table (15/2) Progression of the beneficiaries number from school nutrition and
financial allocations
Table (16/2) Beneficiaries' ratio of Nutrition Program
Table (17/2) Achievements of the General Directorate of Civil Societies since its
establishment up till 31/12/2013
Table (18/2) Student fellowships from 2000 to 2013
Table (19/2) Number of students' missions from 2000 to 2013
Table (20/2) Increase in access number and decrease of dropout ratio in primary
cycle from 2000/2001 to 2012/2013
Table (3/1) literacy ratio among youth (15-24) years (2005 – 2010
Table (3/2) The expected progression in youth literacy ratio in the age group
(15-24) years
Table (3/3) Relative distribution of population (+10 years) in 2006
Table (4/3) progression of numbers of students and schools of technical
education in Egypt
Table (5/3) Total types of technical education students according to gender,
public, private, rural and urban in 2012/2013
Table (6/3) Total and net access ratio of secondary education students' two
types
Table (7/3) Industrial secondary diploma result in 2011/2012
Table (8/3) Agricultural secondary diploma result in 2012/2013
Table (9/3) Commercial secondary diploma result in 2012/2013
Table (10/3) Transfer rate among educational cycles and access:
Table (11/3) progression of total enrollment rate in preparatory education cycle
in 2007-2012
Table (12/3) Higher education and its public and private types
Table (13/3) the percentage of the beneficiaries from nutrition in each type of
education in the age group (15-24 years)
Table (14/3) Distribution of young workers' skills according the research of "the
transition from school to work" in 2005
Table (1/4) The percentage of illiteracy of the total population in the age group
+10 years during the period 2000 - 2012
Table (2/4) Number of enrolled and number of liberated from illiteracy in
literacy classes during the period 2000 - 2013
Table (1/5) Rate of male and female enrollment 2001-2013
Table (2/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in primary education
j
Table (3/5) Development of boys and girls to set up community education
Table (4/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in PREP
Table (5/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in General secondary
education
Table (6/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls schools industrial
technical
Table (7/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in technical education in
agriculture
Table (8/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in technical trade schools
Table (9/5) Evolution of the numbers of (schools-classes-students) community
education)
Table (1/6) Equation and Education Jobs
Table (2/6) Allowance versus functional burdens for teachers according to their
grades
Table (3/6) Growth in number of schools and classes and school children with
special needs from 2000/2001-2012/2013
Table (4/6) the evolution of the class density for all grades from 2001/2002-
2012/2013
Table (5/6) the evolution of the rate of teacher/administration for all grades of
2005/2006-2012/2013
Table (6/6) the evolution of the rate of teacher educator/non- educator for all
grades of 2001/2002-2012/2013
k
List of Figures
Figure Page
Figure (1/1) Enrolment in the kindergarten according to gender in the academic
year 2012/2013
Figure (2/1) Total Enrolment 2012/2013
Figure (3/1) Enrolment in the Public education in 2000/2001-2012/2013
Figure (4/1) Enrolment in the Private education in 2000/2001-2012/2013
Figure (5/1) Increase in number of KG teachers in 2000/2001-2012/2013
according to gender
Figure (6/1) Increase in number of KG teachers in 2000/2001-2012/2013
according to Educational, non-educational
Figure (7/1) Increase in number of KG teachers in 2000/2001-2012/2013
according to public, private
Figure (1/2) progression of schools, classrooms and students' number in primary
cycle in the interval 2001-2013
Figure (1/2) progression of schools, classrooms and students' number in primary
cycle in the interval 2001-2013
Figure (2/2) The total of schools in the primary cycle (public + private)
according to the school shifts through 2000-2013
Figure (3/2) The total access of learners in the first and second grades primary,
total and net enrollment ratio for years clarified in the table
Figure (4/2) The total of new pupils in the first grades during the interval 2001-
2013
Figure (5/2) The progression of the access number of the first and second grade
secondary and net and total enrollment ratio of the years 2007-2013
Figure (6/2) Females' access ratios at the primary cycle from 2000/2001 to
2012/2013
Figure (7/2) Number of Schools, classrooms and learners in Community
education in 2012/2013
Figure (8/2) Progression of the number of special education schools, classrooms
and learners during the interval 2006-2013 (all cycles)
Figure (9/2) Progression of special education teachers' number during the
interval 2003-2013
Figure (10/2) Total access and repetitions in the primary cycle 2012/2013
Figure (11/2) Promotion rate from the primary cycle to the preparatory one
between 2011/2012 and 2012/2013
Figure (12/2) Success ratio of the primary Certificate (Males + females) during
the interval 2000-2012
Figure (13/2) Classroom density and teacher's ratio of students in public and
private sectors in primary cycle
l
Figure (14/2) Progression of teachers' number in 2002 to 2013
Figure (15/2) Progression of the beneficiaries number from school nutrition and
financial allocations
Figure (16/2) Beneficiaries' ratio of Nutrition Program
Figure (17/2) Increase in access number and decrease of dropout ratio in primary
cycle from 2000/2001 to 2012/2013
Figure (3/1) literacy ratio among youth (15-24) years (2005 – 2010)
Figure (3/2) The expected progression in youth literacy ratio in the age group
(15-24) years
Figure (3/3) Relative distribution of population (+10 years) in 2006
Figure (4/3) progression of numbers of students of technical education in Egypt
Figure (5/3) progression of numbers of schools of technical education in Egypt
Figure (6/3) Total types of technical education students according to gender,
public, private, rural and urban in 2012/2013
Figure (7/3) Total and net access ratio of secondary education students' two
types
Figure (8/3) Transfer rate among educational cycles and access
Figure (9/3) progression of total enrollment rate in preparatory education cycle
in 2007-2012
Figure (10/3) Higher education (no. of institutes)
Figure (11/3) Higher education and its public and private types
Figure (12/3) progression of expenditure on technical education student in (2005-
2013)
Figure (1/4) shows percentage of illiteracy of the total population in the age
group +10 years during the period 2000 – 2012
Figure (2/4) shows the number of enrolled and number of liberated from
illiteracy in literacy classes during the period 2000-2013
Figure (1/5) Rate of male and female enrollment 2001-2013
Figure (2/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in primary education
Figure (3/5) Development of boys and girls to set up community education
Figure (4/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in PREP
Figure (5/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in General secondary
education
Figure (6/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls schools industrial
technical
Figure (7/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in technical education in
agriculture
Figure (8/5) Evolution of the number of boys and girls in technical trade schools
m
Figure (1/6) showing the total visits carried out by the Authority to schools from
2008-2012
Figure (2/6) Growth in number of schools and classes and students with special
needs from 2000/2001‐ 2012/2013
Figure (3/6) The evolution of the class density for all grades from 2001/2002-
2012/2013
Figure (4/6) the percentage distribution of schools by the number of periods in
the academic year 2012/2013
n
Introduction
1
Introduction
The Ministry of Education (MOE) in Egypt is committed to provide of a high quality
pre-university education for all as one of the basic rights of the Egyptian citizen. This is
carried out in a decentralized system based on community participation. Besides, the MOE
is aiming to prepare the citizens for the knowledge society, especially in a new era based on
democracy, justice and equal rights for all and a vision aspiring for the future.
Learner-centered programs and curricula that mirror the local community needs
and aspirations and enhance scientific and creative thinking, problem solving,
lifelong learning and citizenship.
Thus, the MOE mission coincides with and supports the advancement of the Egyptian
society that is able to seek educational opportunities for all citizens to realize their abilities
and develop their skills for the work market and help in the development of society and
compete internationally.
2
The educational policy in Egypt is aiming to realize three essential objectives, as follows:
First: Availability: This means providing equal educational opportunities for all and in
all stages through:
===================
Eradication of literacy.
Second: Quality: This means reform and continuous improvement for the components
of the educational process in accordance with the national quality standards for the sake
of inducing a qualitative shift forward in education through:
Third: Systems: This means development of systems to enhance their effectiveness and
decentralized institutionalization so as to realize as effective environment through:
=====
Building information systems, and monitoring and evaluation systems, things that
provide support decision making process and sustainability of development.
The strategy of EFA adopted by Egypt is based on a set of premises the most essential
of which are the following:
3
Widening the enrolment capacity of basic education to include all children as a
response to societal demand.
Provision of financial resources and using them appropriately side by side with
seeking new funds.
Benefiting from up to date effective methods of instruction that draws upon modern
technology and distance education.
Establishing new bridges and passages between the different cycles and stages of
education and other programs of informal education.
1- Horizontal dimension:
The educational policy provides equal opportunities to all learners regardless to family
position or social and economic status or sex or place of living (the countryside versus
urban areas) or to whether learners are normal or having disabilities. This is aiming mainly
to narrow the gaps between different geographical areas and both sexes to the least.
2- Vertical dimension:
The EFA is aiming to increase the years of education following basic education (primary
and preparatory = 9 years), i.e. prevision of free education to cover secondary and higher
education. This hopefully will help produce a well-trained and qualified asset of
manpower.
3- Depth-related dimension:
This includes the qualitative development of knowledge and concepts; thinking and
scientific research capabilities; and making good use of technology in learning, things
essential for all learners.
4
Based on the above, Egypt has been committed to the recommendations of the Dakar EFL
International Forum (Senegal, April 2000), which stated the goals of EFA as follows:
Goal 1: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education,
especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
Goal 2: Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult
circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free
and compulsory primary education of good quality.
Goal 3: Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through
equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programs.
Goal 4: Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially
for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.
Goal 5: Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and
achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and
equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
Goal 6: Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so
that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in
literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.
In this respect, the MOE has set a number of strategies that would help realize the above
objectives. These include:
- Gradual expansion of free formal pre-school education and, at the same time,
approving the financial support for private kindergartens.
- Inducing a qualitative jump in the inputs, processes and outputs of basic education
in a way that matches the international level.
- Provision of lifelong education streams at various levels starting with those newly
freed from illiteracy. These streams would be in different specializations so as to
enable all population sectors to realize an appropriate level of education and
training that matches their capabilities.
- Providing educational opportunities that achieve full enrollment for special needs
children.
=======================================
- Expansion of the one-class school, community schools, local small-size school and
girls-friendly schools.
6
- Innovating new educational formulas that provide educational opportunities for
children in hardships.
- Preparing and recruiting teachers and providing them with on-going professional
training.
- Social justice and equal opportunities amongst different areas (rural, sub-urban,
urban etc.)
- Cooperating with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to make use of youth centres.
- Cooperating with all other ministries, societies, and other funding bodies to fill in
the shortage in school building.
7
Second: Quality
- Improvement of school buildings: Making sure that school buildings and other
available places and resources are at the level of national standards.
- Development of new curricula that would help students to think creatively and do
independent research, and provide them with analytical and life skills through
integrating ICT with school curriculum.
8
o Monitoring teacher performance and teacher development in the light of a
set of indicators that focus on critical thinking, analytical thinking and
research and life skills.
The Egyptian government, represented in the MOE and assisted by other ministries and
other official and NGOs, is committed to the 'Provision of EFA. The MOE is also
committed to providing education to deprived people. In this respect, cooperation with
regional and international corporations is essential.
Article (19) stated that every citizen has the right to education. The goals of education are
to build the Egyptian character, preserve the national identity, root the scientific method of
thinking, develop talents and promote innovation, establish cultural and spiritual values,
and found the concepts of citizenship, tolerance and non-discrimination. The State shall
observe the goals of education in the educational curricula and methods, and provide
education in accordance with international quality standards.
The same article stated that education is compulsory until the end of the secondary stage or
its equivalent. The State shall provide free education in the various stages in the State's
educational institutions according to the Law. The State shall allocate a percentage of
government spending to education equivalent to at least 4% of the Gross National Product
(GNP), which shall gradually increase to comply with international standards. This is one
of the most important gains of the new constitution since it is clearly observed that despite
the continuous increase in the MOE budget, which amounted to about 62 Billion Egyptian
pounds, the budget is still not able to fulfill the requirements of education quality. This is
because monthly salaries cut down about 90% of this budget. Yet, the MOE is working
hard to seek other good sources to finance and develop education and achieve quality at all
aspects. The same article also declared that the state shall supervise education to ensure
that all public and private schools and institutes abide by its educational policies.
9
Article (20) stated that the State shall encourage and develop technical and technological
education as well as vocational training, and expand all their types in accordance with
international quality standards and in accordance with labor market needs.
Article (21) is concerned with universities and scientific and linguistic academies.
Article (22) stated that teachers, and faculty members and their assistants are the main
pillars of education. The State shall guarantee the development of their academic
competencies and professional skills and shall care for their financial and moral rights in
order to ensure the quality of education and achieve its goals.
Article (23) is concerned with the freedom and encouragement of scientific research.
Article no. (24) is concerned with Arabic Language, Religious Education and National
History, in all its stages, as core subjects in public and private pre-university education.
Article (25) stated that the State shall develop a comprehensive plan to eradicate
alphabetical and digital illiteracy among citizens of all ages. The State shall develop its
implementation mechanisms with the participation of civil society organizations within a
definite timeline.
The 2014 constitution articles concerned with education refer to the increasing importance
of education. This can be clearly observed from the interest in solving all the problems of
education and developing it by adding more resources. The constitution does not disregard
the illiteracy problem. The constitution realized that education is a national security case
and it is a basic right like water and air and that education is forefront of progress and
prosperity, things that require all stakeholders make all efforts to put these articles into
actions and legislations so as to enhance national security and promote feelings of
belongingness.
This adds to the articles concerned with the child. For example, article (80) stated that
every child shall be entitled to acquire early education in a childhood center until the age of
six. It is prohibited to employ children before completing preparatory education (six years
of primary and three years of preparatory).
Article (81) stated that the State shall guarantee the educational rights of persons with
disabilities and dwarves, strive to provide them with job opportunities, allocate a
percentage of job opportunities to them, and adapt public facilities and their surrounding
environment to their special needs. The State shall also ensure their exercise of all political
rights and integration with other citizens in compliance with the principles of equality,
justice and equal opportunities.
10
Article (82) stated that the State shall guarantee the provision of care to the youth and
youngsters shall endeavour to discover their talents; develop their cultural, scientific,
psychological, physical and creative abilities, encourage their engagement in group and
volunteer activities and enable them to participate in public life.
All the above mentioned constitution articles are more or less concerned with education.
They clearly indicate an interest by the State in education, especially because it is the key to
development and economic, political and social reform.
11
The First Goal
Expanding and improving
comprehensive care and education
in the early childhood in favour
of the more deprived, disadvantaged
and vulnerable children
12
First Goal: Expanding and improving comprehensive care and education in
the early childhood in favour of the more deprived, disadvantaged and
vulnerable children.
Early childhood is the most important stage in man's life. It is the stage of
developing abilities, talents and future tendencies. It is the stage of
determining the main dimensions of personality development, morals and
human relations traits. Consequently this stage is the main base for child
education and preparation for life in the future. At the age of between 4-6 is
of utmost importance in personality, health, education and abilities formation.
Enrolment in the kindergarten is a strong indicator for success in the
following education stages.
There is no doubt that education in the early childhood may have important
positive influence, so the specialized programs show such different influences
on children( Norris & Barnet :2010). Education at an early age represents
good investment in Egypt since it contributes to improving some educational
outputs such as academic achievement, dropouts, and failing. Education in
early childhood has two forms: the nursery schools and the kindergartens.
About 50% of the kindergartens are under supervision of MOE. The rest are
under the supervision of NGOs, religious schools, and businessmen. The
nursery schools are supposed to provide care for children under4, yet about
40% are aged 4-6 due to shortage of kindergartens. About one third of the
nursery schools are under supervision of ministry of social solidarity, and the
rest are under supervision of NGOs or the private sector (UNDP 2008).
The first kindergarten in Egypt was established in 1918, which signifies the
Egyptian government's awareness of the kindergarten's importance. In the
modern age law 50:1977 was issued for organizing the role played by the
nursery schools under supervision of the ministry of social affairs and the
MOE decree 154:1988 for organizing kindergartens in public schools and the
characteristics of the buildings and staff members. Then a ministerial decree
65:2000 was issued concerning extra curricula, organizing work in
kindergartens, rows banning, and not forcing children to write, to be tested or
do homework.
In the year 1989 two colleges for kindergarten were established in Cairo and
Alexandria. Besides new departments in the university were established to
graduate women teachers specialized in kindergarten. At the beginning of the
nineties, the MOE stressed the importance of allocating a number of rooms in
14
each new school for kindergarten. The conference of developing the primary
education curricula 1993 recommended that the kindergarten stage (2
academic years) should be included in the basic education. If not possible one
year may be enough for all children males, and females in rural or urban areas
(Recommendation 2).
In the year 1996 the supreme committee for developing the kindergartens to
conduct studies and research concerning the educational policy for this
institution in these issues:
To achieve comprehensive care for the Egyptian child law number 12/1996
concerning child protection was issued. Its executive regulations were issued
by a decree of the prime minister to extinguish between the role of the
nursery school and that of the kindergarten. The law included the nursery
school under the child social care, supervised by the ministry of social affairs,
and the kindergarten under the child education as it is considered an effective
educational system that achieves comprehensive child development in the
pre-school stage. At the beginning of the year 2000 the second document for
the Egyptian child care and protection was issued. It stated that the second
document should be well used for the good of our children as part of our
national developmental plans in education, health, cultural and social
development. Preparation for a third document started in January 2011, but
the revolution at that time hindered it.
15
issuing local laws and decrees in the context of the Egyptian identity and
Islamic Shari'ah. Examples are : Child Rights Convention' issued by the UN
General Assembly on 20-11-1989, signed by Egypt on 24-5-1990; the
optional protocol for The Child Rights Convention concerning participation
in military conflicts, issued by the International Labour Organization, Geneva
on 26-4-2000, signed by Egypt on 13-6-2002, Agreement 182 concerning
banning the worst forms of child labour and taking instant measures to put an
end to them, signed by Egypt on 21-2-1999. Also the African Charter for
Child Rights and Welfare, issued by the African Union in Addis Ababa on 7-
7-1990, signed by Egypt on 9-5-2001, and the Arab Child Rights Charter
issued by the Arab League on 4-12-1993, signed by Egypt on 11-1-1994.
16
provided with legal assistance. Special places should be allocated for children
arrest. In general, the government should be in favour of the child.
Article 81: The government is obliged to ensure the disabled and the dwarf
health, economic, social, educational, sports and cultural rights. They should
be offered job opportunities, and they should practise their political rights,
and included with others according to equality of opportunity and justice.
Article 82
The government ensures the youth care , explores their talents, develops their
cultural, scientific, psychological, physical and creative abilities. They should
be encouraged to practise group and voluntary work, and participate in
everyday life.
-Developing child language, numerical, and art skills through individual and
group activities and developing ability to reflect and analyse.
-Socialization and healthy life in the context of society values, principles, and
objectives.
-Satisfying the needs of development in this stage to enable the child to self-
realization and help him/her to build up sound personality to know how to
interact with others.
-Preparing the child for school life in the basic education stage through
graded transition from the family atmosphere to the school to be accustomed
to the school life, and form human relations with teachers and classmates, and
practise educational activities that suit the child interests and development
rates in all fields.
-Training the child to deal with all institutions surrounding the kindergartens.
17
-Exploring the children with special needs, developing their skills, and
guiding them to the different bodies that offer facilities to them.
-The child's hand and fingers acquire flexibility and consistency required for
holding things.
-Preparing the children for acquiring reading skills through stories and cards
with pictures.
-Preparing children for acquiring the writing skills through drawing, sand,
and painting, role play, and silent play.
18
-Respecting the child's individuality through respect for his/her personality,
listening to his/her questions and answering them.
-Helping the children acquire facts and skills related to biological concepts of
animals, birds, and plants through teaching him/her the method of cultivation,
planting the garden, and barns.
-Helping the children to acquire facts related to climate, and time concepts
such as weather forecast, temperature, water…etc.
To achieve these objectives the MOE took a group of measures to enable the
children to have the right to good education. Such measures followed the
following steps:
19
Ensuring quality education for children:
The MOE pays much attention to children with special needs, and provide
them with a fair share of care to overcome disabilities through:
The MOE directs its attention to children care through comprehensive and
integrated health insurance based on sound scientific planning. Health
services include:
- Vaccination.
The MOE stresses the importance of the environment in the children life, and
the positive relationship with the environment in particular, besides stressing
the use of methods that achieve respect of the environment, and enjoying the
20
beauty of nature and keeping it clean through child art festivals to express
interest in environment. Competitions on the environment in the eyes of
children and training courses for teachers on environmental concepts and
environmental education are of utmost importance.
2000000
1800000
1600000
Newly enrolled 1400000
1200000
Number of children at 1000000
kindergarten age
800000
Total Enrolment
600000
400000
200000
0
Male female Total
21
Total Enrolment
female Male
%48
%52
Table (2/1) newly enrolled children in primary 1 who attended the early
childhood program 2012-2013)
Table (3/1)
22
Enrolment in the Public and private education in 2000/2001-2012/2013
800000
700000
600000
500000
Public schools
Public classrooms 400000
200000
100000
0
2012/2013 2006/2007 2001 /2000
23
250000
200000
Private classrooms
children- Private 100000
50000
0
2012/2013 2006/2007 2001 /2000
Table (4/1)
24
number % number % number %
Female teachers 17179 99.1 23146 99 34419 99.4
Male teachers 148 .9 224 1 220 .6
Total 17327 100 23370 100 34639 100
Educational 11209 64.7 17397 74.4 27957 80.7
Non-
6118 35.3 5973 25.6 6682 19.3
educational
Total 17327 100 23370 100 34639 100
Public 11209 64.7 13550 58 23945 69.1
Private 6118 35.3 9820 42 10694 30.9
Total 17327 100 23370 100 34639 100
Source: Source: General Department for Information and Computer, MOE.
35000
30000
25000
Female teachers
20000
Male teachers
15000
Total
10000
5000
0
2000/2001 2006/2007 2012/2013
35000
30000
25000
Educational
20000
Non-educational
15000
Total
10000
5000
0
2000/2001 2006/2007 2012/2013
25
Figure (6/1) Increase in number of KG teachers in 2000/2001-2012/2013
according to Educational, non-educational
35000
30000
25000
Public
20000
Private
15000
Total
10000
5000
0
2000/2001 2006/2007 2012/2013
Table (5/1)
26
- The Teachers Professional Academy and the educational directorates
offer programs and training programs for KG teachers to improve their
skills and abilities.
- The MOE established 3 canters for KG female teachers' professional
development, one in Mubarak Educational City at Giza, another in Nasr
City, a third in Port Said.
- About 50% of female teachers from different governorates were recently
trained.
- The schools as well as the educational directorates offer training
programs.
Table (6/1)
Table (7/1)
27
Some problems facing achievement of first objective:
Weak participation of the civil society in establishing KG, as a result the fees
for enrolment in KG raised, which hindered enrolment.
Average years in KG is 0.3 year. MOE tries to raise it to 1.6 years like Latin
America.
KGs are under supervision of a lot of bodies such as MOE ,the ministry of
social solidarity, and civil society.
Chances available:
MOE tries to appoint 20000 female KG teachers to fill the gap in some areas
( 1 teacher/20 children).
28
Offering training courses for all KG green teachers to raise their standard, and
performance.
A lot of children at the age of KG in rural and poor areas will be left behind.
Challenges :
Future Vision:
Drawing a map for the KGs at the national level showing number and
percentages of enrolled children, and the statistics of children aged 4-6. Great
efforts should be exerted in rural, far away, and disadvantaged areas.
29
Bridging the gap between urban and rural areas, giving priority to poor and
disadvantaged communities.
Providing buildings and facilities to intake 8% per year of the target children
at KG age. It was planned to establish 3800 KG schools and classrooms
where up-to date educational activities suitable for this age could be
practiced.
Providing the teachers needed to be trained in the KG, and the first three
primary grades. So unifying the education system of preparing KG teachers in
KG and primary school.
A special cadre for KG teachers will help improve her social status. This will
attract well qualified teachers.
Mass media and NGOs should take part in family awareness of their children
enrolment in KG.
30
Using educational cards instead of books, and forbidding the use of
systematic education at KG, and stressing applying play and good conduct.
