"Hello. How are you?" The boy says, daringly.
Should you, an obvious westerner on the streets of Cairo, respond to the greeting offered you by a brave ten-year old Egyptian, he and his buddies will crumple with nervous laughter and then he'll blurt "What's your name?"
Unfortunately, this is about as far as his worldliness will take him.
A member of a global generation by birthright, his education barely prepares him for life in 1950's Egypt. Today, the country has an illiteracy rate of from 27.3% to over 40% depending on the data source. It schools are characterized by:
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- A faulty and dated knowledge base
- A lack of critical thinking
- Dulled curiosity
- Fatalistic imaginations
- Not to mention, bureaucrats educated by the above system who are now expected to transform it.
When Nasser came to power in 1952, he imagined an independent country led and managed by educated Egyptians. He promised universal education and jobs in the civil service for college graduates. Unfortunately, a rapidly growing population, defunct economy, suppurating war in Yemen, and leaden bureaucracy. among other problems, quickly frustrated his dream.
Subsequent leaders, inheriting poverty and inexperience, while adding some serious flaws of their own, have left education in the doldrums.
At first glance, it seems the government has begun to rally. The president, prime minister, parliamentarians, business men, educators, and outside consultants crow about education’s being a top national priority.
Good plans
And Egypt has produced a National Plan for Education 2002-16, an Egyptian Education Initiative (EEI)(2006-2009) and the cameo Smart Schools Program. Donor projects have issued “elegant designs” and pilot projects to test them. The American University of Cairo launched a sophisticated teacher re-education program. Committees of professors, administrators and community people are rewriting college accreditation criteria to match international standards. Up-to-date teaching modules are online.
Common goals
- Active learning must replace passive
- Knowledge base must be tied to the current needs of the country – especially its economic and political development
- Computers and internet technology must be an integral tool of change
Money and talent available
The Agency for International Development (USAID), Arab Gulf Fund (AGFUND), Department for International Development (DFID), British Council, European Union (EU), Ford Foundation (FF), World Bank (IBRD), World Economic Forum, UNESCO, other funding agencies (ADB, JICA, GTZ, etc. …), individuals and certain foreign countries have already contributed to the effort or will be doing so. A Who’s Who of public-private partners promise hardware, software and training including CA, Cisco, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Oracle, and Microsoft are on the list.
Still, tragically, very little of what has been designed and/or tested has changed the daily experience of teachers or students. The vast majority of teachers, administrators and bureaucrats still believe that the best teacher is one who transmits information, makes the child obey and deliveries good grades – deserved or not - back home.
Children still sit in classrooms with 80 students; use garbled texts, and suffer from capital punishment. Only 20% are still in school at age 15.
Lots of reasons. Failure of government leadership, dreadfully paid teachers, corruption, and other priorities, to name a few. But the question for Egypt today is not whether education will change, but how long will the old guard be able to prevent it. The country has already placed its long term bets of privatization and more vigorous participation in the global economy; it is currently a growth center for IT. And donor programs have shown many that Nasser’s long ago vision of an educated Egypt can yet be fulfilled.
Wael Fathy Amer, an educational specialist now at AUC, believes there are “islands” of educators, parents and citizens around Egypt who are more than eager to see reform in education. If you’re one of these, join Wael in an online conversation about what can be done to move the education agenda.
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