وزير التعليم: الصحافة والإعلام شريكان في دعم تطوير التعليم

The National Press Authority, headed by Engineer Abdel Sadiq Al-Shorbaji, organized an expanded symposium, in the presence of Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education and Technical Education, within the framework of enhancing joint cooperation between the two sides during the coming period, coordinating on a number of priority files, and discussing the latest developments in the ongoing development of the educational system. A review of the Ministry’s efforts to advance the educational process and mechanisms for confronting challenges in light of the state’s plan to improve the quality of education and link its outputs to the labor market.

The symposium was moderated by Dr. Ahmed Mukhtar, Undersecretary of the Authority, in the presence of Counselor Adel Brik, Legal Advisor to the Authority, Walid Abdel Aziz, Sameh Abdullah, Osama Abu Pasha, Al-Shaima Abdel-Ilah, members of the Authority, Marwa El-Sisi, Secretary-General of the Authority, Medhat Lashin, Legal Advisor to the President of the National Press Authority, and a number of council heads. Departments of national press institutions and editors-in-chief of publications.

Also present from the Ministry of Education and Technical Education were Dr. Ahmed Al-Mohammadi, Assistant Minister for Strategic Planning and Follow-up, and Shadi Zalta, Media Advisor and Official Spokesman.

Part of the symposium

At the beginning of the symposium, Engineer Abdel-Sadiq El-Shorbagy welcomed the Minister of Education, saying: “First, we congratulate you on the confidence of the political leadership and your assumption of one of the most important and largest ministerial portfolios because it touches every Egyptian home, wishing you good luck and success.”

Al-Shorbagy praised the great and rapid efforts in following up and developing the pre-university education sector, and the successful measures taken by the Ministry to confront and reduce student density in classrooms and fill the teacher shortage, as well as the state of severe discipline that the Ministry is keen for the educational system to witness, and the Minister’s extensive and successive field tours to follow up on the readiness of schools. And classrooms.

The head of the authority stressed that education is a very important goal and message, and one of the most important issues that the Egyptian state deals with, adding: “Egypt’s national press is always supportive of the nation’s issues and priorities, and one of the most important tools of soft power and its main goal is to enlighten and educate the citizen, confront rumors and lies, and shed light on the most important issues.” And the files that concern the Egyptian citizen, and education is at the forefront.”

Al-Shorbagy directed his speech to the Minister, saying: “There are many large files awaiting you, may God help you with them, and we know how many huge challenges you face, and we are always ready to enhance and support cooperation with you within the framework of the national role of national press institutions to clarify the facts through the efforts made by the Ministry on the ground and support the state’s plans to develop The educational system and ensuring a good future for our students.”

During the symposium, an extensive discussion took place between the attendees and the Minister of Education, about the development of the educational system, the system of weekly assessments and examinations, curriculum development, educational centers, international, private and technological schools, the education budget and its adequacy for the ministry’s plans, the qualification of teachers, the technical education file, and the development of loyalty and belonging to the homeland in the country. Students, in addition to artificial intelligence and digital transformation.

For his part, Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education, expressed his happiness at being in the National Press Authority among a distinguished group of senior writers and journalists, thanking Engineer Abdel Sadiq Al-Shorbaji, Chairman of the Authority, for the kind invitation, appreciating the pivotal and important role of press and media institutions in Strengthening the building of state institutions, and enhancing community awareness of the efforts undertaken by the Ministry to develop the educational system, by addressing issues objectively in the media, making available and disseminating facts, clarifying visions, and refuting rumours, adding that the press and media are a major partner in supporting the development of education in Egypt.

Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education

Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif confirmed that Egypt has the largest pre-university education system in the Middle East and North Africa region, and explained that in the 2023/2024 academic year, 25 million and 494 thousand and 232 male and female students enrolled in public and private schools in Egypt, while the number of teachers reached 843,490 teachers, With a deficit rate of 665 thousand teachers, the number of classrooms reached 550 thousand classrooms and the number of school buildings 29,698 buildings.

The Minister reviewed the challenges facing the educational process, and the executive procedures and mechanisms taken by the Ministry to confront these challenges, stressing that success in facing the challenges is due to an integrated work team of all workers in the educational system, especially teachers, who are considered among the best and most efficient teachers in the world, describing them as “a true treasure.” To improve the system,” praising their great skills and ability to move Egypt’s future to the highest global level.

The Minister pointed out that these decisions and mechanisms that were implemented during the previous period were the result of many field visits in the governorates and meetings with directors of educational departments, school principals and teachers, in addition to the experts’ review of these solutions as well as the approval of the parties of the educational system, explaining that the solutions and mechanisms are compatible with the nature of each administration. Educational.

Regarding treating the problem of high student densities in classrooms, the Minister reviewed the Ministry’s vision and the solutions it provided by reaching the class density to the ratio that allows for an attractive and stimulating educational environment for students within the classroom, including restricting and exploiting the spaces in schools, mobile classrooms, and working in a double-shift system in some schools, adding that: Sustainable solutions have been developed by creating 10,000 to 15,000 classrooms annually.

The Minister stressed that the application of these mechanisms was flexible according to the nature and needs of each educational department, in a way that did not harm the educational process.

The Minister of Education explained that student densities have been reduced to rates of less than 50 students per class, with a success rate of more than 99%, in addition to the creation of 98,744 classrooms.

