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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters 'Farewell to the fingerprint'
By Reham El-Adawi
At the end of April, 260 students from all over Egypt proudly stepped forward to receive their degrees from the General Administration of Women's Culture (GAWC), affiliated to the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces (GOCP). The students were from the Greater Cairo area, Middle Egypt, Qalyubiya, Fayoum and Beni Suef. Certificates and gifts were distributed by GOCP head Ali Abu Shadi and Zakariya El-Shaf'i, head of the Rotary Clubs' anti-illiteracy committee.
Mona Hussein Elwi, representative of the General Administration of Women's Culture and founder and technical supervisor of the project, said the Concentrated Language Encounter (CLE) system came into effect in 1998 and has been supported financially by the Rotary Clubs and technically by the GOCP, which provides tutors and equipment. "The idea began when I was invited to a 15-day training course at Bangkok's Concentrated Language Encounter International Training Centre (CLE)," Elwi said.
The CLE system aims at teaching women to read and write, often focusing on the vocabulary related to crafts or skills they choose to learn. It can also help women to improve their economic situation by holding exhibitions where they can sell the products they have made.
While the CLE system is not widely applied, it has reached many traditionally remote areas, where other literacy programmes had made little headway. In Minya and Beheira, where it was first introduced, 250 students finished the course with flying colours.
Elwi explains that during direct encounters, the students and tutor narrate stories and together deduce the meaning of words the women did not know. The system also allows the women to discover gifts they did not know they had: many of the students have turned out to be talented artists.
One of the advantages of the CLE system resides in the fact that it does not impose a fixed syllabus. A full literacy course lasts approximately seven months and comprises three levels; but within that basic framework, each tutor tailors his or her own programme to suit his various students' ages, needs, likes or dislikes and occupations.
The system, therefore, is very different from the conventional classroom format. Teachers can teach anywhere: a garden or a courtyard, or -- more commonly -- in one of the women's homes.
Even the structure of the teaching sessions is designed to minimise intimidation: the tutors sit on the ground surrounded by their students. This informal way of gathering to "learn together," notes Elwi, builds the women's self-confidence, sense of solidarity and self-reliance.
Another point in favour of the CLE system's viability is the low expenses incurred by its implementation. Pictures, stories, a felt-tip pen, a large sheet of paper, a stapler and a ruler are the only props required.
In the village of Al-Waqliya, where 95 per cent of women are illiterate, the students receiving their certificates were triumphant. "Farewell to the fingerprint. From now on, in order to get my pension, I will have no problem signing on the dotted line," Sediqa, a 61-year-old woman, said. "I won't be able to live without going on to the next levels."
