"Education", "The National for Women" and the World Food Program launch the Gender Debating Club Program in Schools

The Ministry of Education and Technical Education, in cooperation with the National Council for Women and the World Food Program, launched the first phase of the Gender Debating Club program in schools in four governorates: Qena, Sohag, Luxor and Fayoum.
The program aims to raise awareness about gender issues through debates and the involvement of teachers, students, and equal opportunity units in the Ministry of Education and Technical Education; The launch of this initiative coincides with the activities of the 16 days of activities to combat gender-based violence launched by the National Council for Women several days ago under the slogan “Be me” and which will continue until December 10, a campaign that the whole world celebrates every year and which aims to create an opinion Supportive year to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women everywhere.
Dr. Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education and Technical Education, said that all monotheistic religions respect women, and that our authentic Egyptian customs and traditions root the respect for women inside and outside the family, even in our daily linguistic vocabulary, noting that the ministry is working to educate students about the importance of the role of women in society.
The Debating Club initiative is being implemented in some governorates of Upper Egypt to help change some negative perceptions about gender issues, which are more present in those governorates.
The goal of the initiative is to raise awareness in the targeted schools through debates that allow a wide scope for research and present different viewpoints in a constructive manner, which contributes to changing these misconceptions.
Dr. Maya Morsi, head of the National Council for Women, said: "We are pleased to cooperate with the Ministry of Education, Technical Education and the World Food Program in launching this program, the importance of which stems from the fact that it aims to promote awareness and learning about women's empowerment issues through debates, which are a means that helps prepare The current generation, building their personalities and developing their skills to face the challenges of the future. This program is also an important opportunity to spread awareness of women’s issues across different generations by involving teachers, students, and equal opportunities units in the ministry.”
Ms. Naoko Fukunaga, Acting Director of the World Food Program Office in Egypt, expressed the role of the program, saying: “The World Food Program is working in cooperation with government partners to implement joint national projects and initiatives that aim to achieve Egypt’s Vision 2030, including women’s empowerment issues. We are proud to be Partners in this initiative that works to care for the opinions of today's students and develop them to become the leaders of tomorrow."
This program is the first of its kind and is implemented in three phases, starting with training trainers in equal opportunities units and education supervisors in the Ministry of Education, then transferring training to education supervisors in the educational district and teachers in selected schools, and the last stage is the launch of the debate league in schools. Public preparatory and community schools, one-semester schools, in the mentioned governorates.
The technical content of this initiative was developed to include training in three axes, namely, gender concepts, discussion skills, interpersonal skills and active communication.
This initiative is being implemented in Luxor Governorate with the support of the Egyptian-Italian debt swap program, and in the governorates of Qena, Sohag and Fayoum with the support of German reconstruction within the debt swap program.