Egypt Forum to highlight UAE education strategy

Scheduled to be held at Sharm El Sheikh from May 23-24 as part of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the two-day educational forum and exhibition will be organised under the patronage of Egyptian President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak. The theme of the forum is ‘Education for Knowledge’.

Bmena includes the Mena countries plus Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The conference will be attended by education ministers of the G-8 Group as well. The UAE Ministry of Education will present a working paper, explaining the various stages of evolution of the education process in the country and mapping out the future strategy, based on public-private partnership.

The UAE’s views about drawing lessons from international educational experiences with emphasis on practices in advanced countries will be explained in the paper along with the country’s methods of evaluating the requirements of its local labour market. The UAE will also provide an insight into its efforts to eradicate illiteracy, and expand adult education.

The twin events in Egypt will draw representatives from the UN, Arab, regional and international educational organisations and institutions, ministers, prominent educationists, NGOs and socio-economic development funds. Education 2006 exhibition will focus on the key role of Information Technology and Communications (ITC) in the development of education in the region. Eradication of illiteracy will figure high on the agenda of the conference. Plans for educating about 20 million illiterates will also be discussed.

Egyptian Education Minister Dr Yusri Al Jamal said the conference would seek to launch a regional initiative to upgrade and modernise education by using ITC with the assistance of the G-8. He said that Bmena would also study mechanisms for exchange of expertise and experiences in the education field. “The final goal is to have a quality education through introduction of ITC to the educational field,” he added.