In Cooperation with UNICEF, Britain allocates £12 M to support education in Egypt

CAIRO - 4 February 2019: The UK Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) and The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) inked on Sunday evening a partnership, worth £12 million, to support the educational reform in Egypt.

The signing ceremony was held at the headquarters of the UK Embassy in Egypt and was attended by British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams, UNICEF Representative in Egypt Bruno Maes, and Minister of Education Tarek Shawqi.

Minister Shawqi shed light on the UK-funded project, entitled “Integrated Education Services for Vulnerable and Marginalized Children in Egypt,” which targets three geographically important governorates: North Sinai, South Sinai, and the Mediterranean city of Ismailia.


British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams (R) and UNICEF Representative in Egypt Bruno Maes (L) sign a three-year program to developeducation in Egypt in presence of Minister of Education Tarek Shawqi (C) at the headquarters of the UK embassy in Egypt- Egypt Today/Samar Samir


“This project comes as a timely support to the ministry’s commitment to the transformation of the Egyptian educational system: Education 2.0,” he said, adding that introducing new curricula, teaching tools, methods, school environment and assessment criteria is essential to positively change the face of education in Egypt and the learning experiences of the students.

The three-year program will be implemented by the UNICEF Egypt, said Sir Adams in his speech. “The essence of the program is the support for Egypt’s education reform. This is the heart of the thing we do in education,” he added.

“The program will provide technical assistance to schools, teachers, and supervisors. We believe we will impact 550 primary schools, 12,000 teachers, 3,000 supervisors and most importantly 80,000 students. Today’s announcement follows the successful Egyptian participation in the Education World Forum in London,” the ambassador said.

Shawqi and an accompanying delegation had participated in the Education World Forum in London on January 20-23,2019.

“We jointly announce the launch of the Integrated Education Services for Vulnerable and Marginalized Children in Egypt which comes in support of the ministry’s vision and plans to transform the education system in Egypt as the ministry mainstreams Education 2.0," said UNICEF Egypt Representative Maes.

“It [the program] also ensures, in line with Education 2.0, that vulnerable children are equipped with a 21st century skills-based education that improves their learning, that empowers them in facing difficult life situations, that will help them in their work life, and most importantly, that will provide them with the values Egypt needs to build a promising future,” he continued.

The program will focus on the accountability in education to increase the parents’ direct engagement in the education system, Maes said, praising the Egyptian education reform since it has been launched in 2017.


British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams (R) and UNICEF Representative in Egypt Bruno Maes (L) sign a three-year program to developeducation in Egypt in presence of Minister of Education Tarek Shawqi (C) at the headquarters of the UK embassy in Egypt- Egypt Today/Samar Samir