Mrs Mubarak briefs UN on Egypt's work to boost education for girls
Egypt, Education, 5/9/2002

Egypt's First Lady Suzanne Mubarak, head of the official delegation to the UN Extraordinary Session on Children, yesterday explained Egypt's progress in the field of female education.

In her briefing, Mrs Mubarak told the meeting about Egypt's pioneering work in the region, regarding its implementation of the 2000 Dakar Declaration with reference to girls' education.

Egypt considers girls' education to be a vital part of the country's comprehensive development. Consequently, the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), chaired by Mrs Mubarak, has launched a comprehensive project for educating girls in collaboration with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and UN agencies.

The pilot project will cover the densely populated Egyptian governorates of Minya, Fayoum, Beheira, Sohag, Assiut, Beni Suef and Giza.

The project will tackle the problems that prevent girls from going to school or continuing their education. One problem is that many schools are located in remote areas far from the girls' homes. Therefore, the NCCM has started building schools nearer their homes.

It has also made transport to and from school cheaper and safer for the girls.

Relatively high fees have been another obstacle to girls', especially in rural areas, going to school.

Many of them leave altogether, preferring to look for work. The Council has therefore made basic education free of charge or very cheap for all children. It is also urging the Government to pass a law that will make child labour illegal.

The project began with a national conference on girls' education, which decided to form a working group with the task of achieving equality for boys and girls in terms of schooling by 2005. It is planned to have all girls enrolled in schools by 2015.

The working group, formed in October 2000, is responsible for drawing up a national plan to promote education for girls and organising the necessary budget to do this. It will also ensure that the budget is incorporated in the Government's current five-year national development plan and future five-year plans.

The budget will go towards the erection of schools close to the homes of schoolgirls nationwide. They will be provided with state-of-the-art equipment and materials to guarantee that the girls get a first-rate education.

The project will also promote the registration of girls at birth and prevent them being married off at an early age, as well as removing anything in school curricula that encourages gender discrimination.

Apart from this, it is concerned with setting up a special fund to finance education for girls throughout the country, organising a large-scale media campaign for encouraging and promoting girls' education and training; and fighting all sorts of sex discrimination. Another aim of the project is to establish modern adult education centres for women and girls nationwide.

In another development, Ambassador Ahmed Abul Gheit, Egypt's permanent delegate to the UN, said yesterday that the international organisation Counterpart has agreed to draw up the plans for a pilot health project for Egyptian children. This was agreed at a meeting between Mrs Mubarak and the board of Counterpart, the Ambassador said.

Counterpart is an NGO which focuses on Third World and developing countries, financing and implementing basic healthcare programmes for children. UN statistics show that Egypt has made great strides over the last decade in reducing morbidity and mortality among children.

The Ministry of Health has implemented a series of countrywide projects including a vaccination campaign, and health education, pre- and post-natal programmes.

Previous Stories:
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  Mubarak receives Chinese Official   (4/15/2002)
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