Providing the KG with state-of-the art technology that help broaden the scope
of children minds, and cope with the cognitive explosion.
31
It consists of three units: the vocational unit for preparing KG teachers, a
nursery school and an information canter.
The MOE asked the governorates to provide a room in each village to be the
basis of KG. The MOE will appoint teachers for this school from the same
village, besides building two classrooms in each new school by the
educational buildings authority.
32
Project of Comprehensive and integrated care for village children:
The Supreme Council for Childhood and Maternity initiated the project to
raise the standard of health, educational, social and cultural services and
facilities rendered to the children. The community should take part in the
services rendered to the children through coordination with the council.
Project procedures:
Determining indicators for the situations of children and women in the places
selected.
Educational Care:
The project expanded to make full use of this successful experiment , as the
Supreme Council for Childhood and Maternity will offer technical assistance
only, and help in preparing and qualifying communication officers selected
from the youth to play an effective role in the success of the project.
Building up abilities of more than 630 trainers, and academic teachers in the
field of early childhood care and development in Egypt and the Arab area,
and other developing countries.
33
-Teacher's guide.
34
References
Masoud: KG.
Information and decision taking suppot, the cabinet, facts and figures.
UNDP,2008.
36
The Second goal
Ensuring that by 2015 all children,
particularly girls, children in difficult
circumstances and those belonging
to ethnic minorities,
have access to and complete,
free and compulsory primary
education of good quality
37
The Second goal: Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly
girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to
ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free and compulsory
primary education of good quality.
Human rights treaties have basically assured the importance of good and
free primary education and combating inequity between males and
females regardless of social status or gender. This is what the second of
the six goals, that World Education Forum in Dakar in Senegal (2000)
called for.
The interest in universal primary education goes back to many past
decades. The World Declaration of Human Rights states that primary
education is free and compulsory for all children. However, many of the
world treaties and declarations focused more on the quantitative aspect
than the qualitative one.
Now, we are about to reach 2015 and there is a great number of children
who have no place or early dropout from school despite continuous
progress achieved in kindergarten stage and both basic and secondary
ones.
In fact universal primary education and its completion are not confined to
children of official school starting age access to school. This is the first
step in achieving universal basic education goal as one of the Dakar's
goals (2000). Survival and completion of school education till the end of
the cycle in addition to good learning outputs are matters of great
importance.
Proofs refer that poor families' children enter education in less numbers
than those of more advantaged ones. Besides, poor families' children get
education of poor quality.
Despite being a developing country that suffers from many deficiencies
and lack of resources, Egypt always cares about enhancing education
through participation and commitment to international treaties and
agreements particularly if the matter is related to providing a place for
every child in compulsory education cycle and achieving equality of
opportunities by providing equal opportunities for all (females / males,
handicapped/ healthy, rural /urban). This is what the following pages
clarify:
Legislation and acts of Arab Republic of Egypt 2014 constitution assure
the necessity of empowering community members to compulsory
education, in general, and the basic right to primary education, in
particular. The education act No (139 for1981) amended by act No (233
for1988) states in the third article that education is a basic right to all
38
citizens in the public schools for free and pupils shouldn't be asked to
pay fees for educational and instructional services offered to them.
According to the text of the act No (139 for 1981), The Egyptian Ministry
of Education undertakes the responsibilities of planning, monitoring,
evaluation, development and provision of resources. Municipalities are
responsible for policy implementation and follow up on the local level
according to context conditions in addition to encouraging self-efforts of
financing education.
Egypt has realized good achievements in Education For All for the target
groups. Education has become a national security issue. The national goal
of Education in Egypt is realizing "education for excellence and
excellence for all" to assure what is stated in the second decade
declaration document of protecting the Egyptian Child. This document
stated that the state is committed to raise enrollment rates in basic
education cycle for children of official school starting age, develop
curricula, expand the programs that nurture the talented and develop their
talents, use technology continuously and provide opportunity for
educating children in difficult circumstances . This group includes the
handicapped, the working children and out of school children.
In light of the model that UNESCO proposed, a national plan for
Education For All (2002/2003 – 2015/2016) has been devised. It included
two strategic goals;
- Continuity of providing equal educational opportunities for all target
groups members without any discrimination for any reason and
guaranteeing their continuity in learning taking into account over
population.
- Achieving the quality of education in all education cycles according
to total quality criteria and in light of international standards of the
experiences and abilities quality necessary for supporting the
learners' competitive capacities.
Following that, the National Strategic Plan for Pre-University Education
Reform in Egypt (2007/2008 – 2011/2012) was devised. It included many
programs. Their number is twelve ones to assure that education is right to
all. All should be offered the responsibility of its achievement through a
wide range of partnerships supported by cooperation with regional and
international agencies and institutions.
According the act text No (139 for 1981), the compulsory education cycle
in Egypt includes nine years, six year primary cycle, and three year
preparatory one. This was amended by the act No (233 for 1988) so that
the compulsory years become eight years to decrease the study years in
39
the primary cycle to five years. To correct this status, the act No (23 for
1999) was issued and forced the return of the sixth grade primary to the
map of the educational ladder in the school year (2004/2005). The basic
education cycle is followed by the secondary education one with its two
types, general and technical.
In this context, there is formal, private, foreign education as well as Al-
Azhar education institutions called “institutes” that include all education
cycles and follow the same educational ladder in Egypt and apply the
same curricula in addition to some extra syllabi in Islamic studies.
According the most up to date statistics, the total number of students in
pre-university education in the current school year (2012/2013) is
(18,298,786) million students. The number of students in Azhar education
in the same year is (2,045,034) million students. The primary cycle
students in Al-Azhar institutes represent about half as they are estimated
by (1,175,183) million students in the same year.
Although the following data is in the quantitative form, much of it has a
direct output on the type and quality of education such as failure, dropout
rates, survival in school, student/ teachers' ratio, the density of students in
classrooms and other indicators that will be presented and analyzed in the
following section.
The basic education reform program in the national strategic plan
(2007/2008-2011/2012) states that the overall goal that the Ministry of
Education seeks to achieve in collaboration with development partners is;
“Universal basic education for all and assuring the equality of providing
high quality educational opportunities, empowering Egyptian children to
basic skills in literacy, math and science, developing the creative and
cognitive capacities and making them acquire the values of dialogue,
citizenship, democracy and tolerance through achieving the following;
- Full enrollment of all children in the age group (6-14) years to be
near the international rates.
- Improvement of the quality of school life of basic education cycle
through providing healthy food system and hygiene for the students
in this cycle in addition to improving social skills and life practice.
- Development of primary education curricula to be flexible, support
active learning and include using instructional technology through
decreasing the number of the text- books in (20%) in basic education
cycle by 2011/2012 and training (100%) of in-service teachers on
the new curricula.
40
- Completion of the continuous modernization of teaching methods
and evaluation of learning outputs through following comprehensive
evaluation styles for all learners in basic education cycle in addition
to conducting standardized national achievement tests on (10%) of
basic education cycle students from 2008/2009.
- Provision of remedial programs for low-achievers starting in
2007/2008.
- Solution of the problem of the shortage of teachers' number and their
bad distribution according to every governorate circumstances
through re-qualifying the administrators educationally to work as
teachers in schools that have a shortage, redistribution of teachers in
schools assuring that (100%) of teachers in every directorate have
complete time table (number of periods weakly according the
ministerial decree (250/2006) and improving learning circumstances
inside high density classrooms.
- Raising community awareness of basic education reform issue
through providing support for teachers and parents councils, re-
activating, social worker’s role, developing partnerships with
Ministry of Education and non- governmental organizations.
Firstly, the quantitative dimension:
1- Number of schools, classrooms and students
The following table shows progression in the number of schools and
classrooms and distributing them according to their location liability
and students distribution in them from 2000/2001 to 2012l2013 by
selecting some years as follows;
Table (1/2) progression of schools, classrooms and students'
number in primary cycle in the interval 2001-2013
Comparison 2001/2002 2006/2007 2012/2013
aspect
Schools classrooms students Schools classrooms students Schools classrooms students
Public 14359 158410 6570380 15047 185538 8160236 15587 200340 8959343
Private 1294 16041 570923 1490 21694 722561 1812 26813 873173
Rural 10599 - 4316329 11209 126053 5281906 10810 127970 5480092
Urban 5054 - 2824974 5355 81179 3600891 6589 99183 4352424
Total 15653 1744451 7141303 16537 207232 8882797 17399 227153 9832516
41
Figure (1/2) progression of schools, classrooms and students' number in
primary cycle in the interval 2001-2013
The above table and figure show:
- Regarding education liability (public / private), we find that most
students are enrolled in public schools owing to their interest in achieving
the equality of educational opportunities according to the act and
constitution texts. However, the private sector participates in a reasonable
way. The table shows that students' number enrolled in public schools are
increasing. This reflects that the government pays attention to this aspect.
This agrees to schools and classrooms increase as mentioned in the table.
- There is an increase in students' number enrolled in private education.
This gives a good indicator of the partnership between the public and
private sectors. Besides, there is an increase in primary schools number in
the period (2001/2006) in a ratio of (4.21%).The new classrooms number
increased in (16.4%) in the same period. Then, the primary schools
increased in the period (2006- 2012) in (5.2%) and number of classrooms
increased in (9.6%).
- Concerning the place of students residence, (distribution of schools in
rural and urban areas), we notice that most primary cycle schools are in
the country and this agrees to population distribution. Beside the
governmental sector role, the private sector role increases greatly in the
urban areas.
2- Increase in number of full day schools:
Studies refer to the importance of the child's stay for a number of daytime
hours in schools. This number differs from a country to another.
However, there is an agreement to the importance of the school day
length and increase of school hours. It is known that the school day in
Korea ends in the sunset.
42
Despite efforts exerted by the Ministry of Education in increasing number
of schools that work with full day system because of its importance in
providing learners with an opportunity of practicing different activities
and helping them develop their capacities and fulfilling their hobbies,
there is a number of schools that works with shifts system at the time of
writing this report. The following table shows this;
20000
2000/ 2001 2006/ 2007 2012/ 2013
18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
full day schools morning second shift two shift schools total
schools schools
(evening)
43
decrease of school numbers that work with shifts system and second shift
evening schools.
The table also shows that the increase in numbers of full day schools are
in a ratio of (19.3%) that finish study at half past two and the increase in
morning shift schools spread in the country in a ratio of (39.11%) that
finish study at half past two in the afternoon. One of the advantages of
these schools is that they allow the child to help his parents after finishing
school.
It is obvious that there is a decrease in evening shift schools number in
half owing to its danger particularly if the learners are females as they are
liable to provocation and rape during their return from school to their
home.
3- Access and enrollment ratios:
The efforts exerted by the Ministry of Education as the basic entity
responsible for providing educational opportunities for all children aged
six (the age of school entry)and realizing a high ratio of total enrollment
in addition to the net enrollment ratio for both males and females as the
following tables show:
Table (3/2) The total access of learners in the first and second grades
primary, total and net enrollment ratio for years clarified in the table
Statement Total access Number of Total Number of Net
of learners Population enrollm learners accessed enrollme
in the first (6 years) ent in the first grade nt ratio %
Year grade ratio % primary (6 years
primary old)
2006/2007 1502855 1624176 92.5% 1357360 83.6%
2012/2013 167976 1873445 89.7% 1594433 85.1%
Source: General Directorate of Information and Computer, Statistics of
the data shown in the table, Ministry of Education.
44
Figure (3/2) The total access of learners in the first and second grades
primary, total and net enrollment ratio for years clarified in the table
The above table and figure show that there is a very low increase in net
enrollment ratio and there is a decrease in total enrollment ratio from
(92.5%) in 2006/2007 to (89.7%) in 2012/2013. This goes back to the
current economic crisis that Egypt undergoes after 25th January
Revolution in 2011. Net enrollment ratio is considered one of the most
important ratios to clarify the educational system condition in any
country. If the net enrollment rate is near the total rate, it is an obvious
and real indicator that the educational system is in the right track.
45
Rural - 907389 925321
Urban - 620758 740757
Total 1394348 1528147 1666078
Source: General Directorate of Information and Computer, Statistics of
the data shown in the table, Ministry of Education.
Figure (4/2) The total of new pupils in the first grades during the
interval 2001-2013
46
Table (5/2) The progression of the access number of the first and
second grade secondary and net and total enrollment ratio of the
years 2007-2013
Figure (5/2) The progression of the access number of the first and
second grade secondary and net and total enrollment ratio of the
years 2007-2013
The above table and figure show the progression of the net and total
access ratio of the students of the years mentioned in the table. It
should be taken into account that community schools accept pupils
aged (6-8) years. Consequently, pupils stay in them till the age of
fourteen years old. So, the total access includes children aged (6-14)
years and this clarifies the increase in its ratio. On the other hand, the
47
net access of children enrolled in this cycle includes children aged (6-
11) years and this clarifies the decrease in its ratio. The table shows
the progression of female access as the increase is in favor of girls in
(1%).
4- Increase of female education:
The interest in female education is a reflection of the significance of
the females' role in achieving the target human development, from one
hand, and an expression of their right to getting equal educational
opportunities to those of males which the constitution has given to
them, from the other hand. In this respect, statistics refers to the efforts
exerted to bridge this gap as the government has modernized new
forms and models of schools that achieve easy use, low cost and
taking into account the environmental and geographical dimensions.
The following indicators in this respect show;
Table (6/2) Females' access ratios at the primary cycle from
2000/2001 to 2012/2013
Statement Girls' access in Girls' access in Total ratio of
urban areas rural areas Girls' access at
Year
schools % schools Egypt's level %
2000/2001 48.20 46.47 47.16
2006/2007 48.49 46.15 48.27
2012/2013 48.38 48.16 48.26
Source: National Directorate of Information and Computers, Statistics
of the data mentioned in the table, Ministry of Education.
48
Girls' access ratio to the total of pupils in rural and urban areas doesn't
reach (50%) and so does the ratio at the national level. However,
access ratio in some governorates such as the Red Sea, South of Sinai,
Kalubeyia and Monufeyia is in favor of girls.
It is observed that there is a progression in girls' access ratio in urban
schools and there is a simple increase in this ratio in them than rural
ones. This may go back to poverty of some families, some inherited
customs and traditions like early girls' marriage, far distance between
home and school and there isn't a safe road for girls between
agricultural land and bridges. This has led to exerting more efforts to
provide a safe place for girls' education in the country and looking for
new types of schools that suit the environment needs such community
education schools that include;
One-room schools established since (1993) .The ministerial Decree
No (30 for 2000) organizes its system. Most of these schools learners
are girls. In these schools, girls learn life skills and sewing in addition
to school curricula. Ministry of Education is responsible for this kind
of schools. Their number is (3299) schools up till now.
Girls' Friendly schools established according to girls' education
initiative in (2000). The initiative was implemented in (2003) through
the Egyptian government allocation of a sum of money (157) million
pounds in addition to (13.56) million dollars in partnership with a
number of local community organizations and the United Nations'
organizations under the auspices of UNICEF. These schools are fully
free. Families aren't obliged to pay school fees or school stationery
costs. Besides, the meal, that the girl has in school as well as supply
material that takes with her to her home, are good to urge families to
send their girls to school.
Plans have been devised to implement girls' education initiative from
2000 to 2012 in (Sohag, Assiut, Minia, Beni- Suef, Giza, El-Behira,
Fayoum, and North of Sinai) governorates. The initiative aimed at the
following:
- Decreasing the qualitative gap in the target areas in about (60%) by
2007. (This ratio differs from place to another).
- Expanding girls' education initiative in the target governorates to
decrease the qualitative gap in (60%) better than its value in 2009
in the new untargeted areas in the first phase of implementation
(2003-2007).
49
- Extending the umbrella of friendly schools to include new
governorates through expanding their establishment in partnership
with Ministry of education up till 2012.
- Upgrading the facilitators' competence in active learning
techniques.
By the end of 2012, the time framework of the project, the following
was implemented,
- Building and operating (1167) girls' friendly schools for (1047)
target school by the end of 2012 (achievement ratio (110.7%).
- Access of (29,006) pupils for (31,410) target pupils in 2012
(achievement ratio (92.30%)).
- Bridging the qualitative gap in the target areas in about (60%)
compared to 2002 and in about (60%) compared to 2009. (The
ratio differs from one place to another).
- Training (2,400) teachers from the surrounding context.
- Training (153) supervisors from the same context.
- Graduating a number of (7,783) pupil from the sixth grade primary
from 2009 to 2011.
Community schools are schools established in cooperation with
Ministry of Education and UNICEF since its beginning in (1992) in
Upper Egypt, in particular, to accept (30%) males and (70%)
females. Its number is (339) schools now.
Small schools are schools established in co-operation with Ministry
of Education, civil societies and international organizations. They
started with (25) schools in Sohag, (13) schools in Fayoum and (5)
in Cairo suburbs according to 2005.2006 statistics. Their number is
(46) school now.
Rural schools are schools that care about the environmental
dimension. They don't cost much. Designing these schools should
take into account its compatibility with learning needs of rural
communities. They accept both males and females.
Sub Saharan schools are schools that established according to the
principle of "Education For All" .Ministry of Education has taken
into account that the school building should be compatible with the
desert nature and climatic conditions. These schools have many air
outlets to cold air and have light outlets to provide light energy and
exploiting clean solar energy. They are wide and aren't high much.
50
Street children schools are (34) schools. Lately, the term of children
in difficult circumstances, which the United Nations has adopted
through UNICEF, has appeared. This term includes out of school
children or those children excluded from the natural context of the
community as a result of economic, social or family circumstances
they have nothing to do with them.
Studies have shown that all or the majority of children, that nick- named
(out of school children) in Egypt, come from very poor families and most
of them come through emigration from the country. Most of these
children lost one of their parents for death, divorce, travel or disability. It
is noticed that out of school children are a male phenomenon in its
beginning. However, there are indicators that indicate the increase of
females among out of school children.
It can be noticed that this group of childsren has attracted the Egyptian
government attention, donor agencies and community participation. For
example, the project of educational acceleration of children in difficult
circumstances and re-inclusion of them in education has adopted access
of (300) pupils and opened (154) classrooms in Cairo, Giza, Alexandria,
Assiut, Sohag, Fayoum, Dakahlia, Sharkia, Kalubeyia and Port Said
governorates. These children are enrolled in primary schools, one-room
schools or vocational and technical education.
The most important merits of these similar types of schools are as
follows;
- Establishing them in disadvantaged areas.
- Allocating all or most of them for girls.
- Accepting the age group (8-14) year that hasn't opportunities to
enrollment in main stream education.
- Participation of local communities in their establishment and
nurturing.
- Caring about vocational training and small enterprises.
- Opening communication canals between them and main stream
education.
- Implementation of acceleration system to shorten the number of
school years for the learners who wish for that.
The following table shows the number of classrooms, learners and
teachers in community education schools of all its types this year.
51
Table (7/2) Number of Schools, classrooms and learners in
Community education in 2012/2013
Statement School Classro Males Females Total Teacher Non
Compariso om s teacher
n s
53
Table (8/2) Progression of the number of special education schools,
classrooms and learners during the interval 2006-2013 (all cycles)
Aspect of Urban Rural
Comparison Schools
Classroom
Males
Females
Sample Totak
Teachers
Schools
Classrooms
Males
Females
Sample total
Teachers
School Year
2006/2007 653 3410 20574 12267 32841 - 155 612 2827 1402 4229 -
2012/2013 720 3819 20236 12236 32472 8484 167 681 2969 1436 4404 1111
54
room for sign talk, a room for family reception, gym hall (according to
the space of the place) and sometimes a kitchen and a restaurant.
Besides, new curricula for pupils have been devised such as partial sign
dictionary, special text books that have big printing (Braille) for the blind,
special text books for mentally retarded, amending the text books at deaf
education schools to be like public education text books in addition to
inserting the computer subject as a field of specialization for the deaf at
the preparatory and technical secondary cycles.
Reports refer to implementing a co-operation protocol between Ministry
of Education and Ministry of Communication and Information
Technology concerning education enhancement initiative by using
information technology in (4) schools in Cairo and Giza governorates
(two schools for the deaf and two schools for the blind). These schools
are equipped with (10 computers, 2 Braille printers for the
blind,interactive board for the deaf schools, computers and air
conditions).
Math and computer syllabi are copied incompact disks. Schools are
equipped with these compact disks and a modern program of Ibsar for the
blind schools (The eighth edition).
UNICEF is currently preparing (73) schools for inclusion in Giza, Assiut,
Cairo, Sohag, Menofeya through furnishing resources room in these
schools and training teachers ,social and psychological workers.
Moreover, special education teacher faces challenges represented in
many, different and overlapping roles according to type of handicap,
nature of school subject and strategy used. So, teachers in this field need
special training to make them acquire necessary competencies for
working, increase their productive competency and increase the
qualitative competency of schools that they work in. The following table
shows progression of special education teachers' number.
Table (9/2) Progression of special education teachers' number during
the interval 2003-2013
55
Ministry of education, Statistics mentioned in the table, General
Directorate for Computer.
56
schools in addition to co-operation with Al-Aml Village Society in
Alexandria with support from Sawiris Institution for training (70)
assistant teachers in the inclusion schools in Alexandria.
A guide for examination paper specifications for included pupils from the
second grade to the sixth grade primary is currently being prepared by
experts from the National Center for Examinations.
6- Quantitative indicators affecting educational quality.
Educational For All (EFA, 2005) refers that there are six inputs that have
more effect on students' performance. These inputs of resources are
represented in students to teachers ratio, teachers' education, their
experiences, their salaries, expenditure on the student and reform of
school utilities.
Moreover, the number of years that the student spends in school indicates
that there is improvement in education quality. These opportunities differ
greatly from one place to another. It is expected that the child in Africa
benefits from fewer five to six school years than his European
counterpart.
The following tables include some of these indicators;
Table (10/2) Total access and repetitions in the primary cycle
2012/2013.
Statement Access Repetitions
Grades Males Females Total Males Females Total
1st Grade 855425 810653 1666078 - - -
2nd grade 825819 785138 1610957 2205 1949 4154
57
Figure (10/2) Total access and repetitions in the primary cycle
2012/2013.
The above table and figure show that there is increase in success ratio of
females compared to males and there is also on increase in failure ratio in
the fourth and sixth grades as public examinations because the four the
grade examination is an the educational Directorate level while the sixth
grade examination is on Egypt's level. The following table shows
promotion rate of the preparatory cycle distributed according to gender.
Table (11/2)
Promotion rate from the primary cycle to the preparatory one
between 2011/2012 and 2012/2013
58
Figure (11/2) Promotion rate from the primary cycle to the
preparatory one between 2011/2012 and 2012/2013
The above table and figure show that the progression of female success
ratio compared to males because males are busy helping the family earn
their living especially in rural schools and disadvantaged urban areas. The
following table shows progression of preparatory cycle success ratio in
many years.
Table (12/2)
Success ratio of the primary Certificate (Males + females) during the
interval 2000-2012
Statement Governmental Private Total
Year
Males Females Total Males Females Total Males Females Total
2000/2001 83.1% 89.9% 85.9% 98.7% 99.3% 99% 84.1% 90% 86.8%
2006/2007 88.2% 93.1% %90.5% 99.2% 99.6% 99.4% 89% 93.6% 91.2%
2011/2012 87% 92% 89.5% 99% 99.4% 99.2% 88% 92.6% 90.2%
59
Figure (12/2) Success ratio of the primary Certificate (Males +
females) during the interval 2000-2012
From reading the above table and figure, we notice that there is
improvement in success ratio of 2006/2007 compared to 2000/2001. This
reflects the qualitative progression of the system and functionalizing
technology. Besides, we notice that there is decline of success ratio
between 2006 /2007 compared to 2011/2012. This may go back to the
effects of the 25th Revolution and what it caused of embezzlement and
insecurity.
Moreover, the table shows an increase in success ratio in the private
sector owing to the decrease of the classroom density, availability of
equipment, and decrease in teacher's ratio of students. This is what the
following table shows:
Table (13/2) Classroom density and teacher's ratio of students in
public and private sectors in primary cycle
Statement Classroom Density Student /Teacher Ratio
Grades Public Private Total Public Private Total
2001/2002 41.48% 35.59% 40.94%
2007/2008 44% 33% 43% 28.21% 20.51% 27.37%
60
Figure (13/2) Classroom density and teacher's ratio of students in
public and private sectors in primary cycle
The table and figure show the improvement of indicators in the private
sector and high density in public schools. This reflects the need of other
new building.
