As the world moves into the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, it is increasingly clear that Egypt, like many other developing countries, must retool its educational and training system (ETS) to better fit the needs of the age. This is a continuous process, and no matter how successful past policies may have been, they are not necessarily the ones best suited to the needs of new and rapidly evolving challenges. Even powerhouses like South Korea and Singapore are constantly revising their education and training systems to reflect changing realities, to seize new opportunities and confront future challenges. A VISION: Egypt needs to develop cadres of highly trained individuals of talent to lead the institutional reforms necessary to be part of the new knowledge-based economy of the 21st century. Current performance of Egyptian education is abysmal and current trends are all in the wrong direction. A radical overhaul of all aspects of the ETS is needed if Egypt is to properly invest in human capital, promote social capital and produce a generation of trained and capable cadres to compete with the hard-driving labour forces that will dominate the global economy. Our Egyptian cadres will require excellence in training from basic education through university, and must have access to a variety of centres of excellence to carry out the necessary R&D (research and development) that will transform Egyptian industry and agriculture and will enable Egypt to be competitive in the new and fast growing fields of the new economy. To do this, a major and in-depth reform of the ETS is needed. The large education system that we have developed must continue to function with a primary focus on basic education and the schools socialising function, along with a new emphasis on the importance of science and technology (S&T). In parallel, a smaller stream of rigorously controlled experimental elite schools should be allowed to flourish in a different administrative milieu. These would help spearhead experimental programmes and where success would also help feed centres of excellence at the higher education level, and where appropriate R&D would be undertaken to transform the Egyptian economy. Over the longer haul, as the basic reforms of the ETS of Egypt take hold, the most successful of these experimental programmes would be mainstreamed, and the entire ETS would be retooled to a much more vigorous and institutionally diverse system that works much more closely with the private sector (employers) and where the focus is on real ability not paper certification. A key long-range reform will be to break the automatic perception of a certificate-employment link that exists to this day. This two-pronged solution is necessary to have a manageable proposition to build the kind of human resources that Egypt needs in the next two decades. Moving along a broad front is bound to fail as the inertia in the system is vast and the personal interest of key actors (eg teachers giving private lessons) should not be underestimated. However, the immediate focus on a narrower slice of the ETS to create excellence in the midst of mediocrity should not be seen as a substitute for the absolutely necessary longer-term overhaul of the entire system. It is largely a matter of phasing. This vision of an institutionally diverse ETS, with many types of institutions offering many different types of training, will allow for the constant change and adaptation of the offerings needed at a time when lifelong learning will be a necessity and not a slogan. The backbone of the whole system will still remain the structured, government-sponsored public ETS, all the way to the higher education level. Particular parts of that system will be allowed the institutional autonomy to become real centres of excellence comparable to the best in the world. They would not be subject to the quotas and seniority systems that have destroyed so much of the Egyptian higher education system.
IT CAN BE DONE: Difficult but essential, reform of the ETS and the creation of centres of excellence is absolutely necessary for the transformation of Egypt. It must be pursued vigorously, without deviation and with no compromises on the essential aspects of reform. There are ample examples of successes from many developing countries that point the way. India's elite institutes of technology and science are prime examples of how such institutions can flourish in a country that is populous and poor and where social pressure for education remains high. It can be done. Centres of excellence can co-exist with enormous enrolments in a politicised environment. The Mexican National University (UNAM) is such an example. The R&D efforts launched in national centres of excellence can be the real driving force for bringing government, industry and the university together. South Korea and Singapore are prime examples. It can be done in poor countries, and can gradually transform these poor countries through growth and development into rich industrial and technological giants. China is an example of that.
THE POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF REFORM: The political dimensions of reform will be reflected in at least six areas: Preserving free public education: The reform envisaged would continue the free and universal public education system, but would allow private (fee paying) schools to co-exist with a minimum of government intervention in their management. These schools would have to survive the market test of the satisfaction of the parents for fee-paying primary schools, and of the employability of their graduates for vocational schools and higher education institutions. De-linking certification from employment: The private sector is already focusing on ability not just certification. With the gradual decline of guaranteed public employment for graduates, the stage is set for the single most important reform: the de-linking of the certification function from employment. If there is concern in some professions (eg medicine), allow the profession itself to organise professional certification for market entry. This is routine in the US, where board certification for medicine, and bar exams for law come after formal graduation from medical or law school, even for graduates of the best universities. This gives power to professional associations that could become important allies in reform. Involving parents: No group is more directly interested in the education of children than their parents, and their direct involvement is a guarantor of better quality in schools (despite occasional problems with content). The promotion of parent-teacher associations (PTAs) as a key reform measure (see basic education below) will also help build up a political constituency for the reform programme. Involving the private sector: Especially in vocational training and in higher education, and in support of centres of excellence and the promotion of R&D, the private sector will ensure that the mediation between industry, government and business occurs at the cutting edge of the reform programme. Harnessing new information and communication technologies (ICTs): This would be an attractive item in presenting the reform package to the public, and would be absolutely essential for the longer-term benefit of national education and research. The suggestions I make below concerning the digital libraries of tomorrow are vital if we are to keep pace with the enormously increasing pace of S&T development worldwide, and if we are not to be left behind in the knowledge explosion we are witnessing. Creating a national climate for the culture of science: It is essential that rationality and the language of science become largely accepted as the vehicle for transformation and progress. Today, an inflammatory political and media discourse can obstruct a national effort at in-depth transformation of the education and training system, while we should be concerned with adopting those measures that work, rather than debating slogans. This has nothing to do with religion, as the example of Malaysia shows that an Islamic country can indeed promote science and the values of science as part of its Islamic identity.
CONCLUSIONS: Difficult, but essential, the reform of the education and training system must top the priority list of any serious long-term reform effort, for any country. The necessity of change cannot be denied, even by the most successful countries in the world, such as South Korea. The policies of the past, no matter how successful they were, are not necessarily the most suitable to address the challenges of the future. Driven by the unrelenting pace of an accelerating revolution in science and technology, the world is changing before our very eyes. Who could have predicted the impact of the Internet a mere 20 years ago? Who could have predicted the scale of Facebook five years ago? We cannot procrastinate. Education reform must start now. The challenges we are facing today, and those that we will be facing tomorrow, are challenges imposed by this rapidly changing world where the only constant is change and the only certainty is the acceleration of the rate of change.
The writer is director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
