Egypt’s Education Minister Discusses Collaborative Efforts with UNESCO Officials

جانب من اللقاء.

Mohamed Abdel Latif, Egypt’s Minister of Education and Technical Education, welcomed Robert Barwa, education program specialist at UNESCO, and Dr. Doaa Hazem, project manager at UNESCO, to discuss enhancing cooperation on several priority educational issues. The meeting also focused on the ongoing efforts to develop the educational system and ways to support Egypt’s educational experience on an international level.

Attending the meeting were Dr. Ayman Bahaa El-Din, Deputy Minister of Education and Technical Education, and Dr. Amira Awad, International Relations Coordinator at the Ministry.

During the meeting, Minister Abdel Latif emphasized that the ministry is continuing to implement a comprehensive vision for improving the educational system, which focuses on enhancing education quality and learning outcomes. He noted that recent positive results necessitate highlighting the true state of education in Egypt both regionally and internationally.

The minister pointed out that the ministry is keen on updating educational indicators and data in collaboration with national and international stakeholders to reflect developments within the education sector. He referenced a recent UNICEF study on educational reforms in Egypt, which highlighted significant improvements such as an increase in student attendance rates to 87%, a reduction in classroom densities to fewer than 50 students per class, and addressing shortages of teachers in core subjects. Additionally, he mentioned a drop in the percentage of students with poor reading and writing skills from 45.5% to 13.9%.

Abdel Latif also noted that the ministry has confronted persistent challenges in the educational process through practical solutions and reforms that have improved the learning environment and enhanced educational efficiency. He expressed his welcome for further international studies and evaluations that could measure the impact of these reforms and promote transparency.

The meeting also addressed ways to develop teachers’ skills in programming and artificial intelligence. The minister reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to continuously improving teachers’ professional capabilities in line with its goals for preparing students for future skills.

In this context, they discussed launching Egypt’s framework for AI competencies for teachers, based on UNESCO’s framework for AI teacher competencies. The launch positions Egypt among the first countries to implement this framework in partnership with UNESCO, reflecting its commitment to integrating AI into education and preparing teachers for digital transformation.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Robert Barwa praised the progress made by Egypt’s Ministry of Education and Technical Education in implementing educational reforms over recent months. He noted that Egypt’s experience is gaining increasing attention from international institutions as a promising model for educational reform. Barwa expressed optimism about continuing collaboration with the ministry to support education development efforts and exchange expertise while building capacities.