Secondly, the qualitative dimension:
This section includes what is related to improving school life quality in
the primary education cycle represented in supporting community
partnership, upgrading teachers' professional qualification level,
increasing the beneficiaries of food programs, developing infrastructure
and expanding use of technology.
Ministry of Education has redefined the priorities so that primary
education occupies the first order in expenditure on education because
this cycle is the basis of preparing the individual for life and life long-
learning in the following cycles. This can be clarified as follows;
1- Upgrading the teacher's professional Standards:
Studies indicates that the success of any educational system depends on
three factors which are; the ability to providing a great number of
teachers, providing them with suitable and continuous training and
evaluation systems of all levels to identify the extent of learners'
progression. Ministry of Education in Egypt adopts this policy in its
strategic plan by upgrading teachers' continuous professional support and
providing financial allocation for that.
61
The teacher's participation in professional development programs whether
on school level in school centered reform program or in the courses that
are held on the Idyrra, the educational directorate or Ministry of
Education as an obligatory condition of job promotion.
The new cadre correlates between skills, performance and promotion
process. The teachers' cadre has been implemented according to Act No.
(155) for (2007). A distinguished performance is granted for those who
attain PHD or its equivalence and the Master Degree or its equivalence
according to the decree of the head of the cabinet No. (734) for 2005.
Beside the interest and upgrading financial and professional teacher's
level, Ministry of education also pays attention to increasing teachers'
numbers as the following table shows;
Table (14/2) Progression of teachers' number in 2002 to 2013
Cycle 2002/2003 2006/2007 2012/2013
Primary 322961 331806 390749
Preparatory 210871 197587 240393
Special Education 7842 8447 9595
Community 3537 3655 8257
Education
Source: National Center for Educational Research and Development,
National Report on Education Development in Egypt 2004 - 2008. Cairo,
2008. General Directorate of Information and Computer, Ministry of
Education.
62
schools.
The teacher's professional development process aims at adding new
knowledge to the teacher, developing skills and focusing on supporting
values. Up till 2005 /2006, the ratio of primary cycle teachers trained and
attained higher qualification is more than (95%). This applies to rural and
urban teachers in addition to private and public schools.
The ratio of educational primary cycle teachers is (85.2%) of the cycle
total teachers in 2012/2013.
Training programs take more than one from such as direct training,
distance training, internal and foreign scholarships as follow;
- Direct training:
Central Directorate of training undertakes this kind of training through
(14) centers that belong to it in governorates. Programs are specified
according to teachers' training needs. Beside these centers, there is a
training directorate in every educational directorate. There are also
training departments in every Idyrra in addition to teachers trained in
training and evaluation units in schools.
Moreover, three new professional development centers were established
for kindergarten female teachers in particular.
- Indirect training (distance training):
Ministry of Education used this kind of training owing to the great
increase in teachers' number in all educational cycles in addition to
providing training service for all governorates and a great number of
beneficiaries at the same time.
Implementing this kind of training has started through the video -
conference since 1996. It continued and the number of these centers has
become (63) centers in 2008. The training capacity of the network was
(8000) trainees.
-Internal scholarships:
They include special needs teachers. This program includes about (250)
teachers annually to study special education programs of the categories
(hearing - sight - mental).
- Foreign scholarship:
The best teachers are selected to benefit from training programs available
for them in advanced countries. In 2007/208, scholarship system was
developed to be six months instead of three. After that, the teacher
obtains a diploma in his specialization from the university where be
studies. Before travel, English language proficiency level is improved
63
through the teacher's attainment of a certificate from the British Cultural
Institute in Cairo to achieve the most possible benefit.
Ministry of Education policy in this respect aims at the following;
- Implementing a mechanism of the ideal benefit from teachers after
return and organizing workshops inside the educational institution to
transfer experiences to their colleagues in co-ordination with educational
directorates.
- Benefiting from modern trends such as information technology
programs, modem teaching methods, management systems and guidance
and counseling.
- Organizing programs for internal scholarships that aim at benefiting
from available internal facilities in co-operation with institutions and
directorates belonging to Ministry of Education and foreign
organizations.
2- Increasing school nutrition allocations:
Ministry of Education tries to increase the budget allocated for school
nutrition and increasing the number of beneficiaries in partnership
between Ministry of Education and municipalities, civil society and
private sector to present rich, complete food meal for the growth of the
pupil's body in this important cycle, primary education cycle. School
nutrition program in Egypt aims at;
- Increasing learners' achievement capacity and improving their growth to
protect them from mal- nutrition diseases.
- Decreasing dropout rates and low truancy ratio through parents'
encouragement.
Legislations related to nutrition in schools go back to Act No. (25)
for1942 that obliged the government to present school nutrition at the
early cycle. Following that, there were many conference
recommendations and research issued by the National Nutrition Institute.
Decision was taken in people's Assembly session held on 5/9/2007 to
distribute meals to cover a limited number of pupils particularly in
villages, poor and disadvantaged areas, Upper Egypt governorates and far
governorates in addition to age cycles that need mental and muscle effort
such as technical secondary cycle (agricultural – industrial) and
experimental sports schools.
Food meal is presented supported by iron for treating anemia and other
diseases such as thyroid disease where iodine salt is added to it.
Now, a safe, varied and fresh food meal is being distributed in the
64
primary cycle (6-12 years). Ministries of Education and Agriculture
afforded the cost of this meal. Two million pupils benefit from this meal
in some governorates as the following table shows;
66
3-Support of Community partnership.
There is a correlation between community partnership and
decentralization. Decentralization means delegating responsibilities of
lower administrative levels of Ministry of Education as a central unit to
directorates and schools as an executive unit in addition to giving a
greater role of local community institutions, private sector and related
institutions concerning finance, management and fellow-up processes,
etc.
In supporting community partnership in the field of Education, the
general Directorate of civil societies in Ministry of Education supports
the educational process in three pivots as follows;
The first pivot: Supporting the learning job:
This includes upgrading educational process competence in the field of
environment service, illiteracy, community and one-room schools,
libraries support, rehabilitation and maintenance of furniture and
equipment, land donation and establishment of schools.
One of the examples of this support is Education Nahda Society Project
(improving reading and writing) to upgrade primary school pupils'
competence to decrease dropout rates. The project is currently
implemented in directorates of (Basateen, Dar El-Salam) in Cairo
governorate.
The Second pivot: Supporting the educational job:
This includes assistance, symposia, lectures, conferences, meetings,
camps, celebrations, trips, competitions, nurturing special needs pupils'
the gifted and school as a productive unit.
One of the examples of this support is the project of Future Protectors for
Care and Development Society (Think and Invent) that aims at supporting
learners' capacities by using computer in Cairo and Alexandria
governorates.
The Third pivot: Supporting relationship between school and family.
This includes kindergartens, protective programs of dropout,
environmental and cultural awareness programs and teachers'
professional training.
One of the examples of this support is Together Against Starvation
Project which the Food Bank adopts in (25) schools in Cairo, Alexandria,
Dakhleyia, Luxor, Beni Suef, to serve (1200) students and presenting
fresh food meal.
The following table shows the achievements of the General Directorate of
67
Civil Societies established by the Ministerial Decree on 15/12/1998.
69
- Participation in King Hamad Ben Essa Al Khalifa Prize for using
information and communication technology (Kingdom of Bahrain).
Third: Celebrations:
-Celebration of the World Day of Eliminating Starvation on 17/10/2007
through art competition for designing a stamp.
- Celebration of the World Day of Peace and No for Violence on
21/9/2013 in the context of an instructional program for peace under the
title, "Life- long Learning".
5- Foreign Student Fellowship and Scholarship:
In the context of supporting education process, a number of distinguished
and gifted students is sent abroad annually to be aware of countries
experiences in developing education and supporting learners. Besides,
there is a benefit from some few fellowships that private universities
present. The following tables show this;
70
The table, above, shows that there is a low number of fellowship
beneficiaries whether in Egypt or travel abroad compared to the number
of school students in 2012/2013.
The table, above, shows the continuity element and the wish for various
experiences in spite of the few number, in total, compared to the learners'
total in all education cycles.
- Improving the teacher's social and economic status and increasing
number of beneficiaries of the special cadre project in spite of the few
teaching hours (teacher's share of periods) compared to other countries.
Besides, teachers' salaries increase has a great burden on the central
government in providing it owing to the great number of the staff in the
teaching profession who is about one million and half teachers
(1.500.000). In spite of providing a convenient income for the teacher,
studies indicate that more than (70%) of the total expenditure on
education goes to salaries and not to infrastructure, capital costs or school
equipment that are of a great importance.
- Technological development through providing up to date media, using
71
technology effectively achieving the qualitative shift from traditional
education to learner centered education and making him / her acquire the
ability to self-learning. It is noticed that the computer has become a basic
subject in all education cycles from the school year 2000/2001. There are
standards that curricula designers should take into account in the primary
cycle to reactivate technology use. These standards represent in training
students on how to exchange information via the internet, documentation
and publishing rules, how to select the piece of information, etc. in
addition to training teachers on them.
- On the local level, it should be referred to the Egyptian initiative for
education development (May, 2006). This initiative aimed at empowering
learners and teachers to rebuild their capacities. This initiative includes
preparatory schools. It was proposed to implement it in primary schools
in 2009. 15.995trainees were trained on Intel programs, 16.196 were
trained on Microsoft Program and 4508 trainees in Technological
Development Center in addition to providing schools with 7600 thousand
computers.
The most significant challenges that impede qualitative and
quantities development in primary education cycle.
It is obvious that Egypt suffers from economic resources scarcity, bad
investment of human resources in spite of their abundance. It is
remarkable that there is a bad distribution of these resources between
urban and rural areas. This means their accumulation in a place and their
scarcity in the other. Besides, there is a bad professional qualification, a
clear scarcity in some specializations particularly activities teachers
(physical education – music education – art education) .There is no a
strong authority for inspection and supervision on the teacher during
doing his work in the classroom.
As a result of traditional teaching and evaluation systems and a reflection
of the length of school curricula, the plenty number of topics in them as
the topics number increased in the primary education cycle from (96)
titles in 2000 to (229) titles in 2005 with a rate of (138%), the private
tutoring increased incredibly. This has a great burden on the Egyptian
family especially if the family is poor or below the poverty line. Besides,
private tutoring phenomenon has made a lot of teachers neglect doing
their roles in school. So, the number of illiterates enrolled in school
increases as there is a study conducted by inspection authority in Ministry
of Education that stated that (30%) of basic education cycle students
(primary – preparatory) weren't able to read and write well in 2004/2005.
73
Figure (17/2) Increase in access number and decrease of dropout
ratio in primary cycle from 2000/2001 to 2012/2013
Reading The above table and figures shows the increase of access number
of males and females. It is noticed that there is an increase in learners'
number in 2006/2007 compared to 2003/2004 owing to classrooms
increase and the return of the sixth in 2005/2006.Consequently, there is
an increase in learners' number of males and females in addition to
increase in drop out number compared to the previous years. The dropout
ratio is 1.8% for males, (1.2%) for females and 1.5% in total in
2006/2007. It is also noticed that 2012/2013 data on dropout number
hasn't been calculated yet because of its calculation mechanism which
forces the pupil not to enter the final year exam for two consequent years.
The National Center for Educational Research and Development studies
and Research refer to the most significant causes of the child's dropout
from school as follows;
- There is no space for practising educational activities in school.
- The Pupil who drops out wishes quick earning of living.
- The Pupil who drops out feels hungry during the school day.
- The number of pupils is great in the classroom, the thing that
doesn't give an opportunity for identifying the gifted and low -
achievers.
Youth and children's Survey Report, 2011 indicates that poor families
children suffer from high failure rates in education that reach (23.4%)
compared to (9.2%) for rich ones. The highest ratio of failure is found in
poorer groups. In primary education, in particular, (6%) poorer children
drop out compared to (0.3%) of rich ones.
74
The internal efficiency of any educational system is usually measured by
success and survival rates in the cycle in addition to decreasing failure
and dropout rates. In the field of pupils' performance evaluation, an exam
is held in the sixth grade primary on the educational directorate level .
These exams measure the cognitive aspect only. This aspect is related to
memorization and recalling and lacking training on problem solving
skills, critical and creative thinking.
In the previous years, it is noticed that there is an increase of the private
sector role in the educational process particularly in Cairo and Urban
governorates. This role decreases in the country and Upper Egypt owing
to families' low incomes. It is also noticed that the most governorates that
witness drop out, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobility
and Statistics, are Upper Egypt governorates followed by lower Egypt
ones in a ratio of 37.6%, 37.8% consequently in 2006 / 2007.
It is worthy of note that we have a successful experience in this respect as
(700) children, who dropout, returned to school in Alexandria
governorate because the educational directorate in Alexandria gave each
student one thousand pounds, (700) thousand pounds in total. It also
conducted awareness campaigns for their parents. This experience was
within a study of dropout phenomenon and putting suitable solutions for
it in co-operation with children at risk program that UNICEF organizes in
partnership with Ministry of Manpower to follow-up pupils working in
workshops.
Concerning the expenditure on education: In spite of the increase in
government expenditure on education, as reports show, the quantitative
extension and solving accumulated problems such as drop out, failure
rates, rehabilitation and maintenance of school buildings and expanding
technology use require great extra costs that the official governorate can't
fulfill alone.
Data of 2005/2006 indicates that public expenditure on education in
primary education cycle is (7969) million pounds in a ratio of (46.5%) of
the gross expenditure on education. This ratio suits the importance of the
cycle. Pupils' expenditure rate is (986) pounds in the primary cycle in the
same year. This rate increased to be (2454) pounds according to 2012 /
2013 statistics so that the increase ratio could become (148%) during
seven years. Ministry of Education budget has exceeded (62) milliard
pounds in the current year 2013/2014 with an increase that equals ten
milliard pounds compared to 2012/2013 as it was (49.984.982) milliard
pounds .
Arab Republic of Egypt Constitution of 2014 stipulates that the state
commits to allocate a ratio of governmental expenditure on education not
75
less than (4%) of the gross national product and increase gradually to
agree with international rates. The state supervises education for
guaranteeing all public and private schools and institutes' commitment to
its educational policy. (Article No 19).
In addition to the previous challenges;
- Far distances between school and home in the country particularly in
Upper Egypt and there is no safe road for walking. This represents a
burden on families to protect their girls during going and returning
from school.
- Learners' bad enrollment in education in border governorates. This
causes wastage of resources as equipment, laboratories and classrooms
become empty without benefiting from them.
- Violence in school and its forms (a pupil against a pupil-a pupil against
a teacher – a teacher against a pupil – a teacher against a teacher – a
parent against a teacher – an administrator against a parent, etc.) and
there are no deterrent measures in dealing with violations.
- Children's labor in an early age and children in difficult circumstances
because of families' poverty and increase of divorce rates. According to
the Central Agency of Public Mobility and Statistics census (General
Census of population, 2008), Egypt has about three million students at
the age of basic education who are outside the education system with a
ratio that reaches (15%) of the age cluster in spite of the efforts exerted
and there is more than one initiative for changing the reality especially
in disadvantaged areas that suffer from shortage of health and special
services such as Minia, Sohag, Beni- Suef and Fayoum governorates.
The cause of children's labor increase goes back to rise of their wages
level compared to learners' wages one and there is no commitment to
laws specifying and organizing children's labor. Besides, there is no data
base about their number, places and causes of their dropout from
education. Consequently, it is difficult to make correct school map on the
national level to distribute educational services for this category.
-Concerning school buildings as domain for supporting education
infrastructure, Ministry of education efforts isn't restricted to the
quantitative expansion only, but efforts continued to target the qualitative
development of these buildings represented in design and equipment to
keep pace with knowledge society demands.
In spite of building schools is one of the state priorities through the
pervious and current five year plans after 1992 earthquake and the crisis it
caused in school buildings, there are more than one thousand schools that
are unvalid at all according to formal reports. So, Ministry of Education
76
has put a plan for building (7500) schools in the context of the third five
year plan (1992 – 1997), (500) schools were built. From 1992 to 2006,
(14000) schools were built by the General Authority of Educational
Buildings in addition to designing a lot of schools according to specified
quality standards that approach international standards.
In spite of the efforts exerted to provide more buildings in basic education
cycle, there are some current problems such as;
- There is not enough maintenance in schools.
- Governmental schools buildings number doesn't suffice the enrollment
of all pupils at the official school starting age.
- School buildings may be used for more than shift during the day.
- The cost of building a classroom is very high in addition to the increase
of inflation and cost of building constructs. This has led to increase in the
cost of building a school greatly as the constructs cost equals about (30%)
of the cost of building a school.
The most important opportunities that can be made use of in
improving the status quo:
There are some pioneering projects on the local and international
levels such as;
- Education enhancement program for the first three grades primary that
Ministry of Education supports. This program is conducted through
active learning strategies, providing a lot of facilities and equipment
for improving education in schools in addition to training teachers and
principals on modern teaching skills. This project was funded by the
World Bank and European Union in Co-operation with Ministry of
Education.
- Primary education support project funded by Canadian Agency for
International Development in co-operation with Ministry of Education
to support the Ministry efforts in implementing school centered reform
from (2005 to 2010) in the Idyraa of Dairout in Assiut, Al-Monshah in
Sohag, Qus in Qena in ninety schools in total.
- Electronic Learning project that started in 2001/2002. It aims at
establishing high – quality educational sites on the internet that include
diagraphs, video films, chat and TV channels.
- Co-operation with Ministry of Military Production that has a
pioneering experience in providing schools that have no electrical
powers sources with generators to use laboratories, technological sets
and computers in addition to benefiting from the National Authority of
77
Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education efforts, established
by the Ministerial Decree No. 82 for 2006.
- Supporting the partnership with national councils and concerned
ministries such as the National Council for Childhood and
Motherhood, Ministry of Social Solidarity and Ministry of Supply to
solve school children and their families' problems and provide the
necessary things for developing the educational process.
- Benefiting from the Professional Academy for Teachers efforts
established according to adding the Article No. (75) of the Act No
(155) of 2007 that complements Act No139 of 1981 and reactivating
its role in teacher's training and development in addition to the General
Authority of Illiteracy and Adult Education efforts.
- Creating a kind of balance in educational systems and institutions
management and between centralization and decentralization by
delegating more responsibilities for municipalities to find quick
solutions for some problems and crises keeping the Ministry of
Education right, the real representative of the central management, to
take necessary decisions and specify the suitable budget for that in
addition to upgrading school self – capacity as the executive unit
responsible for achieving education process goals.
- Caring about the talent and the talented and building more than one
school such as Maadi Secondary School for the Talented, identifying
and nurturing the talent in an early age in the primary cycle to the
preparatory and secondary cycles in parallel with caring about the
handicapped right to education.
78
References
1. The National Center for Educational Research and Development,
Assessment of Education For All (2000-2007) the Regional
UNESCO Office in Cairo, 2007.
2. The National Center for Educational Research and Development,
The National Report on Education For All in Egypt(2004-2008),
Ministry of Eucation,Cairo,2008.
3. Ministry of Education, General Directorate of Information and
Computer, statistics of the data mentioned in the report, 2013.
4. Ministry of Education, Central Directorate of Financial Affairs, the
General Directorate of Nuitrition, 2013.
5. Ministry of Education, Central Directorate of Foreign and Cultural
Relations, Directorate of Fellowships and School Leaves, 2013.
6. Ministry of Education, Central Directorate of Basic Education,
General Directorate of Civil Societies, 2013.
7. The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, The
National Strategy of Homeless Children's Protection, Qualification
and Inclusion, Cairo, 2013.
8. The National Center for Educational Research and Development,
Education For All (An evaluative study in light of the declared
goals) Cairo, 2007.
9. Ministry of Education, the National Strategic Plan of Education
Reform in Egypt 2007/2008-2011/2012, Cairo, 2008.
10.Arab Republic of Egypt, the Constitution Project, Ministry of
Youth, Cairo.
11.Eman Mohamed Shawky Al-Dabaa, Planning for reactivating the
educational job of educational buildings in basic education schools
in Egypt, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, 2010.
12.UNICEF, Girls' education initiative in Egypt, UNESCO Regional
Bureau for Middle East and North Africa,2013
13.The National Center for Educational Research and Development,
the National Plan on Education For All 2002/2003-2015/2016,
Ministry of Eucation, Cairo, 2003.
14.UNESCO, The Quality Imperative, Paris, UNESCO, 2004.
15.UNESCO, Literacy for Life, Paris, UNESCO, 2006.
16.UNICEF, Child Survival, Amman, UNICEF, December 2007.
79
The Third Goal
Ensuring that the learning needs
of all young people and adults
are met through equitable access
to appropriate learning
and life skills programs
80
The Third Goal: Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people
and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning
and life skills programs.
Ministry of education tries to ensure that learners are able to get their
possible capacities in each of the educational programs, expanding
educational opportunities in different educational cycles, making the
learner acquire useful knowledge, life skills and values.
Besides, there is a focus on learning life skills, developing the ability to
read and write and empowering different population groups to obtain
education that allows them to live a better life through achieving equal
opportunities for education.
The constitution of 2014 has added the secondary stage to compulsory
education (the age group from 15 to 17). So, secondary education, in its
two kinds, general and technical, is included in basic education as
compulsory one.
The following table shows youth literacy rate (those who can read and
write) of the age group (15-24) years expressing it in a percentage of the
total population belonging to the same age group. The individual is
literate if he/she is able to read, write and understand an easy text related
to his daily life. Males are better than females in a ratio of (7%).
Table (3/1) literacy ratio among
youth (15-24) years (2005 – 2010)
Total Literacy Ratio
Statement Ratio % 92%
Total Literacy Ratio 88 90%
88%
Males 91
86%
Females 84 84% 91%
88%
82%
84%
80%
Figure (3/1) literacy ratio among youth (15-24) years (2005 – 2010)
The following table and figure show expected youth literacy rate (15-24)
years in 2015
Table (3/2) The expected progression in youth literacy ratio in the
age group (15-24) years
81
Statement/ Year 2010 2015
Total Literacy Ratio 88% 92%
Males 91% 94%
Females 84% 90%
83
Relative distribution of population (more than ten years) was estimated
according to educational state and gender in 2006. This is the last
comprehensive statistics of population according to the decimal
periodical census as follows;
Table (3/3) Relative distribution of population (+10 years) in 2006
Educational Males Females Total
State No. % No. % No. %
Illiterate 6549518 22.8 10473999 37.1 17023517 30.1
Read and Write 3932148 13.7 2938932 10.6 6549518 12.1
Pre middle 6109773 21.2 5045050 18.2 11154823 19.7
qualification
Middle 8263098 28.3 6553468 23.2 14816566 25.9
Qualification
Post Middle 828095 2.8 626070 2.3 1454165 2.6
Qualification
University 3165673 10.9 2205791 7.9 5471464 9.4
Qualification
Post University 93765 0.3 46503 0.2 140268 0.25
Qualification
%
Males % Females % Total %
37
32
27
22
17
12
7
2
Post University Post Middles Middle Pre middle Read and Illiterate -3
University Qualification Qualification Qualification qualification Write
Qualification
84
of Education tries to provide it with teachers, trainers, educational
buildings and equipment necessary for workshops, machinery and sets.
Ministry of Education aims at developing technical education through
some strategic goals to achieve the following;
- Training for employment.
- Expanding opportunities and modernization of technical education
specializations in Egypt and the Sudan.
- Providing a complementary program for those who wish from general
secondary education certificate graduates to prepare them for the labor
market.
- Providing facilities and education technology to suit the type of
technical education and number of students according to specified
standards.
- Connecting technical education with services and production
institutions in the surrounding context to train students in these
productive institutions.
- Developing curricula in light of up to date requirements to keep pace
with the labor market and local context reality in addition to
implementing a new system for comprehensive assessment and
evaluation.
- Upgrading legislation and structure of permanent capital project in
light of dual education and economic outcome.
