The Minister of Education and the Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation
Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education and Technical Education, received Mr. Dr. Hani Sweilem, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources. To discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the two ministries in joint projects, most notably educating students about water issues through school curricula and school activities.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif appreciated Dr. Hani Sweilem’s interest in developing cooperation mechanisms with the Ministry of Education to educate students about water issues and the state’s efforts made in this context.
The Minister of Education pointed out the importance of spreading water awareness through educational activities, as cooperation is taking place with the Ministry of Irrigation in implementing the initiative to rationalize water consumption by holding awareness seminars for students nationwide, in addition to implementing workshops for male and female students to spread the culture of rationalizing water consumption and preserving water. The green environment, as well as implementing student research competitions to rationalize water consumption, in addition to seeking the assistance of specialists in implementing awareness meetings for workers in the field of student activities to spread the culture of rationalizing consumption and renewable energy, as well as including a national and social awareness competition in the water rationalization program.
The Minister of Education added that a plan will be prepared to include water issues and how to preserve it in accordance with the school curriculum, and to activate the protocol concluded between the two ministries through activities in schools.
For his part, Dr. Hani Sweilem, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, pointed out the importance of joint cooperation between the two ministries, stressing the provision of all forms of support to the Ministry of Education to educate school students about water issues and the importance of rationalizing and preserving it through curricula and various school activities, as one of the tools for correcting any misconceptions. Citizens’ awareness of water in Egypt, and increasing their awareness of the extent of the challenges facing the water sector in Egypt.
The Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation stressed the importance of including water concepts in school curricula to raise students’ awareness of water issues and introduce external and internal water challenges, the importance of the Nile River to the future of future generations and Egyptian water security, the extent of the efforts undertaken by the Egyptian state in rationalizing water use and improving its management process, and the role of Student and family in water conservation.
The meeting witnessed a discussion of activating and updating the existing cooperation protocol between the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and the Ministry of Education to implement a competition to spread water awareness among school students at various levels and at the republic level, so that the update includes developing the scientific content of the competition and the value of the prizes, provided that the competition is within a scientific framework through scientific research. And the projects and innovations presented by students in the field of water, to be in line with the future vision of the water sector in Egypt.
The meeting also reviewed proposals for cooperation between the two ministries by publishing joint awareness films between the two ministries, organizing educational school trips to irrigation museums and irrigation facilities for the academic levels whose curricula include topics related to the water file in order to explain nature, and applying activities related to the water file in all educational levels.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Ahmed Medhat, head of the sector supervising the minister’s office, from the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, engineer Mohamed Ghanem, director general of the media office and official spokesman, Dr. Yousra Allam, advisor to the Minister of Irrigation for communication and external relations, and engineer Mostafa Senussi, assistant to the Minister of Irrigation for Nile Water Affairs.
On the part of the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, Dr. Akram Hassan, Head of the Central Curriculum Development Department, Dr. Sherine Hamdy, Advisor to the Minister for International Relations and Agreements, and Dr. Iman Hassan, Head of the Central Administration for Student Activities, attended.