CAIRO: The Ministry of State for Administrative Development (MSAD) found itself at the heart of two major controversies this year: the new teachers' law and the restructuring of government bodies. More recently, however, MSAD Minister Ahmed Darwish has been more concerned with devising plans to promote good governance and eradicate illiteracy.The Good Governance for Development (GFD) project currently tops the ministry's agenda. Under GFD, countries work together to develop the public sector and NGOs.Today, the MSAD is organizing a conference to evaluate the results of the project so far. The project's objective is to promote knowledge sharing among participating countries, which include Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Morocco along with France, South Korea and Turkey. On the extensive Arab participation, Darwish told Daily News Egypt that the GFD project is not working under "the old formula of Arab union. "It is a new formula of Arab dialogue and communications. We are not talking about normal projects; we are talking about exchanging experiences in governance, legal issues, role of public sectors and NGOs, he said. According to Darwish, every country is free to execute the project in a way that is in line with its respective culture and agenda. The point of the cooperation is to create a platform for the countries to share their ideologies, plans and opinions.Inaugurated in 2005, the GFD is supported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Development Program in the Arab region.GFD has helped Egypt in setting up a regional tax and financial management in Cairo as well as supported Morocco in establishing a regional center for public policy evaluation. Throughout his few years in the ministry, the name of 48-year-old Darwish has been synonymous with two of the most controversial draft laws. He says these controversies were a result of media misinterpretation. When the ministry drafted the new teachers' law - or, as Darwish prefers to call it, the education law - the media misinterpreted the parts about reprimanding teachers who offer private tutoring, he says. In an effort to avoid conflict of interest, Darwish said that the new law only made it illegal for public school teachers to give private lessons. "We were not making private tutoring an illegal act, this is not true. If you read the original draft submitted by the government, it does not say that, he said. Only teachers working in private establishments are allowed to offer private tutoring. "What we wanted was a fair competition between public schools and private teaching. If we allow public teachers to give private lessons then there will be a conflict of interest, and they will not be as motivated to put all their efforts in the classroom, Darwish explained.Parliament did not approve the ministry's 'private tutoring' amendments. "Democracy is what we live by and we accepted Parliament s decision, Darwish said.The ministry's contribution to what is normally viewed as the work of other government bodies has also come under attack. This was also part of the reasons why the media attacked the MSAD's contribution to the teachers' law. Media commentators said that the Ministry of Education should have penned the law and not the MSAD."The Ministry of State for Administrative Development is actually the advisor and the consultant for all ministries and government organizations. Sometimes I am the legal consultant and sometimes I am the technical consultant, Darwish said."My clients are actually other ministries, governmental organizations and governorates, Darwish added.In the case of the new education law, "The Ministry of Education is the process owner, they were more into the technical aspects of things and we were more into the legal aspects of things, Darwish added.Darwish was also criticized for suggesting that the careers of government employees be subject to regular evaluations. Following the objection of different political parties, the labor union and state council, the ministry revised the draft law and the new one will be submitted to Parliament for discussion this year. Aside from controversy, Darwish - an electronics and communication engineer who, after a number of consulting jobs, moved into the public sector - orchestrated MSAD's "citizen relation management system to receive complaints and requests about ministries and governmental institutions. MSAD would go through citizens' complaints, whether filed by email, fax, phone or postal letters, follow up on them and provide answers when needed. Around 11 ministries and government institutions are part of this initiative, including the Prime Minister's office, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Solidarity. A hotline, 19468 (or 19gov), further facilitates the services. Darwish, whose first encounter with the Egyptian public sector was as the e-Government Program Director at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, is also working on database to keep track of school dropouts. "This is the long term strategy for fighting illiteracy, said Darwish who also added that so far Egypt does not have any statistics for the number of children who drop out of school. The ministry is also working on human resources, trying to coordinate between the available education and training and the needs of the job market. With a population of 75 million, Darwish says that in the near future there will be plenty of job vacancies but the masses of unemployed would not be qualified enough to fill them. The ministry, Darwish explained, has a short-term and a long-term plan to solve this problem."Training is the short-term plan to which the government has set a budge of LE 500 million, he added.He also noted a change in government training policies. Instead of offering training to any graduate who requests it, now the government only trains people for specific jobs after contacting employers to ensure that the trainees have places in these companies.The long-term plan, on the other hand, entails evaluating the educational product, he added."We must make sure that disciplines and specializations are matched with the market needs and to have our graduates armed with the skills that are needed for today s job market, which includes computer skills or working specific machinery. Darwish said he believes in providing citizens with free education. He does not think that revising the current system of subsidized education, as some commentators call for, is the solution to the country's employment problems. About Darwish Ahmed Darwish holds B.Sc. in Electronics and Communication Engineering, M.Sc. in Computer Engineering from Cairo University and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California.Darwish worked as a lecturer and post-doctoral researcher with the Department of Electrical and Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California.In 1989, Darwish joined Cairo University as an assistant professor, then as an associate professor then a professor in the Computer Engineering department from 1994 to 1999. Darwish worked as a researcher on many projects with the Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group. As a consultant, Darwish worked with a number of international organizations like Unesco, European Union and World Bank along with some government organizations and companies in both the United States and Egypt. Darwish received the Egyptian National Engineering Award for the year 1999. Darwish is also a member of scientific and professional societies and was on the editorial board and a reviewer for a number of publications. After a career in consulting and research fields, Darwish developed an enthusiasm for public service. He first worked in public services with some international organizations and ended with a union with Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to work as the e-Government Program Director at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. In July 2004, he was appointed the Minister of State for Administrative Development.