- Cooperation with firms and businessmen for developing technical
education to keep pace with the great challenges that international
competiveness imposes now and in the future and provide employers
with skilled graduates and qualifications that the labor market needs.
- Supporting governance and accountability systems in technical
education management on all levels.
85
Secondary
Agricultural
169 225311 174 185499 188 179013 +11.24% (schools)
Secondary
A number of
Commercial commercial schools
921 990222 753 697727 794 651220
Secondary were transformed into
hoteling schools
MubarkKhol
They were included
Schools (Dual
35 6000 44 16000 48 20660 in dual education and
education and
training.
training)
3000000
2500000
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
Males Females Public Private Urban Rural Total
87
Table (6/3) Total and net access ratio of secondary education
students' two types
Net access ratio Total total access ratio Total
Technical
education Net Net
Males Females Males Female
access access
Industrial
18.6 12.3 15.5 23.1 13.7 18.5
secondary
Agricultural
4.7 1.3 3.1 6.1 1.5 3.9
secondary
Commercial
8.5 15.2 11.7 10.7 17.7 14.1
secondary
Technical
education 31.8 28.8 30.3 39.9 32.9 36.5
total
General
24.8 31.2 27.9 26.9 33.4 30.0
secondary
Total 56.6 60.1 58.3 66.8 66.3 66.5
60 total access
Net access
30
40
18.5
20 14.1
27.9
15.5 3.9
11.7
0 3.1
Industrial Agricultural Commercial General secondary
88
number in commercial education than males and vice versa in
industrial and agricultural education. Females have got higher
ratios than males in both general and commercial education and
vice versa in industrial and agricultural education.
The total number of technical education students in public schools
exceeds greatly its counterpart in private technical education in a
ratio of (93.5%) owing to its high cost and there is not private
agricultural education.
The total number of technical education students in urban areas
increases in a ratio of (77.44%) than rural ones.
The total access rate in secondary cycle exceeded (66%) and
general secondary education has got (45%) of students enrolled in
secondary education two types.
Table (7/3) Industrial secondary diploma result in 2011/2012
Three year system 93.7% Five year system 98.15%
Males Females Males Females
No. % No. % No. % No. %
180189 90.0 98601 97.4 1379 97.3 192 99.0
92
Males 77266 45981
Females 68354 33599
Number of private technical institute 10 11
(post-middle)
Number of students Total 19633 7957
Males 6086 3634
Females 13547 4323
Number of higher institutes/ 13 13
academies
Number of students Total 371814 332814
Males 232003 239416
Females 139811 93458
2005/2006 2011/2012
40
35
30
23
25
20 13
19
15 11
10 8
17
5 10 13
8 7
0
No.of public uni No. of private uni No. of public tech private tech No. of higher
inst. (post-middle) institute (post- institutes
middle) academies
93
2005/2006 2011/2012
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Females
Females
Females
Females
Females
Males
Males
Males
Males
Males
Total
Total
Total
Total
Total
Thousands
public universities private universities public tech private technical higher institutes
inst(post-middle) institute (post- academies
middle)
Figure (11/3) Higher education and its public and private types
In spite of the increase of private universities in (70.4%), it is obvious
that students enrolled in them are fewer in a great ratio (5.3%) than those
enrolled in public. Besides, the number of private technical middle
institutes is greater in a ratio of (58%) than public ones but the number of
students enrolled in them is fewer in a great ratio as (10%) only of the
numbers enrolled in technical post middle institutes have access to them.
It is worthy of note that these private universities and institutes have
given great opportunities for accepting different types of technical
education graduates. It can be noted that there is a decrease in numbers of
students enrolled in private and public universities and institutes in 2012
compared to 2005 as a result of the general secondary education space
year in 2010 after returning the sixth grade primary to basic education
cycle.
Projects, programs and initiatives in the field of technical education:
Mubarak Khol project for technical education:
This project is a result of cooperation with Germany. Through it, some
students travel to Germany every summer. There is cooperation between
Ministry of Education and Ministry of Industry. The number of
participating factories has exceeded (1800) factories in addition to (300)
construction firms. The number of careers trained on is (29). The number
of governorates where the program is implemented is (22) governorates.
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Dual vocational training and education system:
Dual vocational training and education system is based on systematic
vocational education (theoretical, cultural and technical subjects inside
school) and training (practical application inside the training institution)
as a preliminary and basic preparation of the career in light of the
following characteristics;
Qualifying a category of technical trained labor scientifically and
practically on means of production and advanced modern
technology to keep pace with labor market needs.
System implementation( to apply and reactivate community
participation principle) through;
- The governmental sector represented in Ministry of Education.
- The private sector represented in the qualitative union of
investors’ associations or any other economic and service
establishment in coordination with the qualitative union of
investors’ associations.
The target categories to join this educational cycle are those who
completed basic education cycle in the same year.
In case of availability of good training opportunities during the
school year, the following categories can be accepted;
- Those who completed the first technical term successfully in the
same career (the first grade).
- Those who completed the first technical term successfully in
the same career (the second grade).
- Those who want to transform at the beginning of the first
technical term in the same career provided that they are
transferred to the second grade.
There should be a contract between the student's parent (the trainee)
and the training institution (a firm, a factory…) .Its items organize
all rights and commitments of the two parties during training
periods.
The theoretical study should be for two days in one of the technical
industrial schools and the practical training for four days or its
equivalent of cumulative education and training in a way that it
doesn’t affect practical training and theoretical study hours in one of
the training institutions.
Training year length is twelve months starting with the beginning of
the school year.
The study length in schools that apply this system is three years.
After that, the graduate obtains technical secondary diploma
certificate in the dual system in addition to a local certificate from
the institution supervising practical training.
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The most significant partnership efforts in contributing to
supporting technical education are as follows;
Cooperation with Ministry of Information to qualify trained
technical labor in electronics.
Cooperation with Ministry of Petroleum to qualify trained technical
labor in petroleum technology.
Signing an agreement with Miser Al-Kheir that aims at qualifying
technical schools graduates and helping them financially to establish
and manage small projects in the field of their study specialization in
addition to improving school management, technical inspection and
teachers in technical industrial education.
Signing cooperation agreement with Faculty of Engineering at Suez
Canal University to train teachers, students and inspectors in the
governorates surrounding Suez Canal University.
Cooperation with Ministry of Man power and Immigration through
preparing standards for measuring unqualified technical workers’
skills in careers related to craft, career and industrial field. Technical
education sector specialists prepared these standards.
Cooperation with Ministry of Electricity and Energy to qualify
trained technical labor in dual training and education system in the
following fields; electric measurement and control apparatus, power
mechanics, power electricity, transport lines maintenance,
transformers stations maintenance, protection and communication
sets maintenance, operation and maintenance of electric distribution
networks as well as electric networks.
Cooperation with the National Authority of wire and wireless
communication to qualify trained technical labor in the following
fields; electronic telephone exchanges, coorrespodence, network
communication technician, electric power communication
technician, air-conditioning, computers.
Cooperation with Ministry of Industry to qualify trained technical
labor in the following fields; forgings and thermal transactions,
hydraulics, transportation and distribution units, printing, the offset,
petrochemicals, plastic, weaving mechanics, ready-made clothes,
Electronics and mechanical automatic control, weaving mechanics,
dyeing, printing and textile processing.
Cooperation with the Ministry of Culture to graduate trained
technical labor in the two fields: (architecture restoration- accurate
restoration).
Cooperation with the Ministry of Military Production to graduate
trained technical labor in the dual education and training system in
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the following fields; mechanical operation, industrial Painting -
Cooling and air-conditioning - Metalwork and welding – Furniture
carpentry - Mechanical maintenance - E-Calculators - Industrial
Chemistry -Electricity- Equipment – electrical installations
technician )
Cooperation with the Ministry of Health to graduate trained
technical labor in fields of prosthetic devices and limbs.
Cooperation with General Organization for Government Printing
Offices in Imbaba to graduate trained technical labor in fields of
(Photo Collecting - Mechanical photography – Lithographic
printing - Offset Printing - Binding and underlining)
Cooperation with General Authority for the development of High
Dam Lake to graduate trained technical labor in the dual education
and training system in the field of fish catching technology.
Partnership with My Way company in Kalubeya governorate,
Egyptian Jamma International Company in Kalubeya governorate,
Sweedy Electric company in Sharkia governorate, Al-
Amel Factory for Manufacturing Cars in Sharkia governorate
Cooperation with private sector in many companies including
Ahmad Arafa Company for Textile and Ready –made clothes
in Tenth of Ramadan city, BTM company for Ready –made clothes,
Fotex company, MVC company for Mercedes Buses
Industry Sweedy and Al-Amel companies .
Holding cooperation protocols in partnership fields in leather,
ready–made clothes, food industry and printing.
Technical and Vocational Education and training reform project
(TVET):
The aim of the project is to focus on training based on demand,
curriculum related to the needs of the labor market distinguished
training centers and training based on quality system .Technical
education sector in coordination with Project Management Unit
established joint committees between technical education
sector officials and the project responsible to maximize
the benefit from all project activities to conform with the sector plan .
The sectors that have partnerships are; ready-made clothes industry,
engineering industries, wood and furniture industries, construction
material industry, food industries, tanning leather industry,
printing and media industries, chemical and pharmaceutical industry,
construction and building industry, infrastructure and civil work and
tourism ( hotels - restaurants -cafeterias - marine sports - antiques -
diving centers -travel agencies - bazaars )
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Technical and Vocational Education and Training Reform Project
(TVET 2):
The system is applied in cooperation between the Ministry of
Education and the European Union. It is a reciprocal training system
as the careers are divided into jobs. For example, ready –made
clothes technician career consists of several jobs, including
advanced sewing, ironing, cutting and packing, wrapping and other
jobs contained in the career itself.
The number of jobs varies depending on the nature of the career. If
the career contains five jobs, for example, two of them are studied in
the first year, two in the second year and one in the third year. If the
student completed three years of study successfully, he/she gets a
diploma, along with certificates of the five functions obtained. It is
worthy of note that the experiment has been applied in 41 schools, in
15 governorates, in addition to two training centers belonging to the
Authority of Productive Efficiency.
Moreover, there is a local partnership between the private sector and
the governmental one in each governorate. This partnership has two
committees: the policy committee headed by the governor and one-
third of its members is businessmen, and the last third is a
governmental sector, (education, workforce, social solidarity, the
Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the executive committee or the
partnership committee.
There is also a system in the Ministry of Education called the
employment system, where students can study to complete his study
during the company's work so that work is a kind of training, and
have a number of days to study in school.
Field experiences of support organizations in technical education:
There are many experiences of the supporting organizations represented
in companies and businessmen in the development of technical education
in Egypt and upgrading it such as:
1-The experience of the Arab Contractors Company:
The partnership between the Arab Contractors Company and
institutions of technical education has been for facing the problem of
unemployment in addition to the need for convenient technical
education graduate for the needs of the company through training
students in workshops and locations of the company according to a
set of protocols of cooperation between the Arab Contractors
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Company and the Ministry of Education that included a number of
industrial schools since 2008.
The board is formed by the chairman of the Arab Contractors or his
representative, the director of technical education, and three workers
in the Arab Contractors. The mission of the board represents in the
periodical follow-up and decision-making through supervising the
students during the period of practical training by the Ministry of
Education and the Arab Contractors Company. Besides, the Arab
Contractors and the Ministry of Education take part in students’
assessment.
Students are selected through a committee of the Ministry of
Education and the Arab Contractors Company to select the students
participating in the experience in the light of specific criteria
represented in the written test and medical examination.
The Arab Contractors Company affords part of the cost of education
and training within the framework of the partnership, and supporting
the school with some equipment in order to benefit the students.
Teachers are paid bonuses for supervising students in addition to a
monthly pay for students’ trainees.
Working groups of the Ministry of Education and specialists from
the Arab Contractors Company are formed to modify the
curriculum to suit the requirements of the company. After that,
students are trained according to the new curriculum and the
location of company workshops.
2-The experience of the Holding Company for Water and Waste
Water:
The partnership between the holding company and the institutions of
technical education is to meet the needs of the company's future
applications of modern technology that don't exist in traditional
technical industrial education. With regard to the curriculum,
theoretical subjects of the ministry are taught as well as specialized
subjects of the company. Saturday is allocated for the practical
training in addition to summer training. The Ministry provides the
teachers and the school principal, while the company provides
teachers for specialized subjects.
Students are selected according to the highest total of marks among
applicants along with a personal interview for students to identify
the level of qualification.
The company affords the costs of building and equipping
laboratories and workshops, printing of books, teachers' and
students’ bonuses to motivate students to enroll and stay in school.
99
The Holding Company for Water and Waste Water devises
specialized curriculum with the approval of the Ministry of
Education, provides books and prints them. The Ministry of
Education is concerned with cultural subjects curricula.
3-The Experience of the local partnership in the industrial zone in
Qwesna:
The partnership between the industrial zone in Qwesna and technical
education institutions is to meet the needs of the industrial zone in
Qwesna of employment in addition to the development of technical
education and vocational training system through raising the
efficiency of trainers, the transformation of the training based on
offer to the training based on demand, the shift to decentralization in
determining the required specializations, connecting curriculum of
technical education with the needs of the labor market, and
overcoming the weakness of the training facilities in technical
education schools through distinguished practical training in
factories.
The experience of partnership in Qwesna includes several factories.
A tri-contract is signed among the school, the factory and the student
/ parent. The partnership process is governed by protocols of
cooperation among the Ministries of Industry, Commerce,
Education, and the Manpower. As for the school system, the student
spends six theoretical weeks in school and spends a month and a half
practical training in the factory as well as the summer training.
Students are selected by the project team specialized in guidance and
counseling in the governorate through written, oral and
intelligence tests to identify the capacities and skills of the student
related to industries and crafts which he will gain after graduation.
Based on the results of these tests, the students are distributed on
educational programs that suit their abilities, interests and skills.
Factories fully afford the cost of training with pay incentives for
teachers and students. Factories can take part in the expenses of
printing textbooks.
The process of determining the specializations and curricula is
conducted within the framework of identifying the needs of factories
and is approved by the Ministry of Education in addition to the
coordination between employers and educational institutions to
ensure the appropriateness of the curriculum. The national level of
skills is taken into account in the curricula taught in the framework
of the partnership.
100
Americana experience:
The partnership between Americana and technical education
institutions is to meet the requirements of Americana from the high
technical and behavioral skills suitable for the field of restaurants as
well as taking into account the discipline and high productivity in
the following fields:
- In the field of restaurants in cooperation with technical colleges,
and the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Helwan University.
- In the field of agriculture in cooperation with the Faculty of
Agriculture, Monufeya University.
- The protocol of cooperation specifies the responsibility of
Americana in devising specifications for students' selection to
enroll in the division and the mechanism of selection, the
participation in students' selection, providing a syllabus for
practical training to be reviewed by specialists in education to
evaluate and integrate it in the specialized division curriculum,
providing places for practical training, skilled trainers, the
follow-up mechanism, the periodical assessment, and the
authority to issue the certificate.
- The Company affords monthly bonus of students' training.
- Students are selected to participate in the program in light of the
behavior and personal readiness to work in the restaurants career,
the ability to teamwork, communication skills, and commitment
and discipline in addition to the application of TMRI Test.
- A team member of the technical secondary alumni is appointed
but the supervisor and the assistant restaurant manager is
appointed from the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels alumni,
division of restaurants under the umbrella of open education. In
this program, the student is enrolled to work in restaurants. It is
planned to link between the student career and educational paths
to allow the student to study during employment and promotion
according to the academic and professional performance
provided that outstanding students are directly selected for
admission in higher education.
5- Arafa Holding Company experience:
The partnership between Arafa Holding Company and technical
education institutions is to graduate an appropriate technician for the
needs of the company from labor through the cooperation protocol
with the Ministry of Education and the dual education program
(Mubarak - Khol) by establishing schools next to factories. The
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blocks system is followed through dividing the students into two
groups: a group studying the theoretical part, and the other group
being trained on the practical part in the factory for an entire
semester subsequently. Students are trained on the practical part by
the factory engineers within the factory, and the theoretical part is
taught by teachers seconded from the ministry or from outside the
ministry in the case of the deficit to meet some specializations.
Arafa Company affords all expenses for students' training, the
establishment of the school, pays teachers’ salaries recruited from
outside the ministry, pays mandate bonus for teachers seconded
from within the ministry and provides a monthly bonus for students.
Curricula of the Ministry are taught after being checked by
specialists fromArafa Holding Company. At the end of the year, the
ministry is informed of practical training program, which is taught to
each student, and on its basis, the Ministry devises the practical
exam for the students.
Moreover, all the students are appointed in Arafa factories after
graduation. The student has the right to join the university in case of
getting the appropriate marks. Then, he can join a better job suitable
for his higher qualification in factories after graduation from higher
education.
Community Education:
Community Education is the educational activities based on effective
and positive community partnership and its institutions. These activities
rely on the efforts of civil and governmental organizations to provide
material interventions and non material contributions to bring about
improvement in the quality of the educational process for females and
disadvantaged children and groups that are difficult to reach to assure that
these children have access to primary education in high quality and
completing it through equal programs to integrate them in public
education.
One Classroom School:
"It is a form of education parallel to formal education in the primary
cycle. Its goal is bridging the gap of illiteracy among girls. The enrollment
age is (14) years. These girls are taught by female teachers only. It teaches the
same elementary school syllabi in addition to vocational training
projects" .The duration of the study is five years. It teaches them the cultural
syllabi as well as vocational training and production projects. It is an ended
stage except for some gifted girls that can join vocational or public
preparatory school followed by general or technical secondary school.
Teaching is limited to female teachers only.
102
Multi grade classroom system:
It is a system where the teaching and learning processes are centered on
female learners themselves that makes them able to take responsibility, work
independently, and cope with the curriculum, according to their special
capacity. The teacher teaches several classes at one time.
Vocational Formation:
The vocational training or vocational education is an aspect of gaining
knowledge and scientific and practical experience in many occupational and
career fields. It enables the learner to enter the world of work
Vocational networking:
It includes the exchange of visits between peer teachers in neighboring
schools in a way to enable teachers to observe the models of teaching in
neighboring schools, reflect on such practices and learning teaching styles
followed.
The constructs of community education:
1 - The shift from government responsibility for education to social
one to assure support of all sectors of society.
2 - making learners acquire life skills.
3 - Learner-centered learning to improve the knowledge, skills,
attitudes, and values.
4 - Connecting education with society and its needs.
5 - Extending educational service to the most disadvantaged
areas especially villages and hamlets.
6 - Attraction to education through the development of programs
suitable for the abilities of female students and their circumstances.
Community education bases:
1- Implementation of Ministry of Education curricula by
using up to date methods, new and distinguished styles.
2 - Work through the partnership between the Ministry of
Education and some international organizations such as
UNICEF.
3 - Learning and teaching processes rely on following multi-grade
classroom system as learning is centered on learners
themselves, making them able to take responsibility, work
103
independently and cope with the curriculum according to their
own abilities.
Community education target learning outcomes:
There are several learning outcomes represented in teaching
knowledge associated with set curriculum, the knowledge associated
with the local environment as well as interest in life skills, especially
skills related to dealing with the local environment, which include
tools, apparatus, prevention of disease, and pollution.
Preparation of programs for forming attitudes towards desired
behavior, modifying habits, and traditions, which are not suitable for
human rights as well as making female students acquire social skills
which include communication skills with others, expression of
opinion and one classroom schools learning outcomes . They also
acquire vocational skills to help them develop their abilities,
interests, and marketing their products in addition to preparing them
to deal with life situations through the practice of self-management.
The most important outcomes are;
1. Reading, writing, and numeracy skills.
2. Communication skills.
3. Life skills.
4. Planning skills.
5. Higher-order thinking skills.
The learning environment in community education schools:
1 – The learner centered learning and teaching and the emphasis
on self-learning, cooperative learning, and peer learning.
2 – Multi-grade classroom management, through an emphasis
on flexibility, individual differences, and working groups, and an
integrated approach integrated curriculum, educational sides, self-
management and enjoyment.
3 - Active learning, through an emphasis on educational activities,
projects, activity groups, interaction, participation, integration, multi-
media education, use of equipment, low cost tools and benefit from the
environment material to achieve the joy of learning.
4 - The development of mental abilities through emphasizing the
mental processes, critical thinking, and creative thinking.
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5 - The development of life skills through the emphasis on behavior,
social and interpersonal skills to deal with confidence in themselves, in
others and in society.
6 - Optimal investment of time during the school day through the
distribution of roles, responsibilities, planning, periods of the day and
assignments in order to achieve the best time for exercise.
7 – Personality aspects development: physical, emotional, mental,
and social development.
8 - Community participation and empowerment to achieve
universality, continuity, effectiveness and the formation of positive
attitudes towards school.
Forms of community education:
Community education schools have several types including:
(A) Community Schools:
They are dynamic model of what should be adopted and developed to
express the reform that includes many ideas and initiatives which leads to
improve education and learning by linking learning with life skills and
self-learning.
These schools work according to key aspects including:
The field of education quality through the provision of
curriculum activities at a high level and a foundation that enables
children to meet the challenge of achievement levels using the
resources of the local community as resources for education.
The development of young people by providing them with
knowledge, developing their talents, their skills, and giving
attention to health, personal and social aspects.
Helping families’ aspect through family services centers,
programs of caring about early childhood development, delivery of
health, social services and programs to improve the lives of
families.
Linking families with society through active participation of
family members, and community residents in the design and setup
of programs, monitoring, and support of distinguished activities in
school and the community.
Under difficult circumstances, which prevailed in the local
communities where there are community schools, these schools have
taken into account;
105
- Non-compliance with the specifications defined for the school
building.
- The existence of two facilitators in the school provided that they
are from the local community.
- Learners are not obliged to pay expenses or commit to school
uniform.
- Flexibility in hours of study to allow learners to exercise their
agricultural, commercial and home activities.
(B) One classroom school:
They are multi-grade primary schools that are based on community
education thought. They include learners belonging to more than one
level of education in one place. They aim at providing an opportunity for
girls' education who have not enrolled in primary education, or drop out
from it.
These schools have been established under the Ministerial Decree No.
(255) for 1993 to achieve the principle of equal opportunities in low
population density and disadvantaged areas. They are characterized by
the following:
- Duration of the study is six years, but it is a multi-grade standards.
The duration can be shorten to less than six years through the
educational acceleration according to female learners’ capacities
and skills.
- Providing syllabi of vocational training and productive projects for
all grades by (15) periods weekly to suit the local environment
(representing 44% of the total study plan in the first three grades,
38% for fourth, fifth and sixth grades). Productive projects cover
fields of environment resources investment, vocational agriculture
formation, home economics and art education.
- Choosing subjects of the study and presenting them to be suitable
with the local environment, the circumstances of students and the
time available for study.
- Providing opportunities for one-classroom graduates for the further
cycles in public education.
The vocational component in one- classroom schools:
These schools are committed to the curricula of primary education as
well as vocational training curricula and productive projects to help
learners to find a source of income for them and their families. The
vocational training should be in the form of productive projects to
106
increase the income of girls and develop their environmental
skills. Examples of projects that are implemented;
Home Economics projects (sewing- tailoring - embroidery -
cooking and food preservation).
Projects related to agriculture, such as drying, and storage of
vegetables, fruit, poultry and other projects that suit specific
environments.
Vocational formation curriculum includes basic and practical
information. This is done at the nearest vocational training center of the
school; aiming at bridging the gap which often exists in primary
education, practical life, support girls to respect the vocational work, and
provide better job opportunities for girls.
(C) Girls’ friendly schools:
They are primary schools based on community education. They
encourage the enrollment of girls. They also accept the boys, and adopt
active learning methods and the learning processes in them are centered
on learners themselves to make them able to take responsibility and cope
with the curriculum according to their abilities. They also consist of
several grades in the same room.
Certain criteria have been devised to choose school locations:
(1) It should be located in the extension areas, inhabited by not less
than 1,500 people.
(2) To be far away from noise.
(3) To have access to electricity.
(4) To have a toilet / bath near it.
(5) To be not less than 110 square meters.
