Quality Education
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© UNICEF Egypt/Whitehill/2007 |
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Community schools rely heavily on peer learning and community participation |
Even though Egypt is taking great strides in providing access to primary education for all children, socio-economic and geographic factors, coupled with gender disparities, continue to affect access to education, notably in poorer, Upper Egypt.
Projects:-
Early Childhood Development
Only 18 percent of children between 4 - 6 years in Egypt are enrolled in pre-primary schools, where children are prepared physically and cognitively for a smooth transition towards primary school. To increase enrollment at the pre-primary stage, UNICEF is working at both the community level, opening kindergartens, and at the policy level to set national standards and tools to assess school readiness. In 2007, UNICEF, in cooperation with the Ministries of Education and Social Solidarity, established 120 kindergartens and will expand to 300 in 2008, targeting more than 7500 children. Additionally, UNICEF has been supporting a parenting education programme at the community level for more than ten years, reaching 30,000 parents.
Strengthening Access and Reducing Disparities
The net enrollment rate is estimated at 94 percent in primary education in Egypt, but with a distinct difference between boys and girls of 96 and 92 percent, respectively. To achieve the millennium development goal of universal primary education for all, and to reach out to marginalized populations, particularly girls, UNICEF is supporting 3 community initiatives: operating 227 community schools serving more than 5,000 children (75 % of whom are girls); supporting the Girls Education Initiative in 7 governates across Egypt, reaching almost 12,000 children in 2008; and combating child labour initiatives in the 3 worst governorates, reaching 1,750 children who have either dropped out of school or are at a risk of doing so.
Quality of Learning and Primary School Environment
The Government of Egypt has recently established a «National Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation» as part of its strategy to improve quality education in schools. To support this programme, UNICEF is implementing school improvement projects in 2 governorates in Upper Egypt, reaching 195 primary schools, to improve the quality of teaching and learning in preparation for accreditation.
UNICEF is also supporting the national initiative to mainstream child-centred learning techniques in one-classroom schools and primary schools nationwide by providing training of trainers courses to the supervisors and teachers. To date, almost 500 active learning specialists have been trained to train primary school teachers nationwide.
Better sanitation and hygiene action in schools is helping create a more child-friendly school environment.
