The “Education Development in Egypt” workshop closes
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Alexandria, 4 August 2005—Thursday, 4 August 2005 witnessed the closing session of the “Education Development in Egypt” post-conference workshop, organized by the Arab Reform Forum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), 3-4 August 2005.
Upon the presentation of the final reports by the different committee chairs, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, gave examples of countries that put forth plans for educational development and how changes were brought about and development was achieved.
The panel discussing the “Abolishment of Illiteracy among Adults” first presented its report showing the importance of solidarity within the community and came up with a plan for students to teach a minimum of one illiterate adult each year.
As for the “Pre-University Education” panel, it surfaced a plan aiming to develop the syllabuses and train the instructors on how to teach the new courses. Also it came up with a proposal to encourage businessmen to financially support these projects.
The “University and Post-graduate Education” panel report followed, where it called for independence of institutions and academic freedom of higher education institutions, and higher education quality assurance. The Library of Alexandria was also called upon to play an active role in follow-up on recommendations.
Within the “Identity of Education in Egypt” panel, the report viewed the importance of reinforcement between the different types of education such as public and private education, giving weight to the Arabic language, heritage and history in addition to the foreign languages and information technology skills. The following panel, the “Pre-University Education” panel, discussed the importance of working with children and dealing with the environment where children grow up.
The “Role of Libraries in Education and Scientific Research Development” panel stressed the significance of libraries and their development and the sharing of publications and documents. It also called for the establishment of a national libraries association for libraries in Egypt.