The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat and Governor of Qena Ashraf Al-Daoudi visited, today, the school complex of Al-Noor Institute for the Blind and the Intellectual Education School to inspect the technological development carried out by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to facilitate the educational process for students with visual and intellectual disabilities. The ICT Minister and the Governor were received by the Chairman of the National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities (NAID) AbdEl-Monem El-Sharkawy.
MCIT has provided the school complex of Al-Noor Institute for the Blind and the Intellectual Education School with specialized technological programs, and equipped it with a number of computers and printers necessary for the educational process and training of students.
During his visit, Talaat met with a number of educational leaders and teachers in Qena who were trained during August and September on the educational integration program, the applications of Assistive Technology (AI) and the technological skills development program, among nearly 500 trainees in the governorate.
The program has been implemented as part of the first phase of the cooperation protocol between MCIT and the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, which was signed in July 2021, aiming to support and develop the inputs of the educational process to improve services provided to students with disabilities. The project aims to train 100,000 teachers and equip 1,600 schools at an estimated cost of EGP 150 million provided by MCIT.
This comes within the framework of MCIT plan to support the educational process for PwDs. The two ministries had previously cooperated in implementing a project to develop the educational process for PwDs, which included in its early phases the support of 810 special education and integration schools. This is in addition to training nearly 30,000 teachers nationwide.
During the tour, a number of students from the two schools presented artistic performances. This is in addition to presenting a number of educational activities carried out by the students to develop their skills and abilities, especially through using technological means.
During meeting the ICT Minister, the students highlighted the importance of technological means and its role in facilitating and making the educational process available for students with disabilities. The ICT Minister called on continuing to provide more support to students and responding to their demands.
A number of officials from MCIT, and the Ministry of Education and Technical Education in the governorate attended during the visit.
The ICT Minister and Qena Governor have also inspected Telecom Egypt customer service center in Qena West, where they were received by Telecom Egypt Managing Director and CEO Adel Hamed and a number of Telecom Egypt executive leaders.
The center provides a number of telecommunications services to citizens, including fixed land line services, fixed Internet services, and services added to fixed Internet services, in addition to mobile services, e-wallet services, domain reservation services and web hosting.
It also provides mobile services for companies, sells all types of mobile, landline and Internet devices and accessories, and provides installment services for mobile devices and fixed Internet in cooperation with the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr. The center accepts electronic government payments for fixed and mobile Internet services.
It is noteworthy that the ICT Minister visited Qena this morning to inaugurate and inspect a number of projects implemented by MCIT in the villages targeted within the Decent Life Initiative. Talaat inspected the works of installing fiber-optic cables to provide high-speed Internet services in one of Decent Life villages in Qena, and also opened four post offices after their development.
He also visited Creativa Innovation Hub in the South Valley University, and witnessed signing four Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) to achieve digital transformation in the governorate’s general office, promote digital community development for citizens, enhance digital culture for the citizens of Decent Life villages, and build the capacities of the governorate’s youth.
