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Al-Ahram Weekly 30 Sep. - 6 Oct. 1999 Issue No. 449 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 30 Sep. - 6 Oct. 1999 Issue No. 449
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters 'Useful entertainment'
By Rania Khallaf
Children can find a wealth of information on the Internet, but many parents would prefer a good old-fashioned book. Now, the two media need no longer be incompatible: a 12-volume encyclopaedia aimed at children aged 10 to 18 is available, and may soon be published on CD-ROM.
Mrs Mubarak
The celebration that marked the launching of the encyclopaedia was held at the enchanting Manasterli Palace in Manial. Renovated last year, the palace provided the perfect atmosphere for a small, intimate reception. The guests looked eagerly through the encyclopaedia; many of the women were chatting excitedly about the fun they would have exploring it with their children.
"Arab children were lacking a very important source of knowledge: an integrated source of information," said Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, under whose auspices the encyclopaedia has been published in the framework of the Reading for All programme. A junior encyclopaedia is crucial if new generations of scientists and scholars are to be educated, Mrs Mubarak said, describing the project as "a dream come true".
The 3,660-page encyclopaedia features beautiful illustrations and attractively presented facts on various subjects (the environment, history, religion, politics...), contributed by such luminaries as scholars Yunan Labib Rizk and Hussein Amin. Unlike its predecessors and foreign counterparts, this work also includes extensive information on the Arab world.
"Today, we are celebrating the official launch of the Arabic Junior Encyclopaedia, jointly developed by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, World Book International's editorial staff, and the Cairo Cultural Group, with Mrs Mubarak's sponsorship and encouragement," said Robert Marten, chairman of the US-based World Book Organisation.
"The encyclopaedia," Marten pointed out, "sets a new standard and level of achievement for international reference materials in the Arabic language. It should be seen as part of a comprehensive educational programme, not a single project."
This international cooperative effort has produced four other works: Arabic Children's Crafts, published in 1991, was translated especially for Egypt and was placed in 10,000 government school libraries; The Young Arabic Scientist, published in 1994, was placed in 12,000 government schools; The Story of Egypt for Children was published in both Arabic and English in 1997; and The Modern History of Egypt was published the same year.
"These important publications are testimony to Mrs Mubarak's leadership in her campaign to educate Egypt's children and to encourage literacy everywhere in the country," Marten noted. "How we care for our children will determine our future prosperity and, to a large extent, how we will live with one another as world citizens," he added.
Marten told Al-Ahram Weekly that World Book's assistance was mainly technical, and included selecting appropriate information of global interest for schoolchildren, choosing appropriate illustrations, and reviewing the accuracy of the information used.
Asked about the organisation's eventual plans of future cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Marten said a broad range of plans has been discussed, the most important of which is the possibility of publishing the encyclopedia on CD-ROM, which would serve an entirely different purpose: "For primary school children, books are more practical and easily accessible. However, for children over 10 years who are required to do complex research, it is better to use electronic encyclopaedias," he said. Our primary problem, he added, is getting children to read, and computers do not help in that task. Computers are merely machines, not a teaching tool. Therefore, books and computers should go together because they serve different, complementary, purposes, he concluded.
Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni described the encyclopaedia as "a cornerstone of the cultural services presented to our children, one which has long been missing".
Samir Sarhan, chairman of the General Egyptian Book Organisation and editor of the encyclopaedia, commented: "The encyclopaedia is the outcome of cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as international bodies. Our aim since the very beginning," he added, "was to achieve the maximum level of useful entertainment for children in the Arab world."
Yaqoub El-Sharouni, a writer of children's books, expressed his belief that "every school should have a copy of this encyclopaedia. Training children to use such works should be considered an essential component of education. I hope these efforts will encourage publishers to emulate the project, producing similar educational tools for a younger or an older audience," he said. He also suggested that yearly supplements should be added to the encyclopaedia because of rapid changes in the world of information.
