Minister of Education receives British Ambassador in Cairo

Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education and Technical Education, received Ambassador Gareth Bailey, British Ambassador in Cairo, and his accompanying delegation; to discuss various cooperation frameworks aimed at supporting the educational process in Egypt.

The meeting was attended from the British Council by Mr. Mark Howard, Director of the Council and Cultural Attaché, Ms. Shaimaa El Banna, Director of the Education Department, Ms. Andrela Das, Head of the Communications Department, and Ms. Hala Ahmed, Head of the English Language Programs Department.

From the Ministry, Dr. Ahmed Daher, Deputy Minister, Dr. Ayman Bahaa El Din El Bassal, Deputy Minister, Ms. Sherine Hamdy, Advisor to the Minister for International Cooperation and Agreements and Supervisor of the Central Administration for Minister's Office Affairs, Ms. Iman Sabry, Advisor to the Minister for Private Education, Dr. Amr Basila, Head of the Central Administration for Technical Education and Director of the Operation and Management Unit of Applied Technology Schools, and Ms. Hala Abdel Salam, Head of the Central Administration for General Education attended the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif welcomed the attendees, appreciating the areas of joint and fruitful cooperation with the United Kingdom, and the support it provides to develop and advance the educational process in Egypt, which reflects the commitment of the two countries to provide the best educational practices.

During the meeting, the Minister reviewed a number of solutions and executive procedures provided by the Ministry to address the most important challenges facing the educational system, stressing that the Ministry is working hard to address these challenges to achieve an attractive and stimulating educational process for students inside the classroom by reaching the class density to the percentage that allows for a suitable educational environment.

The Minister explained that these solutions and executive procedures came as a result of many field visits and meetings with directors of educational departments, school principals and teachers, in addition to reviewing these solutions by experts and the approval of all parties in the educational system.

The Minister pointed out that the Ministry is working hard to develop strategies that work to arm students with skills such as programming and artificial intelligence, how to access and use knowledge, critical thinking and other skills that qualify for the changing labor market.

For his part, Gareth Bailey, the British Ambassador to Cairo, expressed his happiness with the partnership with the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, referring to the various cooperation programs and the Kingdom's welcome to enhance cooperation frameworks and exchange of expertise between the two countries in the field of pre-university education.

The British Ambassador to Cairo stressed that education is a very important point in the history of relations between Egypt and the United Kingdom, praising the package of measures that the Ministry of Education and Technical Education is working to implement to provide a quality educational process.

For his part, the Director of the British Council and the Cultural Attaché in Cairo pointed to the depth of the partnership with the Ministry of Education, stressing the Council's keenness to continue this support in the future, given the important role of the Ministry of Education in educating children and youth, in addition to its responsibility for about 25.5 million students, which represents a major challenge, saying: "Egypt is distinguished by being a young country, in addition to its long history and its ability to overcome this challenge."

The meeting discussed enhancing areas of cooperation related to professional development for teachers and school principals, building capacities in the field of integrating students with special educational needs and disabilities, and seeking to promote inclusive education in all Egyptian schools, as well as exchanging experiences on students’ use of educational platforms, programming and artificial intelligence and their integration into education. The meeting also discussed exchanging experiences in quality assurance systems and education standards necessary to enhance comprehensive educational quality in schools, as well as adopting technical education programs.