Reforming Egypt’s education system

 

 

 

Reforming Egypt’s education system

 

 

With substantial improvements in access to primary education, Egypt now faces the challenge of providing equality of quality in the educational system and gearing it to the needs of the global marketplace. 

 

USAID has focused its education efforts on improving student learning outcomes by strengthening the quality, coverage, and management of K-12 schools in 7 governorates as well as working for policy reform on a national level.  This strategy of school-based reform is achieved through teacher training, the introduction of education technology, school libraries, school construction, support for Early Childhood Development, girls scholarships, and adult literacy.  USAID is strengthening school management and governance through the establishment of Boards of Trustees (BOTs), the training of school administrators, the decentralization of administration and finances, and the development of a sustainable management information system for decision-making.

 

EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN EGYPT

 

Alam Simsim

USAID is allocating $8 million to producing Alam Simsim, Egypt’s Sesame Street.  Ninety-four percent of Egyptians watching television at least once a week¹ Alam Simsim, Egypt’s “Sesame Street,” is reaching more than 80% of Egyptian schoolchildren.  This TV show introduces millions of Egyptian children to reading, writing, math, and problem solving skills in order to better prepare them for primary school.  It promotes tolerance, portrays positive role models for boys and girls, and encourages girls to attend and be active participants in school.  Recent episodes have also promoted hand-washing to prevent Bird Flu and safe traffic behavior.

 

Education Reform Program

The Education Reform Program is the cornerstone of USAID’s education strategy and builds on the success of the Alexandria Reform Pilot, an activity that successfully piloted interventions to decentralized education, increase community participation through Boards of Trustees, and improve teacher training in active learning methodologies in parts of Alexandria governorate.

 

Through the Education Reform Program, USAID works closely with the Ministry of Education to plan and implement institutional reform and systematic improvements in the educational system.  In addition to institutional and systematic reform, the reform program is working to construct schoolhouses, train teachers and administrators, development education and teaching standards, and encourage community participation.  The education program focuses on 7 target governorates: Alexandria, Aswan, Beni Suef, Cairo, Minya, Fayoum, and Qena.

 

The Education Reform Program aims to improve quality, coverage, and management of education in Egypt.

 

Quality

 

• Professional Development – this includes training for teachers, administrators, supervisors, and social workers in national standards and implementing best reform practices.  A national working group has been formed to maintain and improve these professional development efforts.

• Standards Development – developing educational standards allows for self-assessment, evaluation, and improvement both at a local and a national level. USAID has worked with the Ministry of Education to develop supervisor standards and pre-service performance standards and indicators.

• School-to-Work – this program ensures that high school students receive the relevant skills and work habits that will help them transition smoothly into the workforce.  Currently, 1200 students are receiving training as part of technical school curriculums.

• Community Youth Mapping – training youth to collect and analyze data in their communities on specific community needs.  More than 440 youth have been trained.

  

Coverage

 

• School Construction – reducing crowded classrooms by constructing 17 schools (330 classrooms) and 65 multi-grade classrooms.

 

• Scholarships – forming Community Education Committees to manage and maintain scholarship programs.  120,000 girls’ scholarships are available and 28,112 girls’ scholarships have already been awarded.

 

• Literacy – raising literacy rates among women increases the likelihood that their children will complete their education.  Literacy classes cover reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.  There are 241 USAID-sponsored literacy classes  running with about 4,776 learners.

 

• Life-Skills – this training teaches adolescents good health practices including reproductive health, and responsibilities as wives, husbands, parents, and community members.  34,400 young adults are enrolled in life-skills classes.

 

Management

 

• Egypt Household Education Survey – this survey is assessing community opinions on education reform programs.

 

• Critical thinking Achievement and Problem Solving tests – a standardized test measuring students’ achievement levels across the country in grades 4, 8, and 10.  USAID is helping to administer 97,200 tests.

 

• Information Management Education Systems – this activity provides support to local educators to improve data collection and analysis for use in school decision making.  Improvements in data collection and analysis allows at a local level promotes decentralization.

