CAIRO: Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamel and Minister of Education Youssry El-Gamal are working together on a plan to develop secondary schools around the country over the next two years. According to a press statement by the MCIT, this will entail introducing the necessary tools and facilities to make ICT available in the education system by 2011. This development will be on all levels: in the classrooms, administration, clinics and staff rooms. The process will include training for teachers and the administrative staff of the 1,730 secondary schools in Egypt. In addition, the syllabus will all be available electronically for students. The project will be carried out in collaboration with partners from the private sector. "Introducing ICT in the education system is vital in today's world, providing this to students at a young age underpins the need for students to have access to the right tools at their fingertips from an early age, said Salah Elewa, director of the Ministry of Education's technology development center. "Training teachers to incorporate these tools into their teaching methods will further improve the education system, he added. Efforts by the Ministries of Education and Communications to introduce ICT into the country's school system fall under the Egyptian Education Initiative (EEI). "[EEI] is a tremendous opportunity to provide Egypt's greatest asset, its people, with the skills necessary for the 21st century. Technology plays a vital role in today's world, First Lady Suzanne Mubarak said on the EEI's website. "We undertook this initiative with the ambition of transforming Egyptian society through education, using technology as the integral ingredient for success, she added. "Technology is the most powerful tool we can employ to rapidly improve education. Egypt's ailing education system is an issue of grave concern for parents and students alike who complain of overcrowded classrooms - sometimes reaching 80 students per class - and a lack of basic facilities such as desks, chairs and functioning toilets.
