Minister of Education Receives Prime Minister of Saxony
Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education and Technical Education, received this morning Mr. Michael Kretschmer, Prime Minister of Saxony, Germany, and his accompanying delegation. The meeting discussed ways to enhance future cooperation projects in pre-university education between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Saxony. This comes within the framework of the growing relations between Egypt and Germany, and both sides' keenness to enhance cooperation in the field of labor supply, particularly in light of global challenges and the opportunities available to develop technical education and link it to the labor market.
At the beginning of the meeting, Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif praised the close and fruitful relations between Egypt and Germany, stressing the importance of strengthening cooperation and exchanging expertise in the field of education, particularly with regard to developing technical education and improving the quality of the educational process.
The Minister pointed out that, as part of efforts to develop technical education and strengthen its link with the labor market, the Ministry of Education and Technical Education launched the Applied Technology Schools model, which is implemented according to a public-private partnership system. The Ministry provides the infrastructure, including buildings and teachers, while the private sector partner prepares specialized technical curricula and provides practical training for students in line with labor market needs. He explained that the Ministry is currently seeking to expand the scope of this model to include a greater number of specializations and partnerships, by working to enhance cooperation with industry partners to provide job opportunities for graduates immediately after graduation.
The Minister expressed Egypt's interest in cooperating with the German state of Saxony to support and develop applied technology schools and to introduce specializations of mutual interest that meet the needs of the Egyptian and German labor markets. He emphasized the importance of cooperation with many countries and international partners in developing the technical education system, as partnerships contribute to enhancing the quality of technical education and providing real job opportunities for graduates both inside and outside Egypt, especially in partner countries that show great interest in graduates of these schools.
For his part, Mr. Michael Kretschmer, Prime Minister of the German state of Saxony, expressed his pleasure at visiting Egypt and meeting with the Minister of Education and Technical Education. He emphasized his state's aspiration to enhance cooperation with Egypt in the fields of education and the provision of skilled labor. He praised Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif's vision for developing the pre-university education system and his focus on developing technical education, which is a fundamental element in advancing any country's economy, as well as the model of applied technology schools.
The Prime Minister of the German state of Saxony emphasized the state's commitment to exchanging German expertise in the field of technical education, especially in specializations that are in high demand in the German market, and in the field of preparing and qualifying Egyptian human resources according to standards and skills that match the requirements of the German market.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister of Saxony and his accompanying delegation were briefed on the Ministry of Education's mechanisms for dealing with high student density, with approximately one to two million students joining the education system annually. They also reviewed the executive measures recently taken by the Ministry to address other chronic challenges facing the educational process, most notably the shortage of teachers, as well as efforts to improve student attendance rates and ensure discipline in schools.
The meeting also addressed ways the Egyptian Ministry of Education can support the educational process for Palestinian students. Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif affirmed the Ministry's commitment to providing all forms of support to the Palestinian people in the field of education, noting that Egypt hosts approximately 20,000 Palestinian students studying online. He emphasized the Ministry's commitment to strengthening the capabilities of the Palestinian education system to ensure the provision of quality and sustainable education under the current difficult circumstances, emphasizing the importance of cooperation with international institutions to support these efforts.
The meeting also reviewed Egypt's public education system, including curricula, teaching methods, and examination systems. It also discussed cooperation with Germany in the project to establish 100 Egyptian-German schools, with Egypt undertaking construction in partnership with the private sector, and Germany undertaking technical supervision.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Michael Kretschmer invited Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education, to visit the German state of Saxony. The visit aimed to review the approved education systems and exchange expertise in the field of educational and technical education development, with the aim of strengthening bilateral cooperation in this area.
The German delegation included Ambassador Jürgen Schulz, German Ambassador to Egypt; Dr. Heike Grassmann, State Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Culture, and Tourism of Saxony; Mr. Ingo Fleming, Member of Parliament; Dr. Jörg Scheibe, Member of Parliament; Mr. Ralf Schreiber, Official Spokesperson for the Prime Minister; Dr. David Michel, Head of International Relations and Development Cooperation; and Ms. Melanie Münch, Head of International Relations and Development Cooperation.
The meeting was attended from the Egyptian side by Dr. Ayman Bahaa El-Din, Deputy Minister of Education and Technical Education; Dr. Amr Basila, Head of the Central Administration for Technical Education Development; Dr. Hala Abdel Salam, Head of the Central Administration for General Education; and Dr. Hanem Ahmed, Advisor to the Minister for International Cooperation.