 

• Board of Trustees – Boards of Trustees serve to encourage community and parent involvement in educational decision making.  More than 300 Boards have been formed and are helping to decentralize the education system.

 

• Standards-based Classroom Observation Protocol for Egypt – this evaluation system is designed to measure teacher effectiveness and to ensure that new education standards are being met.

 

New School Program

The percentage of literate men in Egypt remains much higher than that of women (68.3% and 46.9% respectively).  The New School Program’s main focus areas are advocacy work, community mobilization, and new school facilities and infrastructure for 5-18 year old girls.

 

Through this program USAID has expanded access to education for 5-18 year old girls by building 70 new girls schools, enrolling a total of 34,323 female students.  Extensive teacher training in active-learning techniques, student-centered learning, and multi-media use in classrooms is also taking place.  In collaboration with Vodafone, the New School Program has also recently constructed Information Communication Technology centers which provide computer-based learning to students, teachers, and community members.    

 

National Book Program for Schools

Books range from non-fiction, to reference materials, to novels. Libraries are 80% Arabic and 20% English language.

 

Through its School Library Enrichment Program and Supplementary Educational Materials Program, the book program aims to provide 11.3 million books and supplementary educational materials to all 39,000 government schools in Egypt.  In many cases, the National Book Program library is a school’s only library resource, in others, the Book Program’s library doubles the school’s prior book collection.  Working closely with the Ministry of Education and the Integrated Care Society, this program will provide training for librarians and teachers to ensure effective use of new books and materials.  In addition, the Book Program’s social marketing program focuses on changing attitudes, particularly of parents, towards literacy and reading.  Through its efforts, the National Book Program hopes to build up a generation eager to read not only for knowledge but also for pleasure.

 

Each collection includes 732 books, 80% Arabic and 20% English language.  There are 239 titles ranging from short fiction, to novels, to reference books.  Many of the books being delivered have Egyptian authors and subjects and all have Egyptian publishers – a drastic change from the primarily Western-based literature libraries contained before the Book Program.

  

 

Leadership in Education and Development (LEAD) Scholarship Program

 

This scholarship program awards 54 students each year with a full scholarship to the American University in Cairo (AUC).  Two students (one male, one female) are chosen from each of Egypt’s 27 governorates to be LEAD scholarship recipients.  Thus far, 106 LEAD students have entered AUC and 54 more will enter in the fall of 2006.  The first year of the program is entirely dedicated to English language learning after which students begin a regular AUC curriculum.  LEAD strives to incorporate leadership training and skills development into students’ academic experience through conferences, workshops, and study abroad. 

 

American University in Cairo New Campus Development

 

USAID is contributing 1/3 of the total cost of constructing (L.E. 600,000,000) the American University in Cairo’s New Campus.  The new campus will allow AUC to expand its programs and upgrade making it a world-class facility.

 

 

School Team Excellence Awards Program (STEAP)

The School Team Excellence Awards Program is establishing a standard of excellence and motivating educators to attain that standard in 16,000 schools.

 

Over the course of 2 years, this awards program will distribute 75,000 awards to educators and education teams.  In so doing, USAID hopes to not only motivate individual teachers to improve the quality of their teaching but also to encourage collaboration between schools.

 

In addition to award distribution, the progam is training social workers and school administrators in each governorate to conduct school improvement programs by creating school-based teams.  In training, team members learn to identify problems specific to their districts and to then tailor programs to address those particular problems.

 

Information Technology (IT) in Schools

 

From January 2002 through June 2006, information technology in schools brought computers, software, and computer training to 14 schools, affecting 39,000 students in Egypt.  The program also trained teachers to incorporate information technology in their lesson plans and created an online network that allows teachers to exchange lesson plan ideas and to access information on general IT use.

 

 

WORKS CITED:

 

¹El-Zanaty and Ann Way. 2006. Egypt Demographic and Health Survey 2005. Cairo, Egypt: Ministry of Health and Population, National Population Council, El-Zanaty and Associates, and ORC Marco.

This page was last updated on Tuesday, 11 July, 2006.