With regard to filling the deficit in the number of teachers and improving their conditions, the Minister stressed that the teacher is the most important element in the educational process, and contributes to building the future of the nation and its progress and preparing generations to lead the future. Therefore, the Ministry paid great attention to facing the challenge of filling the deficit in the number of teachers, which reached 469,860 teachers. After adding new classes, which amounted to 98 thousand classrooms, the deficit in the number of teachers became more than 665 thousand teachers.

In this context, the Minister reviewed the urgent executive measures that were taken to solve the problem of the shortage in the number of teachers, which are completing the presidential initiative for a competition to appoint 30,000 teachers annually, providing the opportunity for classroom teachers to teach basic subjects, and codifying the status of education specialists (teaching specialists) who hold higher educational qualifications. Providing the necessary funds to employ 50,000 teachers for the quota in basic subjects and increasing the quota fee to 50 pounds, in addition to hiring graduates assigned to perform public service to work in schools, as well as reappointing education workers who hold a high educational qualification while in service.

The Minister added that the duration of the time map for the academic year has been increased without prejudice to the cognitive content of the curricula, as the actual time period for teaching has been increased from 23 weeks to 31 weeks during the academic year, in addition to increasing the time duration of the class by 5 minutes, which will increase the ability to Teaching represents 33% of the teaching force, pointing out that the Ministry has succeeded in filling the deficit in the number of teachers by 90%.

Regarding the measures that have been taken to improve the job conditions of teachers, the Minister indicated that an amount of 50 pounds is disbursed for one class over the quorum, and the teacher receives 80% of the subscription fees for school strengthening and support groups, in addition to activating the services of the Social Welfare Fund for Teachers, pointing to The Ministry is working to provide all means of support to teachers.

Regarding the Ministry’s measures to ensure the discipline and regularity of the educational process and to attract students to school, the year’s work system was implemented and controls were put in place, which contributed to the discipline of student attendance by more than 85%, and work is underway to complete the remaining percentage during the coming period.

The minister added that student activities in schools were also developed through coordination with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, including launching the Egypt Schools League, and developing the methodology and work mechanisms of the Egyptian School Sports Federation.

As for restructuring the secondary stage, the Minister explained that the Ministry’s general vision in structuring secondary education is to restructure the secondary stage in accordance with international standards. To provide the teacher with the opportunity to provide a good educational process in the classroom, with a number of credit hours for the basic subjects, and to have the opportunity and time to teach the content, as well as develop students’ skills, and complete the curriculum in the allotted time; In order to prepare a generation capable of competing with other countries, he pointed out the need for education to keep pace with the labor market that is witnessing rapid changes.

The Minister continued that secondary education has been restructured, as in the previous situation students studied 32 courses in three years, but in the current situation, only 6 courses are studied within the total in each of the first and second years of secondary school, and study in the third year of secondary school (the general secondary certificate). 5 subjects within the total, and increasing the teaching period for each subject to reach international rates.

In the same context, Minister Muhammad Abdel Latif confirmed that the urgent executive measures were carried out through preparing a comparative study of the study systems in the secondary stage in various countries of the world, and that study showed that the number of subjects studied in the secondary stage in the 20 most important countries in education in the world ranges from Between (6 and 8) academic subjects per year as a maximum, and that the IGCSE system in which the student studies a number ranging between 8 to 10 academic subjects during 3 years, and in the International Baccalaureate (IB) system in which the student studies 6 subjects during two academic years.

The Minister explained that the reformulation and distribution of cognitive content aims, in its new system, to emphasize national identity by rooting the study of Egyptian history, and including national topics in the curricula, in addition to emphasizing providing students with the skills necessary for the labor market, with emphasis and focus on studying one basic foreign language and increasing The number of classes scheduled for her to work on mastering them, and above all, restoring the educational role of the school.

The minister added that the ministry is currently working on developing religious education curricula in coordination with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and the Egyptian Church, which include common religious values ​​and principles, at the various educational levels, with the aim of teaching religion in an ethical sense with the aim of consolidating those values ​​in society.

The Minister also indicated that the establishment and development of Egyptian-Japanese schools, which number 55 schools in 26 governorates, has expanded, with 4 schools entering service this year, and the total number of students in the current academic year reached 16,018 thousand students, both male and female.

The Minister reviewed the Ministry’s efforts with regard to developing technical education, as he explained that enrollment in applied technology schools was opened this year for 11 new schools with different specializations, and 100 program frameworks for the specializations of these schools were approved, and 20 other specialized frameworks for the new specializations are being prepared.

The Minister confirmed that programs are being prepared that will be implemented during the coming period with the aim of strengthening the spirit of loyalty, belonging and patriotism among students. This will be done through reformulating curricula and training teachers on activities.

The minister pointed out that artificial intelligence and programming will become a basic subject taught by first-year secondary school students starting next academic year so that they will have skills in programming principles when they graduate from Egyptian schools.

He explained that everything that is implemented in the ministry is prepared and studied well in the research centers affiliated with the ministry before any related ministerial decisions are issued.

The Minister pointed out that the solutions and mechanisms that were implemented at the beginning of the academic year contributed to controlling the educational process and providing real education to students inside the classroom, excluding them from any external sources, noting that work is underway to create an integrated educational platform that includes distinct educational content and uses artificial intelligence.

At the conclusion of the symposium, Engineer Abdel Sadiq El-Shorbagy presented the National Press Authority shield to the Minister of Education and Technical Education in honor of his efforts.