As an attempt to improve Egypt's education through the utilization of ICT, the Egyptian Education Initiative was launched by Egypt’s First Lady Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak and Egypt''s Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif, on the opening day of the World Economic Forum held in Sharm El-Sheikh, 20-22 May, 2006.

EEI is built on the model of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) combining the efforts of the Government of Egypt - namely the Ministries of Communications and Information Technology, Education and Higher Education - the World Economic Forum''s IT member community, and multinationals and donors.

The strategic objective of the forum is to improve the education in Egypt through the effective use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The EEI will focus on four tracks: pre-university education, higher education, lifelong learning and e-learning industry development. The first phase of the EEI will impact 820,000 students in 2,000 schools, and over 300 colleges.

The initiative also aims at developing the capacity of the local IT industry to adopt innovative learning solutions in partnership with world-class firms; establishing a virtual learning community that will enhance educational performance and remove limitations and create opportunities for 21st Century students to realize their full potential; and  leveraging national government commitment and corporate citizenship in building a PPP model of educational reform that can be exported and replicated throughout the Arab region.

"By implementing this partnership, the government of Egypt, together with World Economic Forum member companies and organizations, will pave the way for the transformation of our society to a knowledge society and contribute to the development and prosperity of our community," said Hoda Baraka, Egyptian Education Initiative Program Director.

A letter of intent has been signed by Dr. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, to confirm the ministry''s commitment to work closely with all concerned stakeholders to achieve EEI objectives. The letter of intent has also been signed by the Ministries of Education and Higher Education, the World Economic Forum and eight international ICT companies, CA, Cisco, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, and Siemens.

The strategic objective of the forum is to improve the education in Egypt through the effective use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The EEI will focus on four tracks: pre-university education, higher education, lifelong learning and e-learning industry development. The first phase of the EEI will impact 820,000 students in 2,000 schools, and over 300 colleges.