Equal education for girls
MRS SUZANNE Mubarak announced Sunday that 2003 is "The year of the Egyptian girl". Announcing the launch of a girls' education initiative at a conference held at the Maadi Public Library, Mrs Mubarak said that education is "the main pillar of national security and the only entry point onto the new global map", and will always top Egypt's national priorities.
Mrs Mubarak, who heads the National Council for Mohterhood and Childhood (NCMC), said that the one-classroom school project, which started in 1993, marked the beginning of a qualitative shift in girls' education. Initially consisting of 213 schools, the project today encompasses 2,649 schools. In 1993, 2,930 girls were enrolled; by 2002 the figure had gone up to 55,610.
"The initiative we are announcing today has been studied rigorously and is based on a systematic institutional effort to eliminate the gender gap in education by the end of 2005," Mrs Mubarak said. "Our target is half a million girls in the six to 14 age group."
Mrs Mubarak said the project will be launched this month in the seven governorates with the greatest educational gender gap: Beheira; Fayoum; Beni Suef; Minya; Assiut; Sohag; and Giza. The initiative aims to build nearly 8,430 schools in the seven governorates.
The NCCM will be supervising the project in cooperation with concerned authorities and institutions, thereby creating effective partnerships to remove all obstacles standing in the way of girls education in Egypt.