(6) The building should be equipped with adequate ventilation and
lighting.
(7) Not to be located less than two kilometers from the nearest primary
school.
(8) Not to be located in the center of the village or hamlet that has a
number of girls less than 25 girls or more in the age group (6 years to
14 years) who don’t enroll in any school.
D) The children in difficult circumstances friendly schools:
These schools are aimed at children who dropped out from the
education system to the labor market, or those who have lost family
shelter and they are exploited now by criminal gangs, or live in the
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streets. The study age has been specified to start in (9-14) years. This is a
critical age stage which needs special care by the stake holders. However,
this type of schools has a special nature in its form, its curriculum, the
course of the school day, and the teacher’s style ... etc.
The school is unconventional as it starts and finishes by dates
depending on the circumstances of each group of learners enrolled in
these schools and according to the environmental circumstances. The
school day may start with agreement between learners and teachers who
work in the school at the beginning of the school day. They specify the
form of the school day which varies among cultural subjects, activities,
and vocational subjects in addition to an hour for having lunch.
As for the curriculum, integrated (modules-units) of school curricula
have been prepared. Their number is fifty integrated units that are divided
into categories; the first represents the learner who doesn’t not start the
study completely, or the drop out learner who doesn’t not start regular
primary education cycle as well as the craftsmen who want to complete
education from the beginning, the second represents learners wishing to
complete their studies after the first category, or who wish to leave it for a
while. A placement test is conducted for them before enrollment. The
third represents the craftsmen wishing to learn a craft, master it such as
carpentry, weaving, cars, and decorations.
The classroom is newly equipped with video, computer, and
accompanying teaching aids. Clothes were handed over to the school and
others for physical education for each learner to encourage them. World
Food Organization provides a meal for some of the families of these
children.
(E) Small schools:
They are one of the school models developed by the Ministry of
Education as part of its interest in girls' education. They were established
through the cooperation of the community. For example, with the support
of CARE and coordination between local community development
associations and the Ministry of Education, the number of small schools
has reached (46) schools in the three governorates (Cairo, Sohag,
Fayoum). Expansion of these models in collaboration with NGOs
authorized to establish schools to access education for all groups. This
type of schools targets girls especially those who don’t not attend school
at the compulsory age. Boys are also accepted in (25%) within each
school. With regard to the location of the small school, it is provided by
the board of directors and providing an alternative location for the school
in case of any problem that impedes the continuation of the school. The
task of teaching the curriculum is by the Ministry of Education through
108
two facilitators. The ministries with the international organization pay
salaries. These schools are self- managed to achieve the high quality
levels of achievement.
There is about 30% of the total children and youth enrolled
in the compulsory education cycle (Final Report of the Children
and Youth Survey in Egypt, in January 2011, the cabinet and the
International Population Council), to achieve equal opportunities
and free citizen from ignorance and bridge the gap of illiteracy.
Programs and projects in basic education:
Broad Band Schools Project in collaboration with the Ministry
of Communication and Information Technology. It targets technology
univesalization for Broad Band Internet Access and computer
technology in all sectors of civil society.
Competitiveness Schools Project in collaboration with
USAID .It aims at increasing students' skills in the use of information
technology to acquire skills for scientific research to reach the global
level through;
- Qualifying teachers by integrating information technology
into the curriculum to improve teaching methods.
- Transforming school into a community educational center.
Smart Schools Project in collaboration with the Ministry of
Communication and Information Technology and UNDP.It aims
at integrating information and communication technology in
schools, developing the capacity of teachers and students in
search for innovation and creativity, converting school into a
productive unit and a community education centre in addition to
mobilizing the community to achieve the national goals of
education, link the family with school and the school to
community.
Academy project (Oracle) in collaboration with the Ministry of
Communication and Information Technology and Oracle
Company. It aims at providing students with the skills of
cooperation and design of databases, the development of
database applications and programming language (Java) and the
field of business and communication that increases
competitiveness merits in achieving their career aspirations in the
future.
Nepad Schools project in cooperation with all of the NEPAD
community and Oracle Company, HP Company. It aims at ;
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- Integration of information and communication technology in
schools on a global level.
- Increase of knowledge, research and educational access to
creativity and innovation.
- Spread of health awareness through several programs
designed to find out the latest means of prevention of common
diseases such as AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and malnutrition.
Think Com Project in collaboration with the Ministry of
Communication and Information Technology and Oracle
Company. This program aims at developing special educational
community for students and teachers through a site secured by all
means of available electronic protection, allowing them to exchange
e-mail inside and outside school, as well as designing sites for
schools on the internet, and participating in collective projects. It
also helps use the technology in dealing with the curriculum
electronically.
New schools project in 100 schools in collaboration with the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Effective school project in 300 schools.
Education Reform Program ( ERP)
Education decentralization experience
Technology and improvement of the educational
Performance project (TILO)
E-learning Project
Establishment of the infrastructure for information
technology.
Generalizing the integration of technology in basic education
schools .
Education program for the future(INTEL)
Production of developed educational software by video films
(enrichment, historical, documentaries and records), animation
that are published on the Internet /educational laser.CD s).
The development of the national network for distance
training (video conference: VC) through updating network
equipment."It will be dealt with these programs and initiatives
in detail in the sixth goal"
110
General secondary education:
Projects, programs and initiatives in pre-university education:
Egyptian Education Initiative (EEI): The signing of the
Egyptian Education Initiative aims at enabling students,
teachers, principals and administrators in pre-university
education to use applications of education technology,
increasing the ability of teachers to deal with information
technology, training of leaders and managers through changing
management style, increasing infrastructure of information
technology components and developing the scientific content of
e-learning.
Board of construction trustees:
Board of developing skills levels of building and construction trustees
was established in 2008 and is chaired by the Minister of Housing by his
job, the Minister of Education as a member by his job, the Minister of
Manpower by his job, the Secretary General of the Social Fund and the
chairman of the Federation of Contractors, and Chairman of the Holding
Company for waste water. It focused basically on national skill levels of
construction occupations. National skills levels have five levels currently.
The Council is currently working on three levels; the ordinary worker,
and the skilled worker, and implementation supervisor. The fourth and
fifth levels are high qualifications. They have not been worked on up till
now. Work has been embarked at the Ministry of Housing Training center
(productive training organization) and the General syndicate training
center for construction and wood in Katameya.These centers have
equipped workshops.
Technological education colleges:
- Foundation system: the partnership between the National
Committee for technological education with the private sector
(employers) under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher
Education.
- Objective: Preparation of technicians in the field of education
technology.
- The time schedule: The period of study is two years.
- The study system: four to five weeks are allocated in each semester
for the training process and the rest of the week is devoted to the study of
the theoretical subjects in addition to the allocation of six to eight weeks
in the summer vacation between the two years for the summer training.
- Qualification: Diploma in Education Technology.
111
Productive Efficiency Authority:
- Foundation system: signing a protocol between productive
efficiency authority and the client (a factory, or an industrial
enterprise )in the specialization it needs of technicians according to
its requirements
- Objective: Preparation of technicians (skilled workers)
according to the annual needs of factories as the training plan is
updated annually according to these needs.
- The time schedule: The duration of the training program is
three years.
- Academic Qualifications: Certificate of apprenticeship,
which is equivalent to a diploma of technical education (in addition
to the certificate of passing skill level trained on, in case of passing
this skill. About ten to twelve students are graduated annually.
Some life skills programs implemented by the ministry:
1. Horizons program:
Target group: girls in the age group of 9-25 years.
- The program allows the enrollment of educated and illiterate.
- The program aims at increasing girls and young women’s
awareness and skills in three main pivots:
- Gender.
- Basic life skills.
- Reproductive health.
The program includes: topics to raise awareness among girls in the
following:
- Adolescence, family planning and sexually transmitted diseases,
pregnancy, motherhood, violence against women, marriage, the
environment, small projects, the child’s rights and education,
public health, the first aid, nutrition and women's rights and
duties and the girl and her entity.
- Teaching in this program is by volunteers who have middle
qualification at least (secondary / diploma), and should preferably
be from the region and her age is between 25-35 years. They
should be fully aware of families. They preferably have
experience in the field of awareness and literacy .They should
have the ability to collect 25-30 girls(learners).
112
2. Second chance programs:”let’s work” program
Sawiris Foundation supports the skills of young people in gaining
work skills in Egypt since 2001through “let’s work
program" (Education for Employment) in the field of ready-made
clothes where youth, the unemployed and disadvantaged people are
trained for a period of 18 months .The graduates are granted
certified qualifications.
Second chance programs to address discrimination: the
"sunshine" program in Egypt represents a positive example in
increasing the opportunities for developing the skills of young
women since 2001.It gives the young Egyptian women a second
chance to learn. It also works with parents, boys and community
leaders to let the girls act with greater freedom in demand of
science and enter the world of work. 92% of participants, who
underwent governmental examination literacy, have passed it. 69%
of participants who completed the program reentered the formal
education.
3. New visions program:
The program aims at increasing the awareness and skills of boys and
young men in three basic pivots:
1 - Gender.
2 - Basic life skills.
3 - Reproductive health.
Target group: boys and young men in the age group of 12-20 years
(Educated, and drop out) in rural and urban in need of the program.
Topics of the program: The program includes topics to increase
awareness among boys in the following:
First aid, planning for the future, the legal and civil rights, community
and work, nutrition, life skills and reproductive health, the environment,
marriage, physical health and personal relationships, values , human
feelings, self, communication, gender, public health, human rights and
family.
Teaching in this program is by volunteers who have post middle
qualification at least. The age of the volunteer should be from 22-35 years
old. He must have completed military service or exempted from it. He
should be from the region, and are fully aware of families. He should
preferably have experience in the field of awareness and literacy. He
should have the ability to collect from 25-30 learners or beneficiaries.
113
4. E-health project (WHO) in collaboration with the Ministry of
Communication and the World Health Organization. It aims at:
- Development of awareness among a group of students in the age group
(12-18) years through e-learning in schools.
- The development of technology skills to raise health awareness among
the school community.
- Communication between school and family and making dialogues
between them.
5. Microsoft Training Project in collaboration with Microsoft. It
aims at:
- Training a number of specialists from various departments in the
ministry in engineering systems and development of application for
six months.
- Training of teachers on the latest methods to use information
technology in teaching and production of educational software.
- Preparation of a generation of cadres trained in the different fields of
information technology.
The Ministry of Education seeks to provide a learning
encouraging environment for learners that provides them with
what they need from nutritition( meal ) for all of them,
provides them with health care to encourage them to
effectively participate in education they receive and take
advantage of it to the fullest extent as follows:
School nutrition:
Ministry of Education gives much attention to school nutrition because of
its positive effects on students' health and consequently on the level of
academic achievement. Therefore, the ministry has cared about providing
it in rural and desert areas and slums in urban areas as well as the age
groups that require exerting mental and muscular effort like a technical
secondary cycle(agricultural - industrial) and the experimental sports
school. Ministry of Education affords the cost of the meal while the
Ministry of Agriculture affords the value of construction, equipment and
machinery as well as the cost of packaging, wrapping and transport. This
meal is provided for five days a week for 100 days. Two million students
benefit from it daily. The food bank contributes to equipping some
schools with kitchens to provide hot meal .The following is percentage of
the beneficiaries from the meal:
114
Table (13/3) the percentage of the beneficiaries from nutrition in each
type of education in the age group (15-24 years)
115
It is clear that technical education student proportion in the Egyptian
pound has doubled in 2012/2013.
Challenges:
There is no balance between the education outcomes and the needs of the
labor market. The continuing increase in enrollment rates at the cycles
level, with the stability of the type of jobs in the labor market has always
collapsed education output in a steady way during the period from 1998 –
2006.The reasons are that the education system does not provide the
learner with the knowledge and tools necessary for developing and
upgrading his skills according to the labor market needs. The result of the
accumulation of low-quality teaching and learning processes throughout
the graduates’ learning cycle has made nearly two thirds of university
students enrolled in theoretical and humanities specializations since
primary, preparatory and even secondary schools don’t support students’
guidance toward the scientific path in science, engineering, physics and
other scientific subjects. Employers think, according to the survey
conducted by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in2006, that
young workers do not have the ability to learn and have a lack of practical
training. The following table shows that the skills evaluation of young
people (education system outcomes) reflects the low extent of their
technical skills level according to their specializations as only 18% have
very good technical skills required, since 31% of them have weak skills,
while the level of the ability to apply school information gained reflects
that 22% of young people have a very good ability to apply and.41% of
students cannot employ them.
Table (14/3) Distribution of young workers' skills according the
research of "the transition from school to work" in 2005
Very
The percentage of workers' skills Average Weak
good
Technical skills required 18.2 50.5 31.3
Practical school training 10.1 42.4 37.5
Communication Skills 38.6 49.4 12
The ability to write 39.2 41 19.8
The ability to apply school
22.4 37 40.6
information gained
Commitment and discipline 62.9 28.9 8.2
Public readiness 5.13 66.1 20.5
116
References:
1. Statistical Yearbook of the Arab Republic of Egypt in 2013, the
Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.
2. www.capmas.gov.eg
3. ILO 2006.
4. The Ministry of Education, the General Directorate of Information
& Computer, Statistical Yearbook, for the academic year
2006/2011, 2012/2013.
5. The Ministry of Education, Technical Education strategy, (20
11/2012 to 2016/2017).
6. The Ministry of Education, the strategic plan for the pre-university
education, (201 4/20 30).
7. The cabinet, Center for Information and Decision Support, General
Directorate for Information Analysis, Monitoring successful
experiences in employers’ partnership in the development of
technical education in Egypt, December 2011.
8. The cabinet, the Central Agency for Organization and
Management, the central directorate of research, a study on how to
improve and expand in the field of technical education in Egypt,
2013.
9. Human Development Reports.
117
The Fourth Goal
Achieving a 50 per cent improvement
in levels of adult literacy by 2015,
especially for women,
and equitable access to basic
and continuing education for all adults
118
The Fourth Goal
"Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by
2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and
continuing education for all adults".
The World Education Forum, during the Dakar Framework for Action in
Senegal 26-28 April 2000, gave a clear space to achieve this important
universal goal.
In light of the global commitment to achieving Education for All (EFA)
goals, and a commitment from Egypt at the national level, a broad
strategy was set where all partners are involved to ensure the achievement
of this goal. The Adult Education Agency (AEA) takes the responsibility
of adult literacy in Egypt, and as an independent body established in 1993
by the Law 8 of 1991, it takes responsibility for the planning of literacy
programs, following them up, implementing them and coordination
between the concerned parties. In spite of efforts to tackle illiteracy, the
final return is still below the desired level .
We have to realize that we should strive to achieve the EFA goals
through continuous evaluation. Data and information about achievements
had been collected, with an attempt to monitor the current situation of
literacy through the presentation of these achievements, and the
successful and pioneering initiatives in the field. In addition, we will
show the difficulties that led to the failure to achieve the objectives of the
plan, the challenges facing the implementation of the programs, and the
future vision to achieve this goal.
Achievements and analysis of the current situation:
The concrete gains since 2000 until the preparation of this report are
modest in its entirety. Achieving the goal of adult literacy still faces many
challenges despite efforts. Progress is not enough, where literacy rates are
still below the target.
The following table shows the percentage of illiteracy of the total
population in the age group +10 during the period 2000 - 2012.
119
Table (1/4)
The percentage of illiteracy of the total population in the age group
+10 years during the period 2000 - 2012
percentage of illiteracy 2000 percentage of illiteracy 2006 percentage of illiteracy 2012
Male Female Illiteracy Number Male Female Illiteracy Number Male Female Illiteracy Number
% of % of % of
illiterates illiterates illiterates
22.91 44.75% 33.46% 17.2 17% 40.6% 29.33% 16.8 15.2 29.3% 22.1% 14.49
% Millions Millions % Millions
45.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
Series1
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Female Male Female Male Female Male
percentage of percentage of percentage of
illiteracy 2012 illiteracy 2006 illiteracy 2000
120
which is very slow compared to the targeted by 2015. We have to put in
consideration that more illiterates are added annually due to dropping out
of education (primary and preparatory), or non-enrollment or bouncing
back to illiteracy.
It is noticeable that the percentage of illiteracy among females is about
twice that of males. As indicated in official statistics of the (AEA) that
the percentage of illiteracy among females is more than that among males
in all Egyptian governorates, but it is getting higher in the countryside
than urban areas in general, and increase in Upper Egypt than in other
governorates.
The following table shows the number of enrolled and number of
liberated from illiteracy in literacy classes during the period 2000- 2013.
Table (2/4)
Number of enrolled and number of liberated from illiteracy in
literacy classes during the period 2000 - 2013
Year number of students number of %
enrolled in literacy liberated
classes from illiteracy
2000/2001 663388 236342 70%
2005/2006 1082829 448293 41.4%
2012/2013 707866 233931 33.5%
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
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Developing the Training of Trainers (TOT):
The (AEA) adopted an ambitious program to prepare professional trainers
in the field of adult education through a certified mechanism of according
to the methodologies of UNESCO, to be implemented by the Regional
Center for Adult Education in Sers Allayyan. The number of (231)
professional trainers and (154) assistant trainers were prepared until now.
Development of human resources of workers at the AEA and
branches:
Interest in developing the human resources is considered an effective tool
to develop performance at the different institutions. The Agency in
coordination with the specialized training centers, the private and
governmental, has presented various training programs fulfilling the
needs of workers therein and achieving the expected objectives in
addition to promoting the performance level.
Accordingly, the interest is focused on measuring the impact of the
administrative training of the workers after returning to work to assess
output of training on work.
Achievements in the field of advocacy and media:
In order to be communicating with the target groups of illiterates, the
AEA activated media convoys aiming at raising awareness of the
illiterates about the importance of education. It provides also healthy,
veterinary, cultural, and artistic services to citizens through these convoys
that roam the different governorates. The AEA is organizing also
entertainment trips for students in literacy programs as an incentive for
them to increase their motivation to continue learning in literacy classes .
Achievements in the field of adult literacy curriculum:
There are diversification of the educational curricula and teaching aids
according to different environments. "I learn, so I become enlightened"
was the first curriculum used in 1996, and it includes a teacher guide, and
was developed in 2009. There are also some other curricula such as:
"Read in the name of thy Lord", the "British project style" used in Upper
Egypt, the "Reflect style", "you and your life", "Systematic approach",
and "Concentrated Language Encounter program (CLE)", merging health
and environmental content with literacy curricula oriented to women in
particular (health messages, reproduction health messages and
environmental messages).
123
Achievements in the field of community partnerships to support
adult literacy programs:
The role of the (AEA) is very clear in facilitating partnerships at all levels
in cooperation with the civil society, the private sector, non-governmental
organizations, communities and individuals, and houses of worship in
order to meet the educational needs of illiterates. In addition to achieve
the goal of adult literacy, and the Millennium Development Goals for the
local community, and at the national level for our beloved Egypt.
Partnership of civil society in literacy programs:
•It was agreed between the AEA and "Unified Group" company to open
literacy classes in poor areas using health messages, and means of
reproductive health as well as traditional literacy curriculum.
•A protocol of cooperation was signed between the AEA and the German
gas exploration company (RWE) to bear the cost of printing the health
curriculum for a number of (600) classes in the governorates of Kafr El-
Sheikh and Sohag .
•A protocol of cooperation was signed between the AEA and the
Foundation for Life Makers within the initiative "Knowledge is Power"
adopted by "Vodafone mobile" company for the development of society
through opening literacy classes nationwide. Volunteers from universities
and graduates will teach in these classes.
•A protocol of cooperation was signed between the AEA and the
Commission on Literacy and Education Development at Rotary to open
literacy classes in the Rotary clubs.
•A protocol of cooperation was signed between the AEA and the General
Authority for Cultural Palaces to open literacy classes in the palaces and
houses of culture to train the illiterates professionally on some crafts,
environmental, and engage the liberals from illiteracy to work with those
workshops, art and craft in culture palaces, with the included Created
literacy activities in the palaces of culture, and the number of printed
brochures Simplified backed illustrations to offer an educational
curriculum for students literacy, literacy is as materials for free from
illiteracy to help them to continue learning .
•A protocol of cooperation was signed between the AEA and the
Foundation of "Misr elkheir" to open literacy classes in the governorates
of Minya and Beni Suef in Upper Egypt .
•The NGOs also played an active role through their direct contacts with
the target groups of illiterates. The participation of the NGOs is almost
124
25% of the total number of students in literacy classes, and 15% of the
total number of successful .
Successful initiatives in the area of literacy:
•Launching the initiative of "villages without illiteracy", includes a
partnership agreement between the AEA and the Egyptian village
Development Authority to implement the initiative in the villages of the
governorates of Minya and the El- Beheira governorates. The experiment
will be generalized in the rest of the governorates .
•Launching the initiative of forming Board of Trustees to challenge
illiteracy in Giza governorate, in coordination between the AEA and the
civil society organizations to address the problem of illiteracy and follow
up the implementation of the plan of illiteracy eradication.
•Launching the initiative to engage workers of the information centers in
villages in literacy programs in nine governorates, by utilizing
capabilities of youth workers of the information centers in villages in
literacy programs. This project has resulted in liberating (33) thousand
people during the year 2008/2009 from illiteracy .
•launching the project " learn the knowledge and skills for the purposes
of agriculture and rural livelihoods in 30/09/2013," with the support of
the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). It is a
project that targets young farmers, especially women.
National Campaign for Adult Education and the renaissance of
Egypt, "together we can"
The National Campaign for Literacy and the Renaissance of Egypt
“Together We Can” was launched in September 2011 by UNESCO Cairo
and Beirut Offices and concerned partners as a response to the growing
number of illiterates at the national level, who are reported to exceed 17
million. UNESCO launched the Campaign as in integral part of its
commitment to promote literacy and lifelong learning to all segments of
society as a human right and a national duty. The Campaign aims to
mobilize resources and build partnerships in order to accomplish goal 4
of Education for All (Dakar, 2000) which aims to achieve a 50% decrease
in levels of adult literacy by 2015. The Campaign’s efforts will extend
until 2020 to reach an internationally acceptable literacy rate below 10%.
The methodology of the campaign is working in two sides: preventive
side, and the therapeutic side. So many ministries, universities,
associations and charitable organizations, and international and regional
donors are participating in this campaign.
125
Field classes of adult education:
The idea of the field classes is based on combining efforts of civil society
organizations, non-governmental organizations, the natural leaders, and
opinion leaders, with the efforts of government agencies in rural areas to
provide a literacy program in the nearest place to the illiterates (home or
field). The program provides also agriculture guidance and environmental
awareness services for the students in order to develop their life and
functional skills, which will contribute to the dissemination and
application of new agricultural techniques, and then the success of the
process of rural development.
The program began in Fayoum governorate in 2003/2004 in collaboration
with the Agriculture Directorate, the Dutch project for Development, and
Community Development Associations in the villages of the governorate.
This experiment was generalized on the branches of AEA in the
governorates in the year 2005/2006 based on it success in increasing the
motivation of students to learn, and to reduce the dropout rates, where the
percentage of attendance reached 80%.
This program is currently being applied in ten governorates, which are:
Dakahlia, Al-Sharqia, Al-Gharbia, Menoufia, Al-Beheira, Ismailia,
Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, and Qena. It is intended to be generalized in
the future on the rest of the other branches of AEA nationwide.
Home Classes:
The (AEA) encourages establishment of these classes, especially in rural
areas, in order to eliminate female illiteracy. The (AEA) encourages the
female university graduates to set up these classes in their homes. After
confirming the participation of an appropriate number of females, the
(AEA) will provide the required tools and means of education.
This type of education is one of the most suitable means to overcome
female illiteracy in rural areas, especially among older ones. It is also the
most convenient way to encourage rural women to be educated.
The Initiative of University Students' Participation in Literacy
Programs:
The national plan used university students in literacy programs,
depending on the success of UNESCO project "UNLED". This project
was carried out in Egypt and showed positive results. In this context, a
leading project was implemented to carry out the experiment in an
Egyptian university. A protocol for cooperation with Zakazik University,
in collaboration with UNESCO, was signed. It stipulates that "each
126
student of the third year (basic education) will educate 5 illiterates in the
village or district where he/ she is residing". This is included in the
requirements listed by "Adult Education" Article, which assigns 5 marks
and fifty pounds per student for every illiterate he/she has freed from
illiteracy.
