Egyptian children urge G8 to do more on Education

Egyptian participants in the Junior 8 video conference

The many challenges facing Egypt’s education system were on the agenda when Egyptian child delegates contributed their views to the recent Group of 8 (G8) Summit, held in the Russian city of St Petersburg. What’s more, their views were heard directly by the summit host, Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

The exchange with the Russian leader took place during a “Junior 8” children’s forum of 64 children from the G8 countries held parallel to the summit proper. Children from four non-G8 countries -- Egypt, Thailand, South Africa and Mexico – participated in the Junior 8 meeting via video conference link.

11 Egyptian children took part in the discussion on July 14. They had been selected by UNICEF and its partners from different parts of the country.

During discussion with the J8 delegates in St Petersburg, the Cairo delegates raised a number of education-related issues. 15 year old Mai Mohamed from Port Said that high levels of unemployment meant students often had little incentive to continue their schooling. Mohamed Essam -- also 15 – said a big priority was to improve the quality of the teaching that schools delivered.

President Putin responds to the Egyptian delegates

The video conference took an unexpected turn when – without warning – President Putin took a seat among the participants in St Petersburg, and quickly joined the discussion.

"I must be honest and admit that not everything promised regarding education has been fulfilled", said Mr. Putin. "But education is a top issue on the G8 agenda". The Russian president then called for questions, giving the floor first to the youths in Cairo.

When they asked what tangible action the G8 could take towards addressing the concerns of countries like Egypt, Mr Putin sounded reassuring.

“Education is an important factor impacting world progress," he said. "It's especially a factor for economic growth, and the G8 has a number of initiatives to help developing countries with education."

One of those initiatives, emphasized Mr. Putin, was to ensure that girls have equal access to education in order to facilitate their participation as fully-fledged members of society. He also described a joint institute being developed between Egypt and Russia aimed at developing closer ties and to provide assistance for education.

The experience of contributing to the Junior 8 was one that the Egyptian delegates said they appreciated. In particular, they said it had been interesting to discover that youngsters in developed countries often shared their concerns – for example, about the problem of over-crowded classrooms.

On July 16, during the summit proper, representatives of the Junior 8 met Mr Putin and other G8 leaders to present their recommendations, including those on education. The session was carried live on Russian television.