News

Ministry of Local Development Announces Plans to Eliminate Illiteracy by 2021

mm
Ministry of Local Development Announces Plans to Eliminate Illiteracy by 2021

 

Photo credit: Caritas Egypt

On Wednesday, June 6, the Ministry of Local Development announced that it will work on eliminating illiteracy in Egypt in the upcoming 3 years.

In a four-point plan, the ministry outlined the ways with which a zero percent illiteracy will be achieved by 2021.

The first principle in the plan being the activation of the University Supreme Council decision which obliges each student to teach up to 8 illiterate people. Secondly, a focus on trainer’s skills, through providing them with trainings tackling the competencies they’ll need. Thirdly, engaging the youth in the efforts undertaken by the ministry. Lastly, provide young people with necessary incentives to join the illiteracy program, by giving them rewards and bonuses.

Egypt has suffered from high illiteracy rate for years. In 2014, the Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported that over a quarter of Egyptians is illiterate; 18.5% of males and 33.6% of females who cannot read or write.

While illiteracy rates in subsequent years started to decrease, they are still considered relatively high, even compared to other Arab nations, as Egypt was considered the country with the 4th highest illiteracy rate in the Arab world, according to  statistics revealed by the UNESCO in September 2016.

By 2017, illiteracy rates have dropped to 20.1% of the total population, with 14.4% of males  and 26% of females were considered illiterate, according to CAMPAS.

The illiteracy difference along gender lines is stark, as women constitute around 64% of total number of Egyptians above the age of 9 who cannot read or write.

In 2016, according to governmental figures, around 200,000 students dropped out of primary and middle school so they could work and support their families in meeting the basic life necessities. The Egyptian MP Magda El Baghdadi, who is a university professor sitting on the parliamentary Educational Committee, emphasized on the difficulty of eradicating illiteracy, “despite all the resources allocated for the National Literacy Program.”

Hanan Salem, a sociology professor at Ain Shams University, has told The Arab Weekly that illiteracy makes people vulnerable to “radical groups that have their own skillful way of swaying the uneducated and turning them against the whole society.”

In late 2017, the General Authority for Literacy and Adult Education has announced that it will start new programs and create efforts to eradicate illiteracy by the end 2019.

 

 

 

 

8 Things You Need to Know about the Newly Appointed Prime Minister
Dinner for Consul General of Egypt Highlights History of Ramadan in Australia


Subscribe to our newsletter


News

More in News

Egyptian Court Denies Adoptive Family Custody of ‘Baby Shenouda’, Citing Lack of Jurisdiction

Egyptian Streets19 March 2023

Khaled El-Balshy Elected as Head of Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate

Farah Rafik18 March 2023

Egypt’s Giza and Saqqara Among 2023 World’s Greatest Places: TIME

Egyptian Streets17 March 2023

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities: Egypt Recorded 11.7 Million Tourists in 2022

Dina Khadr16 March 2023

By 2024, Egyptians May Be Required to Speak French by Law

Dina Khadr15 March 2023

Egypt to Provide EGP 1,000 Annually for Egyptian Women to Curb Population Growth

Egyptian Streets15 March 2023

RiseUp Summit’s 10th Edition at the Grand Egyptian Museum: What You Need to Know

Farah Rafik14 March 2023

National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics: Ramadan 2023 to Start on 23 March

Marina Makary12 March 2023