The universities of Helwan and Minya were in the forefront of
universities in contributing in these literacy programs. The students of
Helwan University liberated three thousand illiterates from illiteracy. The
number of liberated from illiteracy from the rest of Egyptian universities
was about 23 thousand.
Recent trends in adult education:
The use of information and communication technology literacy:
With the considerable progress in using computers, Egypt has started an
advanced program to employ this distinguished technology, which is
attractive to young people, in the field of literacy and adult education.
Literacy program was fully developed by electronic media. An
experimental project was implemented and succeeded largely in attracting
students, decreasing the percentage of their leakage, besides increasing
the percentage of their success.
On the grounds of this success, it was decided to expand the
implementation of the initiative by using computers in IT clubs set up by
the State, to provide such technology services to all citizens. There are
2000 clubs distributed across all governorates of the Republic.
Weekly Activity Day:
It is considered one of the means of educational activities that support the
educational process, and that contributes to increasing the capacity of
students, help them to achievement and excellence, and contribute to the
development of positive attitudes and values.
The weekly activity day is a modern trend adopted by the AEA during
2007/2008 - 2008/2009 in two administrations for adult education in the
governorates of Beni Suef, and Al-Beheira.
The weekly activity day includes: recreational activities chosen by the
students, and art and sports competitions between classes supervised by
teachers. Indicators of field application showed a reduction of the dropout
rate in these classes ranging between 25% in Al-Beheira and 5% in Beni
Suef. Therefore, officials in the AEA increased the number of these
classes to 50 classes in 2008/2009 in both governorates. The results
127
confirmed the earlier results of the application of the year 2007/2008
from a decrease in dropout rates, and high rates of success. This
encouraged officials to disseminate the results of the experiment on the
branches of the AEA to encourage similar experiences that could
contribute to increase the motivation of students to participate in literacy
programs.
Transform literacy classes to clubs for adults:
This initiative focused on the results of studies conducted and students’
opinion polls about overcoming the challenges faced by adult education
programs. The idea depended on transforming literacy classes from a
learning space into a place where adult illiterates or literates met and
obtained all services offered by governmental and nongovernmental
organizations. Moreover, there were diversified lessons to focus on life
and job skills, in addition to sport, social and cultural activities.
The importance of an integrated look to the social circumstances of
female students and their care for their children was put into
consideration.
Services and activities included:
• Health services like field examination and offer of health education.
• Agricultural extension services and practical and theoretical education.
• Veteran services and practical and theoretical education.
• Religious cultivation services in education and guidance.
• Earning a bonus of 200 pounds for each successful student.
• Free examination and treatment for all literacy students in health units.
• Issuing national number ID for each student who does not have it.
• Evaluating the heads of districts, cities and villages in terms of literacy.
•Organizing classes to supervise female students' children by a percentage
of those charged with public service in order to teach female students'
children and help them in their studies.
•Veteran program: free education, guidance and treatment.
• Religious program: education and religious contests.
• Social program: conducting studies for low-income people together with
immediate aids.
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• Sport program: sport activities and fieldtrips inside and outside the
governorate.
• Agricultural program: agricultural education and provision of pesticides
and chemical fertilizers.
Service packages were accompanied by other activities like:
• Issuing health and veteran card for each student.
• Facilitating loans from associations and paying for immediate aids
toward chronic diseases.
• Carrying out surgical operations at half price.
• Organizing sport tournaments for all sports.
• Making fieldtrips inside and outside the city for the students.
It was also agreed with the local eighth channel in the Egyptian
Television to broadcast episodes about the educational program and the
trips.
Programs in partnership with other countries and
international institutions:
UNESCO project in 2006:
It is the UNESCO project of enhancing national capacity building and
creative program development in adult education and non-formal
education.
Among the objectives of this project there are:
•Developing policies in the field of adult education and non formal
education.
•Planning, implementing and managing educational programs.
•Benefiting from the leading national and international experiences.
The methodology of working in the project is as follows:
• Planning with the participation of UNESCO offices in Beirut and Cairo,
and the Agency, besides setting up a committee for directing the project.
• Work at various levels: national - the Agency - governorates.
• Focusing on processes with outputs through setting up a task force to
implement the project activities.
129
• Continuous and temporary planning and evaluation of the project
activities to ensure achieving effectiveness and to ensure the
sustainability.
• Partnership with the international bodies working in the field of literacy
and adult education.
Difficulties that led to the failure to achieve the goal of adult literacy:
- The reluctance of illiterates to participate in literacy classes, where the
majority of them are poor, and work as day laborers.
- Decline in addressing the problem of illiteracy in the media at the
national level.
- Lack of databases that can provide a good picture of illiteracy in Egypt.
- Weakness of the performance level of the literacy teachers.
- Low participation in executing literacy programs by all ministries,
government, and private sectors.
- The decline in the budgets allocated to literacy programs to achieve the
objectives of the Plan of literacy at the national level.
- Dropping out of illiterates from the literacy classes, where studies
indicate that the dropout rate is approximately 30%, which represents a
waste of resources and time.
The challenges and opportunities facing the adult programs:
There are many challenges facing the efforts to achieve the goal of
literacy, which are:
- Increase of the number of illiterates, which represents a challenge to
achieve the goals of education for all.
- The high dropout rates from basic education, which helps to bounce to
illiteracy.
- The poverty and the conditions of the poor in Egypt now are closely
linked to shifts of economic, social and political changes, which led to the
increase of size of poverty in the Egyptian society to about 25 %. Studies
confirm this relationship between poverty and illiteracy. Most of the poor
people are illiterates. The poverty is concentrated in Upper Egypt, where
the percentage of the poor in rural Upper Egypt is 51.4%, and 29.5% in
the cities of Upper Egypt, the percentage of poor people in rural Lower
Egypt is 17%, and 10.3% in the cities of Lower Egypt. This impedes the
progress towards achieving the objectives of Education for All.
130
Moreover, the deprivation of the right to education prevents the
achievement of other rights.
- The gender gap between male and female represents a very dangerous
challenge, where the percentage of illiteracy among females is 29.3%,
and 15.2% among males, i.e. it is about twice that of males. The studies
and researches confirm that females suffer from deprivation of education
either because of customs and traditions that not prefer female education,
or because of lack of schools in villages and countryside either Upper or
Lower Egypt, where 80.4% of those who did not attend school at all are
girls.
- The need to have effective mechanisms that are characterized by
transparency and confidence to establish effective partnerships with the
civil society to design, develop, implement, follow-up, and evaluate plans
for education for all at the local level according to the social, cultural and
economic context.
- The biggest challenge in ensuring sufficient, fair and sustainable
resources for education for all, to ensure the provision of free and of good
quality basic education, for not preventing any child from education
because of his poverty.
131
References and sources
1. Adult Education Authority, towards a more active participation of
NGOs in the National Campaign for Literacy, Cairo, 2002.
2. Adult Education Authority, Egypt's efforts in literacy and adult
education, Cairo, March 2010.
3. Adult Education Authority, the major activities and achievements
of the Adult Education Authority 2008 - 2009, Cairo, 2009.
4. Adult Education Authority, the major activities and achievements
of the Adult Education Authority in August 2011 - August 2012,
Cairo, 2012.
5. Adult Education Authority, Business Plan Key Projects Authority
and its branches in the governorates for the year 2013-2014, Cairo,
2013.
6. Adult Education Authority, curriculum guide and methods used in
the Adult Education Authority, Cairo, 2013.
7. Adult Education Authority, Strategic Plan for Literacy and Adult
Education in Egypt 2014-2030, Cairo, 2014.
8. National Center for Educational Research and UNESCO,
Education for All assessment of medium-term from 2000 - 2007,
Cairo, 2007.
9. Reda Abdel Sattar, evaluation of the goal of adult literacy in the
light of the objectives of Education for All, in: Abdullah Bayoumi:
"Education for all in Egypt - an evaluation study in light of the
stated objectives, the National Center for Educational Research and
Development, Cairo, 2007.
10.UNESCO Regional Office for Education in the Arab countries, the
medium-term assessment of the Education for All: Reference
Manual, Beirut, 2007.
132
The Fifth Goal
Eliminating gender disparities
in primary and secondary education
by 2005, and achieving gender
equality in education by 2015,
with a focus on ensuring girls'
full and equal access to and
the achievement in basic
education of good quality
133
The Fifth Goal: "Eliminating gender disparities in primary and
secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in
education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal
access to and the achievement in basic education of good quality”.
The Elimination of gender disparities in education can help in building a
broader basis of gender equality in the long term, and reflects inequality
in educational participation in general rates of inequality in society,
including the social customs and traditions that create strong motivations
that guide people's behavior and to the men and women of their roles in
the family and society.
Includes full gender equality in education is given the same opportunities
to go to school (for boys and girls and enjoy teaching, curriculum and
academic guidance and counseling is not affected by the tendency of
gender, equality of results in terms of: length of study and educational
achievement and academic qualifications, and all of them wanted to
promote gender equality.
In order to get all children free compulsory basic education of good
quality, it is necessary to make students across educational ladder easily
and efficiently and to complete a phase to the end. Therefore, efforts
should be made to reduce repetition rates and repetition rate the rate of
enrolment of girls in primary and secondary education only if the ratio of
absorption in the first row near (100%). According to the net assimilation
rates is a useful indicator of one aspect of the progress towards achieving
the Millennium goals .
To achieve gender parity in the absorption rates is necessary but not
sufficient to reach parity in participation and completion of basic
education by the year (2015) must reach the absorption rates in the first
row (100%), and even boys and girls in attendance The rates of inequality
due to geographical reasons interact with socio-economic status, while
the urban areas more distinct from rural areas, but also clear inequality in
urban areas (particularly in the informal settlements and slums).
Table (1/5)
Rate of male and female enrollment 2001-2013
134
Source: General Department of information and computer education,
percentage and absolute gap and the size of the gap in quality and parity index
have been calculated by the researcher.
Kindergarden
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
Kindergarden
400000
200000
0
GIRLS BOYS GIRLS BOYS GIRLS BOYS
2012/2013 2006/2007 2001/2002
Primary stage
12000000
10000000
8000000
6000000
Primary stage
4000000
2000000
0
GIRLS BOYS GIRLS BOYS GIRLS BOYS
2012/2013 2006/2007 2001/2002
Commmunity Education
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
Commmunity Education 80000
60000
40000
20000
0
GIRLS BOYS GIRLS BOYS
2012/2013 2006/2007
Preparatory stage
5000000
4500000
4000000
3500000
3000000
2500000
Preparatory stage 2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
GIRLS BOYS GIRLS BOYS GIRLS BOYS
2012/2013 2006/2007 2001/2002
1000000
Trade Secondary
Education 500000
0
GIRLS BOYS GIRLS BOYS GIRLS BOYS
2012/2013 2006/2007 2001/2002
143
Table (9/5)
Evolution of the numbers of (schools-classes-students) community
education)
144
4- Small schools
They are aimed at providing educational opportunities in disadvantaged
areas of education services and community participation within the
framework of cooperation between the Ministry of education and NGOs,
international organizations and the quality of schools with community
participation through community education committees consisting of
people interested in the cause of education in local communities, civil
society, and business. And this initiative can be seen to contribute to
narrowing the education gap between boys and girls; they also contribute
to narrowing the education gap between poor and rich regions.
It was agreed to create four schools-above-to accommodate female
students dropped out or never-education chapter girls of different
ages and different educational levels and take account of flexibility:
Location
Building the origin of educational buildings or building Donation ware is
a room in a house or a suitable place until the establishment of the school
building.
As for community schools and small schools, the places are provided by
an NGO or community in the region and have an active role in attracting
students and encourage parents to send their children to school.
School admission system:
•This accepting students ages 8-14 years but can bypass and get off at 6
years of age in places where there are primary schools in remote areas.
•The acceptance of male students in areas not reached by educational
service but after the consent of the parents, so that the decision to accept
girls only.
•This procedure test for students dropping out and offer the appropriate
grade level study.
Scheduling
This is adapted to environmental conditions, so that they do not conflict
with the conditions of the students and the nature of the activity in the
school's residence subject to the table.
Curriculum:
Focus on reading, writing and arithmetic, religion and general
information. They match the curricula of primary, along with productive
projects which are a means for the rehabilitation of girls and prepare them
for the labor market to provide them with the life skills needed as their
145
future, has been a priority in the establishment of such schools in the
hamlets, villages and places of service.
5- CFS’s are for the education of children in difficult circumstances:
This was done in agreement between the Ministry of education and
UNESCO International and the world food organization and civil
societies, and is aimed at children who have dropped out of the
educational system to the labor market or who have lost a family shelter,
so the project had objectives directly:
- Reintegration of children out of school education.
- Raising the enrolment of children from disadvantaged groups in
education.
- The basic education needs of children in difficult circumstances.
- Choose a flexible educational model provides formal education for
fugitive categories of education.
- Pursue the integration of children in their families and their community.
It starts in such schools from 9-14 years old and is a non-traditional
school start and finish dates according to the circumstances of each group
of students to study, with pupils and teachers, the ones who determine the
shape of the school day and is diversified among cultural materials and
activities and professional materials and with an hour for lunch, and
associations of health care for these students and the curriculum was
circulated to these groups by the Ministry of education and the number of
classes of these schools are (27) with 688 students distributed over 23
societies.
There are some the availabilities given by the Ministry of education for
students to attract those education schools such as:
- Free study.
- Comprehensive health insurance to students free of charge.
- To provide a meal.
- Provide raw material for vocational trainings.
- Provision of part of the profit on the studies to motivate them to keep
going.
- Distribution of some products of professional studies.
- Educational studies distinguished ISRA, so can shorten school years for
female students.
146
- Organizing trips for sightseeing of the country, as well as summer
camps.
- Continuation of them desires to complete their education in the higher
grades, with exemption of fees.
- Raise the age in the next stages, as appropriate to the circumstances of
graduation from the school.
These schools have helped to increase educational opportunities for girls,
and allowed under continuing study in lower secondary and secondary
schools, and has raised the age of consent for them until the age of 20
years of lower secondary, 22 years of secondary school, to enable them to
stay in school. If increased age reported is exempt from the requirement
to age with the consent of the Minister.
Restrictions to the enrolment of girls in education:
There are some constraints to the enrolment of girls in various stages of
education, which can be divided into the following:
First: family constraints hamper the achievement of gender equality:
- The low level of family income.
- Direction to manual work to help the family.
- Family conditions and needs her mother at home and work in the field.
- Lack of financial incentive to encourage families to educate girls.
- Low social level and social problems of divorce, polygamy and the
father to travel abroad, or death.
- Frequent reproduction.
- Early marriage of girls.
- Lack of awareness of health and disease in some societies.
-Illiteracy among some families which hampers follow-up on their
daughters ' education.
-Families fear their daughters from mixing with males not wanting their
education.
- Lack of awareness in some families in the education of girls.
- Customs and traditions that inhibit girls ' education.
- Give priority to education for boys in poor families.
- The unwillingness of parents in action girls make them reluctant from
their education.
147
- Not being native girls.
Second: educational restrictions
- Lack of education for girls.
- The failure to involve girls in many school activities.
- Low level of some teachers, especially at the primary level.
- Evening doesn't fit girls, so reluctant parents for their daughters'
education.
- After some schools for girls ' accommodation and lack of adequate
transportation.
- The failure of schools to teach the girls the craft enables them to live.
- Cruel treatment of faculty for children especially in rural areas.
- Double potential of educational process and inadequate performance.
- Absence of reward and punishment to attend or drop out.
- Not to activate the role of the social worker, especially in the follow-up
to the girl drop-outs.
- Increase the size of classes.
- Difficult approaches.
- Weak link between what you learn in school and the demands of
everyday life and operation.
- Weak link between community and school and lack of cooperation in
some societies.
Third: Community restrictions
- Lack of outreach to rural and remote areas to teach girls.
- The low cultural level of the family.
- The educational disparity between boys and girls for boys.
- Unemployment and lack of job opportunities after graduation.
Challenges:
Despite efforts by the Ministry of education to achieve gender equality in
the various stages of education, but there are still some challenges that
prevent Nations achieve this goal and these challenges:
- There is a significant proportion of females are enrolled in basic
education.
148
- The spread of slums and remote and populated by a few people and
away from school buildings.
- Poverty and the low level of family income, especially in the rural and
marginal areas in return for the high direct and indirect costs of education
makes many families back to their children's education. Expenditure on
basic education has a mismatch between the financial resources available
and the requirements of expenditure on basic education has a mismatch
between the financial resources available and the requirements of
education and shortage of rationalization of expenditure and financial
cost of remote and marginalized groups and weaknesses in the budget.
- Significant increase in population in the age group 6-15 percent
according to the Census of 20 of the Central Agency for public
mobilization and statistics. a slice of pupils in basic education.
- Teacher's occupancy rate remains high, especially in the countryside,
beside the small number of parameters, which affect teachers in low
enrolment of girls in education.
- Poor performance of the teachers, many of whom are not keen on
education, or to obtain additional services, often go out for ways to
increase income.
- The time devoted to education remains short, where there are no
schools full-time, there are other schools operate two shifts affecting the
academic achievement and quality education.
- Increased rates of repetition and dropout of girls, especially in basic
education, which leads to increased rates of illiteracy.
- Slowly increase the net enrollment rate of girls in basic education.
- A few years schooling, or average years of schooling of pupils aged 15
years and over in education, which is one of the indicators of the quality
of education.
• Poor quality of primary education, where students acquire mental skills
such as: the ability to think and solve problems, and also life skills
required by contemporary societies: poor communication between organs
and organizations, international and Arabic, weak interactions to achieve
equality in the neediest countries.
-Lack of interest in the application of laws and legislation on the
education of girls.
- Lack of coordination between the Ministry of education and the
Ministry of information to achieve the qualitative importance of girls'
education.
149
- Lack of interest in girls ' school environment some professions and
trades useful and productive.
- Lack of interest the authors of course with topics such as: reproductive
health, nutrition, and family safety, and as secondary subjects.
- Prevalence of adult illiteracy, which does not allow the interest to
families in the education of girls and of refuge for early marriage, or their
inability to follow up their daughters in the study.
- Intermediate qualifications Yen ENTCHA unemployment more than
spread among the illiterate.
- Some parents birth registration which does not reflect the real size of
the gap in quality between males and females.
150
REFERENCES
1. Abdallah Bayoumi (2011), the universalization of basic education in
Egypt in the light of the Millennium Development Goals (evaluation
study), the National Centre for educational research and development,
Cairo.
2. Abdallah Bayoumi (2007), education in Egypt, an evaluation study in
the light of the stated objectives, the National Centre for educational
research and development, Cairo.
3. Amal Sayed Masood (2007), parity and gender equality in education
by 2015 – University evaluative study, Journal of education and
development, fifteenth year (No. 41).
4. Amal Sayed Masood (2008), providing community education for
children not enrolled in the education system according to the
standards of quality in Egypt, an empirical study, Journal of the
Association of Modern education, first year (Figure 3).
5. General Assembly of the United Nations (2000), the Millennium
Development Goals, New York, September.
6. Ministry of Education in collaboration with UNESCO (2003), the
National Plan for Education for All, 2002/2003 - 2015/2016, Cairo.
7. Ministry of education, General Department of information and
computer education statistics by University, 2001/2002, 2006/2007,
2012/2013.
8. Ministry of education (2008), the definition of one-room schools,
Department of one-room schools, management plan and management.
9. National Centre for educational research and development (2007),
education for all: evaluation of the medium-term (2000-2007), in
collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Office for education in the
Arabic States.
10.National Center for Educational Research and Development (2008),
National Report on: the development of education in Egypt 2004 -
2008, the Ministry of Education, Cairo.
11.National planning Institute (2003): the participation of the United
Nations Development Program UNDP Egypt, Cairo.
12.National Planning Institute (2005), choosing the future toward a new
social contract, the human development report, the United Nations
development program.
13.UNESCO (1995), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, New York, a report on education in
the world.
14.UNESCO (2003), gender and education for all a leap towards
equality, global monitoring report on education for all.
151
15.UNESCO (2003), guidelines for achieving gender equality in
education, Beirut, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the
Arab States.
16.UNESCO (2004), gender equity and equality and education for all,
jump to equality, global monitoring report on education for all, first
section, 2003/2004.
17.UNESCO (2005), education for all, the need to ensure quality
education for all global monitoring report. -UNESCO (2006), literacy
for life, EFA Global monitoring report.
18.UNESCO (2006), literacy for life, EFA Global monitoring report.
19.UNESCO (2007), laying solid foundations through the early
childhood care and education, the education for all global monitoring
report, France.
20.UNESCO Regional Office for education, (2003) Handbook of
community education centers, departments, Regional Office for
education in Asia and the Pacific.
21.UNICEF (2007), towards a better future for the children of Egypt,
Cairo. -UNESCO (1995), the Convention on the Elimination of all
forms of discrimination against women, New York, report of the
world education. United Nations General Assembly (2000), the
Millennium development goals, New York, September.
152
The sixth goal
Improving every aspect
of the quality of education,
and ensuring their excellence
so that recognized and
measurable learning outcomes
are achieved by all,
especially in literacy,
numeracy and essential life skills
153
The sixth goal:
"Improving every aspect of the quality of education, and ensuring their
excellence so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved
by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills”.
The focus of attention has turned from quantity achievements in the field of
education in Egypt to the qualitative aspects of education, and ensuring excellence
for all. Keeping up education efforts in Egypt with the sixth goal, where State is
making unremitting efforts to improve and develop education. In spite of that, the
qualitative aspects of education in Egypt face great challenges making them in
need for further support and attention. The quality in education poses a major
impact on the low levels of students. Schooling quality, which include quality in
teacher performance, and quality in school and administrative reform, plus the
quality of the curriculum and teaching methods, is considered one of the most
important determinants that affect the rates of attendance for students and teachers,
and the degree of academic achievement and students behavior, and also on the
levels of job satisfaction and professional development for teachers. The results of
Egypt's interest in the quality of education caused it to jump from last place in the
global Competitiveness Report 2013, to the position 73 of the 142 countries in the
global ranking of innovation.
The quality of education in the legislations and law:
The quality of education in Egypt gains great importance, as in the text of the
Egyptian constitution, which was approved in January 2014 in Article No. (19),
that education is the right for every citizen is provided by the state, according to
the international quality standards. The state is also committed to allocate a
proportion of government spending for education of not less than 4 % of GDP and
rising gradually until it agrees with the rates of education. The state has issued a
number of laws and decrees that are interested in the establishment of the National
Establishment for Ensuring Educational Quality and Certification and determine
their own laws, as well as that are interested in the quality of the school and
qualifying for the adoption of educational, and improving the quality of the
teacher, and curriculum development, and improve the quality of school activities
and evaluation methods, and raise the quality of education provided to people with
special needs. The exposure to these laws will be discussed in detail later.
The concept of the quality of education in Egypt and criteria and indicators:
The concept of the quality of education in Egypt indicates that "the ability of the
educational process to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities of the learner".
Egypt has set the concept of ensuring the quality of education in Egypt, according
to the law establishing the National Authority to ensure the quality of education
and accreditation in a "meet the quality of all the elements of the educational
154
process of the curriculum and institutions, students and teachers and various
activities that are related to the educational process". It is linked to the quality of
education in Egypt the accreditation of educational institutions in Egypt, and is
intended to: "the recognition granted by the National Authority to ensure the
quality of education and accreditation of the institution if they can prove that they
have the institutional capacity, and verify the effectiveness of education and in
accordance with the standards adopted and published by the Commission, and has
the advanced systems that ensure the improvement and reinforcement of
continuous quality". It has identified in the body of the document the standards of
quality assurance and accreditation of the pre-university educational institutions in
two main areas, namely institutional capacity, and effectiveness of education. It
also placed the basic criteria and indicators for each of them, as issued documents
dealing with standards of quality assurance and accreditation of education
institutions in the various stages of education.
