'Equal opportunities education' policy by 2005

An equal opportunities policy for education will be in place by 2005, Egypt's Minister of Education said yesterday.

This policy aims to develop potential in local communities in tandem with ministries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Hussein Kamel Bahaa Eddin said in a speech, which was delivered on his behalf by Samiha Sedhoum, advisor to the Minister of Education, at a conference in New Delhi.

The plan for female education is already incorporated in the five-year plan for national social and economic development, Dr Bahaa Eddin said.

A strategy has also been devised to help women who had been forced to drop out of full-time education, the minister added.

The conference, 'Education for All,' was organised in collaboration with UNESCO.