"Education" launches the pilot project for teaching Chinese language in Egyptian schools and the opening ceremonies of the training course for Chinese language teachers

Dr. Mohamed Megahed, Deputy Minister of Education for Technical Education, participated in the launch of the pilot project for teaching Chinese language in Egyptian schools, and the opening ceremony of the training course for Chinese language teachers who will teach Chinese in twelve schools in optional governorates starting from Cairo, Giza and Menoufia, which were identified from The ministry accepted, according to the cooperation project between the Egyptian Ministries of Education, Technical Education and Chinese Education for the inclusion of the Chinese language as a second foreign language from the 2022-2023 academic year, which was launched at the Confucius Institute headquarters at Cairo University.

In his speech, Dr. Mohamed Megahed, Deputy Minister of Education for Technical Education welcomed the attendees, expressing his happiness at celebrating the fruits of Chinese-Egyptian cooperation in the field of teaching Chinese language and Chinese culture with 12 Egyptian schools in accordance with the signed agreement, noting that a teaching program was supposed to start The Chinese language from next year 2023/2024, but thanks to the insistence of the two sides and their keenness to activate this cooperation, all parties have accelerated many steps to be able to start teaching the Chinese language this year 2022/2023 and this is a full year ahead of what was agreed upon in the agreement.
Dr. Muhammad Mujahid praised the cooperation of the Chinese side in selecting teachers, and the actual start of the training course for the selected teachers.
He also praised the Chinese University that trains these teachers, the Confucius Institute, and Cairo University for their great support in selecting teachers, holding interviews with them, and supporting the educational process so that we can appoint the first distinguished teachers.
Dr. Mohamed Mujahid directed attention to developing curricula through which Egyptian students can learn about the Chinese language in an attractive and continuous manner, noting that a lot of efforts have been made during the past few months so that the ministry can issue a textbook for students who are studying Chinese for the first time, continuing: The ministry is in the process of printing the book, which will be the first book to teach the Chinese language experimentally in middle schools in Egypt as a Chinese foreign language.
For his part, Prof. Gamal El-Shazly, Vice President of Cairo University, expressed his happiness and honor to host this important event, which honestly reflects the nature of the friendly relations between Egypt and China, noting that Egypt and China enjoy an ancient civilization that extends for thousands of years, and these relations between the two countries reached their climax by achieving The strategic partnership between the two countries is under the full support of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and President Xi Jinping. The areas of cooperation between the two countries have diversified over the past decades, and educational and cultural exchanges have attracted the interest of both countries.
Dr. Gamal El-Shazly said: “Language is the means of communication between peoples, and it is the greatest means of understanding the other, its culture, history, customs and traditions. The inclusion of Chinese in Egyptian schools as a second foreign language will have a significant impact in providing the opportunity for future generations of Egyptians to know the Chinese people closely, and increase The various exchanges between the two countries.
The Vice President of Cairo University added that Egypt is one of the first countries that started teaching the Chinese language in universities, and Cairo University was interested in establishing a Chinese language department in 2004, and also established the Confucius Institute, which later became one of the largest model institutes in the world with its educational, academic and cultural fields. , expressing his happiness that the Confucius Institute at Cairo University has been chosen to be responsible for this giant project and everything related to it, including the selection and training of teachers, and the authoring and printing of curricula, and this comes in light of the full support of Cairo University, which is the beacon of science in Egypt and the world.
In his speech via video conference, Mr. Ma Jian, Director of the Center for International Language Exchange of the Ministry of Education, expressed his sincere thanks to all colleagues who strongly supported the teaching of the Chinese language and its availability to students in schools as an optional subject such as French and German, pointing to the strength of the friendly relations between Egypt and China. Which achieved prosperous results in various fields to achieve prosperity for the two friendly countries.
He stressed that in 2020, the Exchange Center in Egypt signed a cooperation protocol to introduce the Chinese language in Egypt and the completion of a lot of work to select experts to teach in Egyptian schools and gift educational materials and cultural books, pointing out that the Exchange Center is ready to cooperate with Egyptian partners in order to increase cooperation and interdependence. between the two countries in the field of education.
In his speech via the video conference network, Ambassador Chaung Tao, Chargé d'Affairs of the Chinese Embassy, ​​expressed his happiness and congratulations for the launch of this project, and thanked him for all the efforts made to introduce the Chinese language in Egyptian schools, noting that in recent years the partnership between the two countries has been deepened, which has achieved fruitful results in the fields of education. Especially the teaching of languages ​​and the introduction of the Chinese language as an elective subject in twelve schools starting from October 2022 in the Egyptian schools, following up that recruitment tests were held to select teachers of the Chinese language, where the first batch of 12 teachers of the Chinese language was selected, who are the distinguished elite that were selected from among the graduates. Various Chinese language departments who have applied for the interview, and will be trained in teaching methods and Internet applications to keep pace with everything that is modern, concluding his speech by wishing them success and applying everything they learn in their professional lives.

In her speech, Dr. Rehab Mahmoud, Director of the Confucius Institute indicated that on September 7, 2020, the Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang and the Ministry of Education and Technical Education signed a memorandum of understanding on introducing the Chinese language in Egyptian schools as a second foreign language, stressing that the team was able to Egyptian and Chinese experts prepare courses after several months of effort to be available to first-year preparatory students at the beginning of the academic year. So that first year middle school students can officially choose Chinese as a second foreign language, they are students of the first batch of 12 middle schools selected by the Egyptian Ministry of Education, so that Chinese becomes an optional foreign language available to Egyptian school students along with French, German, Spanish and Italian .
Finally, the project to introduce the Chinese language into Egyptian schools has borne fruit, marking a new chapter in the history of friendly cooperation between the two countries.
The event was attended by Dr. Gamal El-Shazly, Vice President of Cairo University, Dr. Randa Shaheen, Head of the Central Department of Public Education, Dr. Nawal Shalaby, Director of the National Center for Curriculum Development, Dr. Hanim Ahmed, Advisor to the Minister for International Relations, and Mr. Ma Jian Fei, Director of the International Exchange Center for Language Education of the Chinese Ministry of Education Mr. Zhang Tao, Chargé d’Affairs at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to Egypt, Mr. Liu Li, President of the Beijing Language University, Dr. Rehab Mahmoud, Advisor to the President of Cairo University for Relations with East Asian Countries and Director of the Confucius Institute, Ms. Xu Yanhe, President of the Chinese Language Bridge Club in Cairo, and representatives from The Chinese Ministry of Education, the Chinese Embassy in Egypt and Cairo University.