Accurate measurement of learning outcomes in reading, writing and life
skills:
Egypt has participated in the International Examinations for reading, mathematics
and science, such as TIMMS, it also prepared the national codified tests in reading
and math and applied them to students of the third primary grade and the second
preparatory to achieve accurate measurement of the output of the educational
process and to take corrective steps in the light, and will be dealt with this matter in
detail in the methods of evaluation.
Quality Assurance does not happen only if the circumstances of the school, which
makes it an ideal environment to have the ability to adapt to changing
circumstances and possess the flexibility and autonomy in which we can
implement this school for many of the self- reform programs, so the Ministry has
moved on several tracks:
The President issued the decree No. (82) for the year 2006 on the establishment of
the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Education, a
corporate body belonging to the Prime Minister. It is considered one of the main
pillars of the national plan for education reform in Egypt, as it is the entity
responsible for the dissemination of a culture of quality in educational institutions
and society, and the development of national standards that keep pace with the
international standards, to restructure the educational institutions and improve the
quality of its operations and outputs as a lead to earn the trust of the community,
and increase their competitiveness both locally and internationally, and serve the
purposes of sustainable development in Egypt.
In light of this, the Commission is seeking the continuous development of
education and ensuring its quality according to a set of principles and values that
emphasize transparency, objectivity and justice, and concern for the help
educational institutions to adjust their situation and improve their total
performance in order to qualify for and obtain accreditation. The Authority is not
considered a regulatory entity, but is on the accreditation of educational institutions
that are able to meet the requirements of national standards, and then it is keen to
provide all forms of advice, guidance and direction for these institutions, including
help on continuous improvement of the quality of its output through the
mechanisms of objective and realistic self-assessment and accreditation.
To achieve this, the Authority made a number of visits to schools for accreditation,
and determines the level of quality in their performance, as evidenced by the
following chart.
156
Figure (1/6)
showing the total visits carried out by the Authority to schools from 2008-2012
The numbers of schools, which released her decision to adopt or continued
adoption from 2008 and until 2013 are 2912 schools while 1124 schools did not
meet the requirements for accreditation. The province of the New Valley was the
highest in terms of the ratio of the number of schools that applied for accreditation
where the percentage reached 26% from the total number of schools, while Marsa
Matrouh Governorate was in last place by 2.9%.
3 - Projects and programs for developing schools:
The Ministry of Education is implementing a number of projects and programs to
develop schools that are applied to improve the entrance to the school based on
national standards for education, namely:
Improving education program: This program began in 1997 and lasted until
2006, where it presented several projects focused on training principals and
managers of basic education schools and teacher training on modern skills of
teaching, and rehabilitation of new teachers in conjunction with the colleges of
education , and provide many of the capabilities and equipment to improve
education . The program is funded by the Ministry of Education and the World
Bank and the European Union, and managed by the unit for planning and follow-
up.
Active learning Mainstreaming Interactive Learning project: has been
applied in 90 schools, in collaboration with the UNICEF in three governorates:
Fayoum, Qena and Assiut, and the achievements of this project: developing
157
frameworks lists to activate the self-management, and building educational setups
for the application of active learning, and preparation ToTs group of trainers in this
field .
Project for new schools in 100 schools: in collaboration with the U.S. Agency
for International Development, USAID, The project started with the beginning of
the academic year 2004/2005 in the three governorates, Fayoum , Minya, Beni
Suef , and then joined by Alexandria Governorate , was building plans for the
development of schools, according to improving education in the light of national
standards for education.
Project Effective School: is one of the projects carried out by the Ministry of
Education in 300 schools, including 150 primary schools, 150 intermediate
schools, in collaboration with the World Bank and the European Union, has
implemented this project in ten governorates: Minya, and Sohag and Qena,
Qalubia, Kafr El -Sheikh, Ismailia, Sharqia, Dakahlia, Gharbia and Beni Suef. The
project has implemented the effective school model from vision, mission and
through social climate of the school and the teaching methods and learning
environment. This has allowed the project to transform the school management to
decentralized management involving teachers and parents, in order to convert all
basic education schools to being effective schools, in accordance with the national
standards for education in Egypt
- Educational Reform Program: has been implemented by the Ministry of
Education and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development in seven
provinces by 30 primary and intermediate schools in each province, and these
provinces are: Fayoum, Minya, Beni Suef, Aswan, Qena and Alexandria, and
Cairo, and is this project: building institutional systems that support the process of
the sustainability of the reform and expansion in the light of national standards for
education, and the completion of measurement tools, calendar and lists note that
support the process of self-evaluation, and the development of operational plans to
improve the school and configured for the adoption of educational.
Technology and improving educational performance project TILO: It is a
program designed to improve the quality of teaching and learning as well as school
management through the effective use of technology in schools. The U.S. Agency
for International Development and the project team "technology and improving
educational performance" operates closely with the Ministry of Education and the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the private sector and
some elements of society in seven provinces to employ technology in the
development activities for school education to benefit the community by
improving student learning outcomes. The time limit for the project: from
September 2007 to September 2011, the goal of this project was to: improve the
158
quality of teaching and learning through the effective use of technology in the
educational process, the participating schools nationwide were distributed as
follows:
- 186 primary schools in seven provinces, namely: Cairo - Alexandria - Fayoum -
Beni Suef - Minya - Qena - Aswan.
85 junior high schools will be transformed into a pilot smart schools in the
provinces of: Cairo - Helwan - Giza - October 6th - Alexandria - Beni Suef -
Fayoum.
160
- Restructuring of monitoring and evaluation systems in the ministry in order to
reach a single integrated structure capable of evaluation and follow-up in the
context of decentralization, and support coordination and harmony between
centralized and decentralized levels in the development efforts.
Second: the professional development of teachers and sponsorship:
The quality of the educational process depends firstly on the efficiency of the
teacher role, which evolved today to become the driving force for the energies of
the students who should learn on their own to acquire the skills of self-learning.
The path for the Ministry of Education in Egypt, as a part of its strategic policy
associated with an increased continuous professional support for teachers and
increased financial support, is illustrated through several paths:
1 - The application of the new cadre of teachers:
The president issued resolution No. (155) of 2007 for the private cadre of teachers,
as the President of the Council of Ministers Resolution No. (2840) for the
application of Law No. (155). The career progression is in six professional levels
representing a career path, and Table (6-1) is the equation for education jobs.
Table (1/6)
Equation and Education Jobs
To get the advantages of the cadre of teachers one must obtain a license to practice
the profession of teaching, and links between staff skills, performance and
promotion operations. The requirements include validity of teacher’s license to
practice teaching, and passing certain professional tests, in addition to providing
what refers to the level of performance as evidenced in the record of professional
accomplishment. The sharing of the teacher in the professional development
programs, both at the school level within the reform program centered on the
school or courses to be held at the level of the department or directorate or the
ministry necessary for career advancement. The ministry embraced a distinct trend
in transforming the teaching profession from a routine one that can many do
without being armed with knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to a
specialized career with need to acquire the latest knowledge, skills and attitudes in
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the field of education. This leads to that the teaching profession is gaining the
professional status necessary to raise the educational quality of the product.
2 - Improving the material conditions of teachers:
The ministry has taken several steps to accomplish this among which the most
important is:
The application of Article 89 of the Law of a new cadre of teachers starting from
1/7/2007, which states that " the workers of the functions of educational jobs
referred to in Article 70 of this Law, who in the service date of this section or who
would be recruited in the future a teacher’s allowance of 50% of the basic wage, as
well as the annual premium increments, and every increase in wages given to
workers of the state administration".
The workers of the functions of the teachers referred to in Article 70 of this law
according to the decision of the Ministry of Education in accordance with the
preceding paragraph are granted adoption rates between 50 % to 150% of the basic
wage as set forth in the previous table and when transferred to functions referred to
in the table after they fulfill the requirements of the job prescribed to them, while
retaining in a personal capacity the wages they receive even if it exceeded the end
of the scheduled wage jobs they are transferred to, so that the application starts no
later than 1/7/2008 .
- Outstanding performance incentive is granted to those who hold a doctorate or
equivalent degree and Master's degree or equivalent, according to the decision of
the Chairman of the Board cabinets No. (734) for the year 2005, as follows:
• 200 pounds per month for those with a doctoral degree or its equivalent.
• 100 pounds per month for those with a master's degree or equivalent.
- Article 85 and Article 86 of Law No. (155) of 2007 describe private cadre of
teachers system grants the above-mentioned addition to that article (85) in the law
describes the system of granting versus the duties of the job and for overtime and
the return for promoting the work functions or areas and the performance of certain
expenses incurred by the incumbents in order to fulfill the educational work of this
job.
The Prime Minister issued Decree No. (57) dated 14/1/2014 to give an allowance
against the burdens and functional efforts for teachers stating “the educational
incumbents are given an allowance against the functional burdens for teachers to
match the effort throughout the school year and burdens on their shoulders in
various educational stages according to the following table”.
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Table (2/6)
Allowance versus functional burdens for teachers according to their grades
3 - Teacher training:
There is a strong need for attention to the training of teachers in Egyptian schools
because the Ministry of Education appoints teachers not educators as well as
teachers educators, as there was still in primary schools teachers hold medium
qualifications such as diploma teachers, in addition to the teaching of the English
language on the part of some non-specialized teachers. Consequently, teachers
need continuous educational and academic training.
For the Education Strategic Plan 2007/2008-2011/2012, the Ministry of Education
is reconsidering the professional development programs for teachers and activation
of the modules of primary education, as the teachers of this stage are characterized
by diversity and difference. To a great extent the education system does not pay the
assumed importance due to worker training. During the early years of the Strategic
Plan 2007/2008-2011/2012 preparatory teachers did not get the appropriate amount
of training programs. The equivalent of only 7% of the total teachers received the
training program in 2008, and their equivalent during the following year. Among
the reasons for this unsatisfactory situation, is that the educational leadership are
not convinced of the importance of training, in addition to inadequate financial
allocations for teacher training, both directorates and departments of education or
the ministry’s headquarters where the teacher receives training opportunities every
5 years
(A) Internal and external missions:
The Ministry of Education as from 1992 started to send teachers to some foreign
countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, to
raise their scientific and professional level, and to acquainted to their educational
systems and to be trained on the use of modern teaching methods and advanced
technology.
The proceedings for nominating teachers of Ministry of Education to travel to the
missions for the academic year 2010/2011 has been stopped due to the January 25
revolution and then training missions for teachers abroad has returned in
2012/2013 to India - Japan - and the United States in three groups in the year,
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where the number of teachers who have been sent this year (34) teacher and all of
them secondary school.
The ministry implements annually an interior mission program to prepare special
education teachers and educational computer, in order to take advantage of the
available in-house possibilities, in cooperation with the competent departments of
the ministry as well as cooperation with parties outside the ministry, in the year
2012/2013 a number of (8) secondary school teacher have been sent internally for
study grants provided to the ministry by the Demographic Center for Special
Diploma in population and Development and master's degree in demography .
The ministry’s aims from these missions are to:
- Implementation of a mechanism to optimize the envoys after returning and
organize workshops within the institution to transfer the experience gained to their
colleagues and in coordination with the educational districts.
- Orientation programs, foreign missions about recent trends such as: software
technology education - teaching methods - advanced systems in the administration
- guidance and career guidance and other programs aimed at upgrading vocational
teacher, thus contributing to the achievement of quality education.
(B) Attention to training in technology:
The following was completed:
- Training for all personnel on the use of computers and networks.
- Training of teachers and mentors for science for all stages.
- Training managers and school principals on the use of modern applications and
enrollment management.
- Training on equipment e-learning and e-government.
- Training teachers to integrate technology and computer skills in the subjects they
teach, a total of (27079) teachers, (education program for the future).
- The completion of what has been agreed with the Ministry of Communications
and a schedule of the plan included the convention for the training of teachers.
- Training for ICDL computer and vacationed with a total (14408) trainees.
- Training of teachers on the expansion in the use of ICT technology in the
preparation and management of the lesson.
- Training teachers to use the method of discussion, assigning groups of students to
set up joint research, rather than the method of memorization of one side.
(C) Career Academy for Teacher Development:
The Career Academy for Teacher Development was established in 2008. It serves
teachers in terms of providing training programs required for education according
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to national standards for education, as well as providing an achievement file for
each teacher, containing his qualifications and experience, and his career history,
and the programs he should get to be promoted. This Academy step is a very
strong step if properly utilized and exploited optimally to achieve a satisfactory
amount of professionalism for teachers, which is reflected on the performance of
pupils in general.
The Academy is to hold tests for teachers that include tests of educational
efficiency, and the Arabic language, and the substance of specialization.
In 2013 the teacher training centers were included under the umbrella of the Career
Academy for Teacher Development in the new structure of the Ministry of
Education.
Third: the development of curricula and teaching methods:
In the year 2000, the Egyptian education curricula were regarded as traditional
curricula, as it was not able to follow up and follow local and global events and
changes, and were not consistent with the need of the student, because it does not
reflect the reality, does not take account of scientific progress and social and
political change.
So the Ministry of Education began starting from 2003 the implementation of a
comprehensive educational plan whose one of its the main components is to
develop new curricula of high quality. The development of the objectives of the
curricula was done, and the reforming of the content of textbooks in the light of
national standards for education, as well as the adoption of the new curricula in
basic and secondary education in 2004.
In 2008, a comprehensive evaluation study was conducted to determine the extent
to which the curricula and new textbooks realized the educational development
goals, and the results showed some of the strengths and weaknesses in the
curricula. It is still the knowledge and information element is prevailing in the
educational process at the expense of other elements related to performing skills.
As the diversity of sources of knowledge is limited, and the textbook and the
teacher remained the main sources of knowledge for students, despite the
availability of other sources such as school libraries and the Internet
Basic education stage:
(A) start teaching English from the first grade in 2003/2004, in response to
contemporary global developments.
(B) The rebuilding of the curricula of the first three years of the primary
education: A development plan was implemented, involving concerned parents
from the start of the academic year 2006/2007, and its features are as follows:
- Easing subjects and limiting them to four basic materials, which is the Arabic
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language and the foreign language, mathematics, religious education. The curricula
are distributed on two semesters, which reduces the burden on student at this age.
Preparing a clear activities guide to the teacher, to assist him in the preparation of
activities in each subject as well as other educational activities.
(C) Developing curricula of the last three years of the primary education
according to the following:
- In the academic year 2008/2009 has seen the development of the Arabic
language curricula, math and science studies for the fourth grade primary.
- In the academic year 2009/2010 has seen the development of the Arabic
language curricula, math and science studies for the fifth grade primary.
- In the academic year 2010/2011 has seen the development of the Arabic
language curricula, math and science studies for the fourth grade primary.
(D) The application of active learning strategy: This strategy is concerned with
the interaction between the teacher and the learner, and the emphasis on student
performance for a variety of activities during the learning process, through:
- Application the periods system instead of the class system on an average three
times daily, and the duration of each period is 90 minutes, with an interval of
between 10-15 minutes, and the school day ends at half past one.
- Allow more time for the student to renew his activity, and reduce the number of
subjects studied per day.
Provide an opportunity for the teacher to provide a variety of activities while
teaching the material, and provide a period to meet with teachers to identify the
difficulties and problems that interferes with the progress of the school day.
(E) The process of continuous development of the curriculum for the
preparatory education:
Having been developed national standards for education in Egypt in 2003, and
revised in 2007 for all levels of education, the Ministry of Education produced a
Criteria document in 2007, and upon which the National Authority for Quality
Assurance and Educational Accreditation NQAAA issue a standard document for
the levels for pre-university education graduate in 2009, and the impact has been
modified and curriculum development cycle secondary education. According to it
there was curriculum development for (Arabic - Science - Mathematics - social
Studies) for the three years of preparatory education during the years 2009 to 2011
in order to achieve the targets of the Strategic Plan 2007/2008-2011/2012, in light
of the new standards. But even though the process of continuous development of
curricula, we find that the curriculum still supports the conservation and
memorization skills without focusing on higher mental problems as a solution,
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creativity, critical thinking, which is one of the most important skills that should be
focused on.
• Secondary education:
- The Ministerial Decree No. (273) of 2012 was issued on the system for the study
system of first year of the general secondary level, which provides for the division
of subjects on the two semesters as follows:
1 - Subjects taught throughout the year and their subjects are divided between the
first and second semesters, and the student is not examined in the second semester
in what has been studied in the first semester and is divided into:
• Subjects examined-in and the grades are calculated within the total at the end of
the school year: (Arabic - the first foreign language - the second foreign language -
Mathematics).
• Subjects examined-in and the grades are not calculated within the total:
(Religious Education - National Education - Computer).
2 - Subjects studied and expires at the end of the semester, and are divided into two
groups, each group with three subjects examined-on by students and grades are
calculated within the total
Group 1: Biology - Chemistry – History
Group 2: Physics - Philosophy – Geography
- The Ministerial Decree No. (274) of 2012 was issued on the system for the study
system of second year of the general secondary level, which provides for the
division of subjects on the two semesters as follows:
1 - Subjects taught throughout the year and their subjects are divided between the
first and second semesters, and are divided into:
• Subjects examined-in and the grades are calculated within the total at the end of
the school year: (Arabic - the first foreign language - the second foreign language -
Mathematics).
• Subjects examined-in and the grades are not calculated within the total:
(Religious Education - Citizenship and Human Rights - Information and
Communication Technology).
2 - The student chooses at the beginning of the school year one of the two divisions
(science or literary) according to his abilities and inclinations, so studying
Specialty Materials Division selected in accordance with the system of the two
groups as follows:
Science Division: specialized subjects ending by the end of the semester in which
the student is examined and grades added to the total, namely: Chemistry - Biology
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- Physics - Mechanics, and is divided into two groups: (Chemistry - Biology) and
(Physics - Mechanics).
Literary Division: specialized subjects ending by the end of the semester in which
the student is examined and grades added to the total, namely: History -
Psychology and Sociology - Geography - Philosophy and Logic, and is divided
into two groups: (History - Psychology and Sociology) and (Geography -
Philosophy and Logic).
3 - The student chooses one of the vocational education subjects to be examined in
it in practice and in writing at the end of each semester, that is (Industrial
Technology - Agriculture - Business Administration and Projects). It is a success
or failure subject.
- The Ministerial Decree No. (323) for the year 2013 concerning the
Matriculation (General Secondary Certificate) and its minister has decided it to be
a one year and not a two year examination and courses are taught in the following
order:
1 - General Materials: All student sections should study them and requires the
student to pass and is not to be added to the total. Those are (Religious Education,
and the National Education, and Economics and Statistics).
2 - Specialized materials: materials are success and failure and are added to the
total. It is distributed for different sections as follows:
• Science Division (Physics): (Arabic language, and the first foreign language, and
a second foreign language, Biology, Geology and Environmental Science,
Chemistry, and Physics).
• Science Division (Mathematics): (Arabic language, and the first foreign
language, and a second foreign language, and Pure Mathematics, Applied
Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics).
• Literary Division: (Arabic language, and the first foreign language, and a second
foreign language, History, Geography, Philosophy and Logic, Psychology and
Sociology).
Fourth: supporting the use of technology in schools:
The ministry has developed a comprehensive plan to support the use of technology
in schools, whether in education or administration based on the integration of
technology in the educational process and the availability of education through the
use of various technological means such as the Internet and distance education and
e-learning, and the technological development in schools is done through:
1 - Developed laboratories: The aim of this laboratory is to develop the sense of
science and instill the love of experimentation and conclusion at such an early age,
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and include laboratories in the primary education group of units, including the
basics of experimentation, and scientific awareness, measurements, and a library
lab. These laboratories should cover all primary schools.
2 - Multimedia laboratories: This includes the establishment of computer
laboratories equipped with multi-media programs, which is the latest trend in
education by using the computer as a learning tool and these laboratories contain:
- A computer and a projector (Data Show).
- A television and a video recorder and an overhead projector.
- A satellite receiver.
3 - the integration of technology in the subject: to be considered as a major
component, which leads to the development of the student's ability to think
critically and creatively, problem-solving and information gathering and its
analysis and interpretation and taking appropriate decisions.
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6 - National Network for distance training (Video Conferencing):
This has been developed and updated through:
- Updating equipment for the national remote training network.
- The use of the direct visible broadcast (Video Streaming) to include school
classrooms.
- The use of Interactive Distance Learning IDL to test the level people present at
the training sessions in the videoconference halls, measuring their interaction with
the teacher.
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The strategic objective of the project is the introduction of teaching and learning
methods and the use of modern information and communication technology to
reach the Computer Learning and learning through the computer. The Ministry of
Education and the EU implementation of the project of a network of schools
developed in basic education in primary and preparatory schools to increase the
number of hours allocated for student interaction with the computer in order to be
able to learn computer skills, and major expansion in the number of computers and
its use in the educational process to approach the level of his peers in the
developed world. The project aims to:
- The introduction of technology and its applications in the educational process to
the number (1150) School.
- Using technology effectively in the classroom/school in order to improve the
level of education.
- Enhancing opportunities for student participation by using information
technology.
- Encouraging teachers to work collaboratively and solve problems and to
participate in the correction.
- The application of the Egyptian national standards in information technology.
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The achievements of the training were:
- Trainees of the Intel learning for the future program “Intel Teach” reached a total
of (322,653) trainees as of November 2004.
- Trainees in the introductory program for teachers and junior mentors “Getting
started” on computer skills totaled (38,132) trainees as of January 2009.
Trainees on the program (Intel Learn) for students to use technology in projects
that serve students and the community totaled (21,690) trainees as of November
2009.
- The number of trainees on the (Intel Elements) disc with effect from January
2010 until now were (59,914) trainees.
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active participation of teachers in view and understanding of the subjects they
teach and their applications in the environment around the school.
Entering online training system Intel Essentials Online. This system is
developing a solution to the problem of providing training time and place to ensure
the continuity and regularity of the educational process in schools while increasing
the preparation of the trainees at the same time. The total number of teachers who
have been trained from the beginning of the implementation of the program so far
is more than 240 thousand teachers.
(A) Think.com project
Based on the protocol of cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Oracle Think.com
project was implemented in a number of experimental preparatory schools
nationwide. The agreement was signed on 29/12/2003. This project aims to
develop a special learning community of students and teachers through a secure
site with all means of electronic protection available, allowing them to exchange e
-mail inside and outside the school, as well as web design for schools on the
Internet, and to participate in collective projects, and help dealing with curriculum
electronically.
Implementation began in a number of 30 schools from preparatory schools
affiliated to the Ministry of Education in 2003 and reached 1789 schools.
- The company Oracle trained (15-20) teacher or specialist from schools.
- The Ministry of Education trained 100 teachers and specialists.
- Think.Com site was created by the Ministry.
- The number of teachers using of the site were 7204 and the number of students
were about 12672 students.
(B) Oracle Academy Project
An agreement was signed between the Ministry of Education and Oracle Egypt to
implement the initiative Oracle Internet Academy in April 2004. Through the study
in the Oracle Academy secondary students acquire skills to deal with database
design and development of database applications and programming language Java
and the field of business and communications that increase their competitive
advantages in achieving their career aspirations in the future. The number of
academies (schools) 554 were, and the number of students about fourteen thousand
and in 2010 about 250 teachers were trained on SQL, and about 200 teachers on
SQL /PL.
(C) NEPAD Schools Project, in collaboration with the each from the NEPAD
group and the Oracle Corporation and HP company and aims to:
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- The introduction of information and communication technology in schools on a
global level.
- Increasing knowledge, research and educational access to reach creativity and
innovation.
- Health awareness through several programs designed to find out the latest means
of prevention of common diseases such as AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and
Malnutrition.
(D) Electronic Health Project in collaboration with the Ministry of
Communications and the World Health Organization (WHO), aims to:
- Development of awareness among a segment of students in the age group of 12-
18 years through E-Learning in schools.
- The development of technology skills to raise health awareness among the
school community.
- Communication between the school, family and create dialogues between them.
(E) British Council Project: in collaboration with the Ministry of
Communications and the company INTEL, and aims to:
- The development of the strategic vision and policies of information and
communication technology ICT in education.
- Preparing new teachers through the central education and support of human
resources capacity.
(F) (CATC) Cisco Academy Training Center is the competitive center of e-
learning, which is based on the control of all affiliated local academies and is
considered a (regional academy).
