FILE - Students in front of a primary school in Cairo, Egypt
CAIRO – 20 November 2022: On the occasion of the World Children's Day, the Ministry of Social Solidarity released Sunday a statement detailing the public benefits provided to children in Egypt.
At the earliest stage of a child's life, beneficiaries of Takaful w Karama, Egypt's monetary subsidies programme, can apply to become part of the "First One Thousand Days" programme.
The programme offers healthcare and nutrition to the mother during pregnancy, and to the child throughout his first two years. The mother just has to turn up every month to the healthcare unit during pregnancy, and after birth, follow the child's immunization schedule.
The beneficiaries of the "First One Thousand Days" programme amounted by August 2022 to 17,008 families, including 87,700 mothers and children.
The following programme is "Early Childhood Development," which is concerned with nurseries targeted at children aged between one day and four years. Since its launching in 2016, the number of classrooms renovated has hit 3,700, while 4,750 facilitators have been trained.
In a related context, the ministry showcased that the number of nurseries in Egypt is 27,300, and that of child clubs is 370.
In 2021, an initiative concerned with positive discipline was launched training 4,000 female social leaders so they would promote the concepts among 500,000 families. That is in addition to training 150 university professors, 12,000 university students, and 6,000 supervisors at nurseries and child care centers so they would raise awareness among 1.2 million families.
The ministry also streams "Ahl El Hetta" series on social media to propagate the principles of positive discipline, and whose views have exceeded 10 million views until present. Further, a media observatory has been established to monitor the messages pertaining to children.
As for children included in Takaful w Karama, their number is around 5.6 million, including 340,000 special needs cases, with a total annual funding of LE6.9 billion. Every child aged below 6 is granted LE60 per month, while the monthly allowance for children in primary, preparatory, and high school is LE80, LE100, and LE140, respectively. As for students at tertiary education, the allowance is LE200.
However, there are conditions for such support, and that is showing up for medical check-ups for children aged below 6, and an attendance of at least 80 percent of academic days for children aged above 6.
Other benefits of Takaful w Karama are the exemption of 5.5 million children at pre-university education from tuition fees, and covering the tuition of 160,000 others by the ministry.
With regard to disabled children, rehabilitation services were provided to 62,000 minors aged between one day and 18 years old. That is in addition to disbursing 4,100 assistive devices, and 2,400 laptops to visually-impaired high-school and university students.
Regarding orphaned children, the annual budget allocated to their nutrition, education and healthcare is LE1.4 billion. Further, monetary subsidies are being disbursed to 420,000 children who either lost the father, or lost both parents but are living with foster families.
The rate of adopted children increased by 28 percent (18,000 children), while the number of orphanages fell by 10 percent, as a result of promoting the concept in the Egyptian society. The country has 481 housing a total of 9,500 children.
As for 19,000 homeless children, some of them have been reintegrated with their families, while the rest were sent to facilities where they are being rehabilitated.
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