Health

Egypt: High-tech education

The focus of education sector reforms in recent years has been on developing Egypt as a knowledge economy by integrating IT into the learning process. Cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has yielded several bilateral projects aimed at increasing the technology available in schools and promoting digital literacy among both students and teachers. The resulting investment by multinational IT companies is a sign that Egypt's high-tech focus is starting to pay off. In September 2009, the Ministry of Education and the MCIT agreed on a plan for developing technology infrastructure in schools, which envisages equipping 1730 high schools with state-of-the-art labs, libraries and teacher's rooms by 2010. Additionally, teachers will be trained in how to integrate technology into their curricula. The new development plan follows a successful trial phase during which numerous joint projects were carried out between the two ministries, such as the Smart School Network and the International Computers Driver's License (ICDL). Launched experimentally in 2003, the network of "smart" preparatory schools offering technology enhanced learning environments has now expanded to 146 institutions. The ICDL is an ongoing computer literacy program enabling students to enhance their basic IT skills for free. From its launch in May 2006 to October 2009, over 200,000 Egyptians had received ICDL certification. (source: OBG)

Jordan: Class under pressure

Jordan is implementing a number of reforms to maintain the high standard of its education network in the face of increasing student numbers, competing calls for state funding and needed modernization. The kingdom's education system has scored well in a series of international assessments, with the World Bank rating Jordan, along with Kuwait, as the leading education reformer in the Middle East and Northern African (MENA) region in 2008. UNESCO also ranked the country 18th out of 94 nations for providing gender equality in education. Education has long been one of the top priorities for the Jordanian government, which dedicates around 13 per cent of the state budget to the sector every year, with spending on public and private education accounting for 6.4 per cent of GDP. This year alone, the Ministry of Education appointed 4000 new teachers to meet the needs of the school system, taking the number of teachers and administrative staff in Jordan's state schools to 90,000. (source: OBG)

Lebanon: Class act needed

According to many key indicators, Lebanon's education system receives excellent marks, ranking among the best in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The country has some of the highest retention rates throughout primary and secondary levels, some of the region's best student-to-teacher ratios, and university enrolment levels far above the MENA average, World Bank figures show. However, increasingly it is the private sector that can claim responsibility for this success, with standards of state schools apparently slipping, despite most of the 10 per cent of budgetary expenditure being directed to the public component of the system. Lebanon is failing to gain full value from its schools, with a lack of faith in state-provided learning and little cooperation between the public and private sectors combining to weaken the system. (source: OBG)