The establishment of local academies in the Local Academics technological
development centers within the directorates of education and preparatory school,
according to what is planned in the Egyptian Initiative for Education.
- Each Local Academy teaches after its inauguration the e-content of Cisco
Company. The teaching method is based on the distance education technology.
Contact and study and performing examinations are through the Website which
achieves the increase in the ability in handling and taking advantage of the Internet
for the benefit of the educational process 2007-2010
• Project objectives:
- Dissemination of information and communication technology among students at
all levels of education.
- Rehabilitation of trainees to implement maintenance procedures for computers.
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(G) Microsoft training project
An agreement was signed between the Ministry of Education and Microsoft Corp.
in 12/12/2002 aiming to:
- Training a number of specialists from various departments in the Ministry on
systems engineering and application development for six months.
- Teacher training on the latest ways to use information technology in teaching
and production of educational software.
- Preparing a generation of cadres trained in the different fields of information
technology training.
- Provide software packages the number of 160 original copies of 5-10 CDs.
The achievements of training were:
The number of trainees of the Microsoft Project totaled (124,964) trainees as of
July 2006, distributed over the following training programs:
- Training teachers - Deputies - Managers - Principals - Administrators on basic
computer skills.
51806 teachers have been trained to integrate technology in education through
active learning strategies based on the use and employment of technology in the
educational process. They have been trained on the production of technological
lessons (Virtual Classroom Tours).
Training of 4601 from the leaders of education in the schools of the Egyptian
Initiative for Education (Mentors - Managers) on a specialized program aiming to
develop a program to prepare leaders for the training of supervisors of various
subjects on the leadership skills suited to the needs of the twenty first century
including the provisions of technological skills and special programs for
professional sustainable development.
- Young programmer’s program to train students to deal with the Microsoft
Expression Web in addition to the basic skills of the programming language C.
- Young programmer’s program (instructors preparation course) to prepare
trainers capable of training students on the software Young programmer’s
program.
- Technical specialist training program Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) to
develop the skills of teachers of Computer and their rehabilitation for international
certifications in the area of specialization.
- Training program for parents to raise the awareness of technological
development, in addition to the basic skills to deal with their own computers.
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10 - Plan of the Ministry of Education to implement the project «Tablet» in
the governorates of the republic:
The Ministry of Education plan to implement the project «Tablet» the governorates
of the republic, in phases, starting from the fiscal year 2013 - 2014, and continue
until the fiscal year 2015 - 2016 are as follows:
- The first phase began in 6 border governorates, and benefit 2225 classes and 35
thousand students, has been complemented by 4 governorates for 3600 classes, and
177 thousand students.
- The second phase was initiated in 3 governorates, and ending at the end of the
fiscal year 2013-2014. It will benefit first-grade students of secondary school. A
total of 126 thousand and 983 students in 483 schools and 2876 classrooms will
benefit.
- The third phase, include 6 governorates during the fiscal year 2014-2015,
benefiting 360 thousand and 247 students in 1272 school and 9514 classes.
The fourth phase is in 8 governorates, ending by the end of the fiscal year 2015-
2016, benefiting 254 thousand 509 students in 926 schools and 6914 classes.
The costs of this project will be covered over three years during its application to
first-grade students of the secondary school, the student can use the same device
during the phase of secondary school, thus saving the expenses of printing books,
where the cost per student for the ministry is about 360 pounds per year to print his
books. Calculating the cost in 3 years it is 1080 pounds, which will be covered
over a three-year period.
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case of the lack of adequate equipment and means of the school to practice
activities.
The issuance of laws No. (273&274) for the year 2012, and No. (323) for the
year 2013 that considers the sports activity a subject of success and failure studied
by all students at the secondary level in all years, and subject to practical tests but
its degrees do not count within the total.
Laws No. (273&274) for the year 2012, and the number (323) for the year 2013
dealt with educational activities at the secondary level, and identified it with an
optional one of the following activities: (Art Education - Music Education -
Practical Vocational Activity - Home Economy - Scouts and Guides - Theater and
Acting - Broadcasting and Press - Community Service and Environmental
Development - Information and Communication Technology - Scientific Creative
Activity - Libraries and Research Skills). It is practiced and tested-in practically at
the end of each semester but grades are not add to the total, but the subject is
success and failure.
- Competitions are held in each school the end of each academic year for
educational activities in all sectors and outstanding students are honored. These
activities that are characterized by creativity and innovation are kept through a
permanent exhibition of the work of students in school.
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integrated character of the pupil, and the Comprehensive Educational Evaluation
depends on several pillars among the most important are the following:
- Employing the national standards for education in Egypt as a reference for this
project.
- It is important that inherent correction depends on real activity.
In light of this the Ministry of Education focuses on the use of learning styles
based on the activity of the student, in order to develop multiple skills. The success
of that depends entirely on the use of the comprehensive evaluation of all aspects
of the student's personality. Comprehensive evaluation is composed of several
elements used to correct the student, and these elements are in the classroom
activities associated with the educational and extra-curricular activities (basic and
optional) for the student besides written tests.
Comprehensive Calendar items:
(A) Completion of the learner’s file: Portfolio means the aimed assembly for the
learner's work under the supervision of teachers both inside and outside the school;
to provide a realistic picture of his performance and is integrated throughout the
school year, and includes:
- Written work (15% of the total score).
- Oral performances and classroom discussions (15% of the total score).
- Activities associated with the material (15% of the total score).
- Behavior (5 % of the total score).
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2 - Comparative International Correction:
Egypt participated in 2007 in the Global Competition for Science and Mathematics
TIMSS second grade preparatory, and among 48 joined states, ranked 38 in math
and 41 in science. In general, the performance of the vast majority of pupils was
low at less than the international low level of 400 degrees by 45.4 % in
mathematics, with a ratio of 40 % in science. The results show that the
performance of pupils in the Delta was better than in the South, and in urban areas
better than the countryside, and this means the disparity attention to the quality of
education between these areas. Egypt did not participate in TIMSS tests in 2011
because of the outbreak of the revolution in January.
3 - Rated National Correction:
The Ministry of Education holds a national codified test in the preparatory stage
called SAT. It was held for the first time in the academic year 2009/2010 was not
held again until now. The ministry has decided to hold it to equip students for the
TIMSS tests. The SAT tests aims to determine the level of the collection of eighth
graders from the basic education in subjects (Arabic - Science - Mathematics). The
results of the schools that applied the test showed the average pupil achievement is
less than 50%, though the performance of pupils in the test of the Arabic language
was the better, followed by their performance in the test of science, mathematics
The difference between the governorates and even within the governorates and
departments themselves is wide in math and science. The results of the
governorates of Lower Egypt was better than the performance of Upper Egypt
where results were higher than the average in the three tests (National Indicators of
Education in Egypt 2010). Results did not show the real reasons behind the low
level of achievement of students in accordance with the national test. Further
studies are still needed to identify the causes.
• Secondary education:
There is a difficulty in applying the comprehensive evaluation system, and the
current evaluation system depends on the final exam, which only focuses on the
cognitive aspects of memory and culture and overlooked aspects of skill and
compassion.
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Table (3/6)
Growth in number of schools and classes and school children with special
needs from 2000/2001-2012/2013
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
Schools
15000 Classes
10000 Students
5000
0
2000/2001 2006/2007 2012/2013
School Year
Figure (2/6)
Growth in number of schools and classes and students with special needs from
2000/2001‐2012/2013
Challenges:
First: the school
Reform programs centered on the school faces a set of challenges as followed:
(A) High densities of classes:
It is noted from Table (6-4) the increase in the average density of pre-primary
education from 30.93 to 34.08 pupils per class during the period from 2000/2001
until 2012/2013, probably due to the demand for pre-primary education and the
increase in the number of students admitted and not absorbed by the current
classes, which requires the provision of new classes to accommodate the increase
in the number of students admitted at this stage.
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In spite of the higher average density of primary schools that increased slightly
from 41.11 to 43.29 pupils per class during the period from 2000/2001 until
2012/2013, but the densities may even reach from 60 to over 100 students in the
class in some governorates such as Giza, Alexandria and Cairo, and some densely
populated areas such as Marg and Boulaq Dakrour and Montazah.
There is a lowering of average density of preparatory schools from 43.89 to
40.73 pupils per class during the period from 2000/2001 until 2012/2013, but there
are very large disparities with respect to density, as in the neighborhood of Giza in
some schools, as an example it reached 140 pupils per class, which requires
conducting a survey to find out the problems of the different governorates on the
density and find quick solutions to them, and put a priority to build in governorates
with high pupil density.
- The average density in secondary schools between 45.5 and 55.6 students per
class in some governorates and some educational departments, despite the decline
in the average density of the year, 40.80 to 37.66 students per class during the
period from 2000/2001 until 2012/2013.
Table (4/6)
the evolution of the class density for all grades from 2001/2002-2012/2013
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45
40
Class density 35
30
Kindergartens
25
20 Primary Education
15 Intermediate Education
10 Secondary education
5
0
2000/2001 2006/2007 2012/2013
School Year
Figure (3/6)
The evolution of the class density for all grades from 2001/2002-2012/2013
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Figure (4/6)
the percentage distribution of schools by the number of periods in the
academic year 2012/2013
Table (5/6)
the evolution of the rate of teacher/administration for all grades of
2005/2006-2012/2013
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Table (6/6)
the evolution of the rate of teacher educator/non- educator for all grades
of 2001/2002-2012/2013
• The ratio was calculated through the statistics of the Ministry of Education,
which describes the number of teachers, educators and non-educators in the year
2000/2001, 2006/2007, while the ratio in 2012/2012 were obtained directly from
the educational indicators of the Ministry.
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Fourth: supporting the use of technology in schools
- Statistics and indicators show the need to further support the use of technology in
schools, as statistics and indicators showed the following:
Only 19% of all preparatory schools have science labs, which means that four
fifths of those school students do not exercise practical applications of science.
This failure is reflected negatively on the performance of pupils and that seemed
clear in national standardized tests and TIMSS contest due to the unavailability of
funds that meet the needs of school laboratories.
- Providing all primary school science labs is not complete, in addition to that 76 %
of the visual labs in primary education lack the tools, equipment and devices.
Only 27.4% of all preparatory schools are equipped with computer labs, even
though the subject is one of the essential practical subjects, and thus are not enough
labs to achieve quality education.
Future vision:
The Ministry of Education National Strategic Plan for Pre-University Education
Reform 2014/2030 by was issued describing the future vision and the goals it seeks
to achieve in order to improve the quality of education, and it is as follows:
First: School Based Reform:
It is a must for any attempts to reform education for the school to be on top as it is
entrusted with the development of the Egyptian identity and sense of belonging to
this country of the learner. It is also responsible for fall building the critical
knowledgeable skills for the young and encourage them to contribute to nation-
building so the Ministry of Education put the vision to achieve the future reform of
the school as follows:
Setting an overall target: "the development of management of educational
institutions in the context of an educational system that is running a balanced
centralized/decentralized and supports sustainable professional development, good
governance and accounting to provide supportive learning environment and check
the quality of education and the rights of the child to produce a citizen of
innovation able to compete in a knowledge society, and a contributor to the
development of their homeland.
To develop strategic objectives as follows:
• Support the capacity of educational institutions in the framework of the balanced
centralized/decentralized administration.
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• Improve the performance of educational leaders to practice management centered
around the school.
• Build the capacity of the institution and to provide ongoing technical support to
ensure sustainable quality.
• Activating the partnership between the community and the educational institution
to achieve the quality requirements.
• Providing an educational environment and attractive safe check and equal
opportunities and support self-reform of the school.
Setting operational objectives by the end of 2016/2017.
• The issuance of legislation and laws in support of the reform process at the school
level.
• To develop and implement standards and objective honest grounds to choose the
school leaders.
• It is important to create capacity building and training units and officials of
monitoring and evaluation to support educational institutions for applying the
requirements of reform at the school level and quality standards and accreditation.
• Leadership capacity building for decentralized decision-making and management
of resources in order to achieve equal opportunities for the educated and between
the workers and the integration of people with special needs.
• Expand the application of the funding formula to achieve justice in the
distribution of resources and linked to performance.
• Develop mechanisms for evaluation and follow-up, accountability and accounting
vertical and horizontal system stimulation based on the evaluation of the
performance and learning outcomes.
• Review decisions and regulations for the governing board of trustees to enable
them to participate effectively in decision-making and follow-up the
implementation in the school.
• Develop and implement mechanisms to stimulate the local community and civil
society and the private sector’s participation in the provision and management
capabilities, and material and human resources necessary for the school.
• Develop and implement systems for networking schools in the communities to
participate in the resources and professional development and the exchange of
experiences to mainstream successes of reform.
- Develop indicators to achieve the goals associated with the quality of reform
centered on the school by the end of 2016/2017 as follows:
• A legislation to transfer the administrative and financial authorities to educational
leaders in all provinces includes mechanisms for coordination and integration
between the central and decentralized levels.
• Guide for reform based on the school.
• The number of teachers and trained personnel.
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Second: professional development and human resources:
The education system depends primarily on human resources in achieving its goals
of producing generations on a high degree of character and professionalism to
build a society based on learning and an economy based on knowledge, therefore,
the Ministry of Education’s visions for the future to achieve the professional
development of cadres are as follows:
- Setting an overall target as: "building systems for human resources
management and a sophisticated dynamic, professional development programs to
provide a supportive head as a hub to reform the system of pre-university
education in the context of decentralization and good governance, in the
framework of a distinct international”.
- Develop strategic objectives as follows:
• Conceptual shift gradually toward activating human resources management
systems as a basis to find work environment with inspiring and stimulating
creativity, and collaborative work and teamwork towards achieving the objectives
of the education sector.
• Institutional structure and strong technological dynamic human resource
management, to be managed by the most efficient managers.
• Disciplined performance to employees in accordance with the system of
education initiatives and directives of HR departments.
• Learning community (teachers and non- teachers) and growing cognitively and
skillfully, a growing ability and self-efficacy, and through professional
development programs to direct energies.
- Setting operational objectives by the end of 2016/2017 as follows:
• restructuring of the departments of human resources and capacity building and
coordination between the relevant departments at all levels within the framework
of the philosophy and the vision and mission for the development of human
resources adopted by the leaders and all employees.
• Building an information system for electronic governance and management,
monitoring and evaluation, human resource development and decision support at
the central and decentralized and the elimination of all forms of functional
redundancy and regulatory duplication.
• Routing paths of human resources development, according to the objectives of
the strategic plan for the sector and the needs of pre-university education,
according to global averages for educational leaders and school management and
teaching and guidance and specialists, administrators and workers.
• Preparation and dissemination of integrated approaches and sources of training
for different career paths, maps and plans for the time and location of the training
methods and open the way for the adoption of professional self-development.
• Establish rules linking professional development system in various locations of
the material and moral incentives.
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• Develop a mechanism for the systematic evaluation of the efficiency and returns
of training at all levels with the preparation and activation mechanisms of
accountability and accounting vertical and horizontal based on learning outcomes
and quality standards for system performance.
- Develop indicators to achieve the goals associated with the development of the
professional cadres by the end of 2016/2017 as follows:
• A structure and information system for the management and development of
human resources.
• Meet the needs of the education levels of teachers trained in modern methods and
developed and associated skills, information and communication technology.
• Meet the needs of cadres trained in technical education curriculum developed and
modern methods of evaluating teachers and the supporting information and
communication technology.
• Meet the needs of education levels and departments of education centralization
and decentralization of educational leaders trained on the entrances of modern
management related goals.
• Curricula for professional development and programmed chronologically sources
of training for all disciplines.
• A sustainable mechanism for follow-up and evaluation of professional
development programs
Third: the development of curricula
Comes the process of curriculum development as the most important strategic
choices to bring about the desired paradigm shift in Egyptian education system and
therefore the Ministry of Education to develop a vision for the future curriculum is
as follows:
Setting target for the next stage is to "develop curricula for pre-university
education in accordance with the requirements and the skills of the twenty first
century atheist with its local, regional and global levels, and seeks to develop a
culture of thinking and creativity, and maintain the intrinsic values of the Egyptian
society, and the emphasis on digital citizenship, and to prepare globally
competitive generations able to access advanced positions in the field of science,
mathematics and technology”.
- Develop strategic objectives as follows:
• Issuance of a charter of the general education curriculum for pre-university in
Egypt.
• Issue a curriculum document for special needs of talented and persons with
disabilities in its various forms periodic and non- periodic of all categories as well
as the culturally disadvantaged.
• Develop a system of curriculum, books and learning resources for all stages of
education, community education, in line with the scientific trends, and based on the
technological environment in education, system and contact, and supports the
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values of citizenship.
• Benefit from the international experience in the development of system
evaluation in light of learning outcomes, in various stages of education.
- Setting operational objectives by the end of 2016/2017 as follows:
• Update documents charter for the general pre-university education curricula.
• Implement and document the standard levels of graduate education before
college, in curriculum development, and elements in all grades.
• Develop tools, calendar and standard levels for each subject of study material in
all the ranks of pre-university education and the application of national
standardized tests to put the start line, and interim targets and measure the impact
of the application of the new developed curriculum.
• Provide methods and sources of learning in mathematics, science and languages
according to international standards based on the information and communication
technology and interactive communication in the matrix of the extent and the relay
begins with stage of primary education and ends in secondary school.
• Development of methods and sources of learning the Arabic language, religious
education and social studies based on previous experiences, and deepen the
concepts of citizenship and identity.
• Prepare evidence for writing books and learning resources in the light of the
targeted standards.
- Develop indicators to achieve the goals associated with the development of
the curriculum by the end of 2016/2017 as follows:
• Charter of the general education curriculum for pre-university.
• The curriculum document for people with special needs.
• Curriculum developed renewable based on information and communication
technology to all levels of education.
• A system for evaluating banks of questions for all classes
• Books and interactive learning resources for all classrooms.
Fourth: support the use of technology in schools
Occupies information and communication technology hub in the education reform
programs in many countries of the world, where it is seen as a way to transition to
the knowledge economy and learning society, therefore, the Ministry of Education
to support the vision for the future use of technology in schools are:
setting target for the next phase is the "expansion of the structure, applications and
maximizing the use of information and communication technologies in the
educational practices and management of various levels of the system of education
to ensure the rehabilitation of students for the knowledge economy with the
efficient and effective management of the system within the framework of the
numeric values, and e-government services”.
- Develop strategic objectives as follows:
• Completion of the technological infrastructure necessary to strengthen the
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efficiency and effectiveness of the management and governance of the education
system and decision support starting from the school level to the central
administration.
• Provide information and communication technology for teachers and develop
their abilities to take advantage of them to obtain educational resources, and the
planning and delivery of lessons, calendar and classroom management, and
effectively communicate with their students and their parents outside the
boundaries of the classroom.
• Provide information technology communication that earn the student skills to
deal with them and use them in learning and self-evaluation and communication of
knowledge.
- Setting operational objectives by the end of 2016/2017 as follows:
(A) The policy of access and equal opportunities:
• building an information system for inventory management and components
information and communication technology in various facilities of the Ministry of
Education, equipment and hardware and software applications, networks and Web
sites, and trained staff to connect to the Internet and used for information and
communication technology.
• Design models of integrated information and communication technologies suit
different infrastructure and availability of communication services and levels of
experience and training in various levels of education.
• Provide the possibility of information and communication technology to suit the
size and the level of the school all the Schools of Education, taking into account
the unequal levels of availability.
• Provide software and applications necessary administrative and educational for
all participants in the educational system
References
1 - National Center for Educational Research in collaboration with the Office of
Aleonckowalakulaimy in Cairo (2007). Education for All - Half -term evaluation
of 2000-2007, Cairo.
2 - The National Authority to ensure the quality of education and accreditation
(2009) . Document -level standard for teacher pre-university education, Cairo,
Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
3 - Center for Information and Decision Support - Council of Ministers (2013).
The reality of education in Egypt - Facts and opinions, Number 68, March
4 - The Ministry of Education (2013): General Department of Information and
Computer, Statistical Yearbook for the academic year 2012/2013, Cairo.
5 - The Ministry of Education (2000-2006): Educational Projects, site of the
Ministry of Education, is available at: www.moe.gov.eg
6 - The Ministry of Education (2007) : National Strategic Plan for Pre-University
Education Reform in Egypt - about a quantum leap for education 2007/2008-
2011/2012 , Cairo .
7 - The Ministry of Education (2014): National Strategic Plan for the reform of
pre-university education - from 2014 to 2030, the draft, Cairo.
8 - The Ministry of Education (2014): Ministerial Decree No. (382) Dated
02.10.2012.
9 - The Ministry of Education (2011): Gaza books, teacher's guide in the
comprehensive evaluation of the basic education stage Bhlguetah elementary,
middle, Cairo.
10 - The Ministry of Education in collaboration with UNESCO regional Beirut,
Cairo, and the National Center for Educational Research and Development (2003):
National Plan for Education for All 2002/2003-2015/2016, Cairo
11 - UNESCO (2005). Global Monitoring Report on Education for All - Education
for All, the need to ensure quality, France.
12-International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)
(2008). TIMSS 2007 International Mathematics Report: Findings from IEA’s
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study at the Fourth and Eighth
Grades, Boston, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center.
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12- Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (2008). The
Egyptian Education Initiative-Keys to Success, Egypt.
13- Dutta, Soumitra and Lanvin, Bruno (ED’s) (2013). The Global Innovation
Index 2013 -The Local Dynamics of Innovation, The World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO).
14- World Economic Forum (2007). Global Education Initiative, Geneva,
January.
15- World Economic Forum Sharing Economy Dialogue (2013). Young Global
Leaders Sharing Economy Dialogue Position Paper, Circular Economy Innovation
& New Business Models Dialogue, World Economic Forum Geneva.
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Final Word
Projections beyond 2015
201
Final Word: Projections beyond 2015
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prominent role for Education Sector Policy in Egypt to establish
partnerships between government and private sector, and civil
society participation has become noticeable in the development
and construction of national plans for education, although the
areas of community involvement is still limited.
• Egypt has taken a strong attitude towards decentralization in
the field of fiscal, political and administrative policies in the
education sector, so that the authorities granted educational
schools greater opportunities to respond to the needs of their
own local communities. Although the experience was still
limited to a few provinces, most notably the province of
Alexandria, but the experiment and its impact has not been
evaluated yet to see the impact on the improvement of the
educational process.
• Although there is legislation prohibiting child labor in Egypt,
but there are still children working, which impose the
introduction of alternative programs and innovative ways to
meet educational needs of working children. In this area, there
can be a benefit to learn from the experience of Brazil, which is
one of the model experiments where varied programs offered to
include the family, the child, their employers, their respective
roles and needs, resulting in a lower likelihood of the return of
children to work and the growing possibility of continuing
education.
• One of the most prominent structural problems facing Egypt is
that the high rates of unemployment among young people, as it
shows the weakness of integration in the labor market, and a
weak linkage between the outputs of the education system and
the requirements of the labor market, which has produced such
huge numbers of young people who lack the foundation skills or
who have completed education and do not have jobs.
• An increase in the budget allocated to the pre-university
education, especially basic education significantly.
• Egyptian constitution guarantees free education, but the pupils
and students enrolled in public schools bear some expenses,
even if symbolic, but it is a burden on poor families, and that
weakens the chances of their children's education that may not
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continue because of a decline in school enrollment rates in the
following stages.
• Taking into account not to merely focus on universal primary
education only as a target, but policies should focus on the
operational plans and other goals, such as enrollment rates,
literacy, quality, capacity development, and finance, among
others.
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• The allocation of more international aid for early childhood
programs, literacy and capacity development.
• Ensuring that the best teachers are chosen, with the need to
employ teachers at the local level so that they have similar
backgrounds to students.
• Providing incentives needed to ensure a better turnout of
teachers to work in remote areas and disadvantaged groups.
• Developing the contents of the curriculum, and improve the
relevance and quality, teaching methods, with a focus on the
needs of learners.
• Capacity building in the field of educational leadership and
management, research and information systems.
• Supporting partnerships with non-governmental organizations,
civil society, and development partners at the community level
and at the national, regional and international levels.
• Enhancing the effectiveness of management and follow-up.
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