CAIRO - “Want to be the next Egyptian president? You must care for others.” This is a message from Egypt's children to the next president. A few days ago, Edrak for Edutainment Projects Development Co. announced at a press conference in Cairo the results of its first children's opinion poll in Egypt, entitled ‘How to Make a Better Egypt'. The survey, of 1,105 children aged six to 14 from 42 different State, private and international schools across Cairo and Alexandria, reflects a great political and social awareness on the part of children. When asked “What do you think the new president, that the people will choose, should be like?,” 61 per cent of children who participated in the survey answered, “We want him to help poor people and solve their problems.” "When we thought about doing this survey, we never imagined how aware are these children would be. Not only are they catching up with what's going on in the outside world, but they're even trying to interact with society," says Tareq Zidan, the Chief Executive Officer of Edrak. The survey gave children the chance to express themselves and their feelings, in the light of the information they've been bombarded with over the past few months, since the revolution started. "We also focused on education, with 35 per cent of the total answers showing that children have a deeper understanding of economic and social issues than political ones. “Only 14 per cent voted for consolidating political and foreign ties. This means that the new president must make internal reform a priority," adds Zidan. Remarkably, when asked to name the next president, they said his platform was the most important thing, whether he was a high-profile figure or not. “I don't know yet, I have to look at their programmes first,” said a child of 13; “I vote for a programme not a person,” according to a second child, aged 14; and “I will choose him if his programme is good,” stressed a third, aged nine. “Rubbish, illiteracy and traffic jams” was the answer when the children were asked about the problems that really annoy them. When asked “What is it you don't like about Egypt?,” 38 per cent said “Rubbish in the streets,” while 30 per cent answered, “A lot of people cannot read and write.” Their answers show that they are environmentally aware and care a lot about others.The survey was designed by Edrak to reveal children's thoughts about the current events in Egypt, as well as gaining an insight into children's dreams and hopes for the future of the country, as about 34 per cent of Egyptians are under the age of 14. “Edrak is an Arabic word rich in its contexts and meanings. It refers to ‘reaching out', ‘catching up', ‘realisation' and ‘intellectual skills', among other things. “We chose ‘Edrak' as the name for the company, because it expresses our desire to reach out to the community, in order to create positive change through innovative and life-changing development projects,” explains Zidan. When asked “How can we make Egypt better after the revolution?,” the children were very focused, as 52 per cent of them answered: “Study and work hard to help my country when I'm older.” The last question in the survey was “Do you want to help make Egypt better?” The result was very promising, as 97 per cent answered yes.
