CAIRO - Egyptian schoolchildren will soon get rid of their heavy bags, as they will no longer need to carry their textbooks, exercise books, pens and pencils. All this will be replaced by a tablet. The pupils will be able to receive their homework and do it on their tablets. They will not need to go to school to sit their exams, as they will be able to do them on their tablets and then send them to their teachers. The teachers will correct the exams and send them back to their pupils, using a software programme, and then send the results to the parents' smartphones. All this is not fiction; indeed, it is already happening in some Egyptian schools. Next year, this system will be implemented at every school in Egypt, starting at the preparatory stage, according to the Ministry of Education. Such a vision has sparked a lot of questions. People are wondering about the cost of these tablets and whether they will be for free. Will all schools be able to apply this educational vision, which demands a particular technological structure? Will teachers be trained to use this technology or not? This experiment was applied at some Egyptian schools in the second semester this year, via three ‘Tawasol' projects. The first project was implemented in some language schools, the second project was implemented in some experimental schools with an Indian grant and the third one was in 20 governmental schools, under the supervision of the Ministry of Scientific Research. "The Ministry will evaluate this experiment by the end of this year. It will study the costs and also the possibility of training teachers so the experiment can be launched at every stage," Adli Kazzaz, the Minister of Education's adviser for technological development, told a local magazine. Mohamed el-Serougi, the Ministry's Media spokesman, confirmed that the aim of this experiment is not to cut down on the expense of printing books, but rather to keep up with global development and technology. The Ministry is going to spend about LE1 billion on technological development, while international and NGO grants will also help. "The Ministry has signed a co-operation protocol with the ministries of communication and military production to manufacture these tablets; the pupils will have to pay 30 per cent of the cost," el-Serougi added. According to el-Serougi, the Ministry will free up LE700 million of this money by ceasing to buy computers for schools, because they get stolen, while the tablets will not be stolen as they will belong to the children themselves. Abdel-Hafez Tayel, the manager of The Right to Education Centre, says that, if we are going to substitute books for tablets, the Egyptian family should not bear the cost; the Ministry of Education used to pay for the books, so now it must do the same with the tablets. Secondly, Tayel argues, the Ministry of Education must connect these tablets with the Internet for free, so that schoolchildren can search for information, in order to increase their knowledge. The teachers too need to increase their knowledge, if our education system is to improve. "It is a very good idea, but the question is whether this experiment will be implemented in every school or just the best ones. "If poor pupils cannot afford the tablets, will they be deprived of this technology?" asks Hussein Mohamed, a middle-class 48-year-old employee with three children.
