For the fourth successive year, Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif handed over today 20,000 laptops to distinguished primary school students nationwide to encourage them to carry on the road to excellence, besides disseminating IT tools among the rising generations, leaders of the future.
Dr. Nazif also honored hundreds of the basic education distinguished teachers offering them 2,000 laptops, thus totaling the distributed laptops to 22,000 at the celebration held at the Mubarak Education City in 6 of October. The hi-tech gifts included 3G USB modems.
This is part of the “Computers to Excel initiative” launched by Dr. Nazif three years ago, for honoring outstanding students and distinguished teachers in basic education.
Each gift is also provided with a one-year free subscription in the high-speed wireless internet, besides uploading the MSIS original software from the world’s leading software corporation Microsoft on the 22,000 laptops offered for the students and the teachers.
The initiative is part of an agreement signed between Microsoft and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) as well as the ministry’s initiative for the high-speed internet to serve remote and distance areas via the 3G advanced networks in collaboration with mobile phone service providers.
The initiative aims at empowering students and teachers to build up their educational skills through an integrated method that makes use of the IT advanced tools in learning for the ultimate aim of mustering students’ energies.
The 22,000 laptops granted to the students and the teachers were produced by two Egyptian companies, the Arab Industrialization Organization which supplies Lenovo computers and the Advanced Computer Company which is a supplier to HP in addition to technical support from Intel and Microsoft.
The ceremony was attended by Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr. Hani Helal, Minister of Education Dr. Ahmed Zaki Badr and Minister of State for Administrative Development Dr. Ahmed Darwish.
The event was also attended by Dr. Sayed Mashal, Minister of State for Military Production, Dr. Ali Al-Moselhi, Minister of Social Solidarity, Ms. Mushira Khattab, Minister of Family and Housing, Dr. Abdel-Azim Wazir, Cairo Governor, Eng. Sayed Abdel-Aziz, Giza Governor, Counselor Adly Hussein, Qalyoubiya Governor, Dr. Fathi Saad, 6 of October Governor, and Mr. Kadri Abu-Hussein, Helwan Governor.
Meanwhile, Dr. Nazif toured the exhibition hosting a number of Egyptian and world leading IT companies, such as Intel, Microsoft, CISCO Systems and Oracle, held on the sidelines of the ceremony.
This year, the exhibition offers the world's latest technologies and software programs for education and training, for the sake of enriching the educational process for both the students and teachers.
Dr. Nazif and the ministers also attended a presentation on the ICDL License, covering the top achievements of the program since 2007, in collaboration with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Graduates of the program, from different age groups, amount to 633726, while up to 271116 teachers were awarded the ICDL License.
The presentation included the accomplishments of the program realized cooperatively with the Ministry of Education through training and tests for the ministry's teachers to qualify them for obtaining the license.
Moreover, Premier Nazif witnessed other presentations about various success stories by different categories of ICDL graduates, and the agencies taking part in the program, as part of the “ICT for Learning Initiative.”
Egypt has won the Best Practices Award at the European Computer Driving License (ECDL) Annual Forum 2010, held in Bonn, Germany, for a research study entitled “A Study of the Effects of Egypt’s National ICDL Training and Certification Scholarship Program.” The study focuses mainly on the impact of certifying fresh graduates with ICDL on employment.
The study was prepared by the Egyptian National Program for the International Computer Driving License (ICDL).
During the ceremony Dr. Tarek Kamel said that the event was endorsed by Premier Nazif as an annual occasion that constituted an impetus for the “Excellence Initiative.”
Dr. Kamel added that the initiative is considered essential for merging modern ICT in the educational process to develop it under the emblem “quality assurance accreditation”.
This is meant to express the Egyptian future view of boosting education as one of the top tools of social and economic development for the sake of upgrading the efficiency of educational institutions to help them catch up with advanced technology.
Dr. Kamel further pointed out that MCIT, in collaboration with Ministry of Education, is carrying out an integrated three-year term plan to develop 1730 secondary schools nationwide.
The plan includes equipping these schools with the necessary technological components for activating the comprehensive evaluation system in secondary education that will be applied as of the academic year 2011/2012.
In addition, the plan encompasses providing the required technological infrastructure for these schools, besides training teachers and administrators on the use of ICT and activating it in the educational process as part of the national plan for promoting secondary education in Egypt endorsed by President Hosni Mubarak a year ago.
Last year’s ceremony left a great impression on the students who were awarded PCs by Premier Nazif, which led to building bridges of communication between students at schools and their families at home. This helped the Egyptian families follow up on their children at schools and their development through a continuous, practical and modern links, computer and the internet.
For his part, Dr. Badr said that this annual event reflects the high interest in IT and the knowledge structure in pre-university education to encourage outstanding students in the different educational stages to try hard to master the skills of computer and modern IT tools as a general state trend.
Dr. Badr added that his Ministry, in cooperation with MCIT, has been trying to cover all educational stages nationwide.
Over the past few years, the MCIT- through the Egyptian Information Society Initiative (EISI), which seeks to transform the Egyptian society into a digital one, launched several successful initiatives.
These initiatives included the “PC for Every Home initiative”, “A Computer for Every Student”, the “Free Internet Initiative”, the initiative of high-speed Internet DSL and “the broadband initiative” carried out in collaboration with the Ministries of Education and Higher Education and State for Scientific Research.
These are added to various other initiatives that have contributed greatly and effectively to achieving the MCIT strategy that to disseminate ICT tools and applications and make them available for all social segments, especially in basic education (both primary and preparatory), as well as university students.
Such initiatives also help accomplish the MCIT’s all-inclusive initiatives through investing in human capital, which is considered to be an additional competitive value, unique to the country, compared to other rival countries in the field.
