Dubai Cares’ Dhs7m programme to enhance girls’ education in Egypt

DUBAI: Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, is aiming to address some of Egypt’s most pressing challenges surrounding girls’ education and help to nurture a new generation of leaders, through a new Dhs7,347,000 ($2,000,000) programme.

The programme titled “Ensuring Supportive and Safe Quality Education for Girls in Egypt” represents Dubai Cares’ first intervention in the country. The three-year programme reflects the need for inclusivity and empowerment, an enhanced school environment, development of teaching methods, and the revision of school curricula by providing quality education that prepares young people for successful and fulfilling futures.

The programme also aims to improve the standard of education for 15,000 students, and ensure they have a safe and engaging environment to learn throughout Upper Egypt’s Assiut, Beni Suief, and Minya governorates. It will also adopt a multi-faceted approach to achieve its objectives by cultivating girls’ leadership skills through extracurricular activities and sports, and enabling them to put these skills into practice through participating in Student Unions.

Commenting on the launch of the new programme in Egypt, Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer at Dubai Cares, said: “Our objective for this new and diverse programme is to allow girl students in Egypt to recognise and realise their full potential, opening their eyes to what education makes possible, and providing the teaching and learning environment that underpins a quality education. Designed to cultivate leaders and lifelong learners, Dubai Cares aims to build a sustainable and enduring educational and societal legacy for Egypt.”

The programme will also encourage school stakeholders to recognise the importance of empowering female students, improve learning facilities, and raise the overall calibre of education through developing teachers’ abilities in Arabic tuition. Furthermore, the programme includes training in active learning techniques and positive discipline methods to create a more engaging school environment.

“This programme takes elements of what we know is working in addressing girls’ education and puts them together to create an integrated package aimed at improving girls’ education in Upper Egypt. Through improving school infrastructure, safety of girls in schools, gender awareness, girls’ leadership abilities, and teachers’ skills in active learning methods, we hope to empower the girls reached by this programme,” says Nada Al Hajjri, Country Programme Officer at Dubai Cares.

The programme has been developed in response to the fact that despite near-universal primary school enrolment and an increase in Egypt’s public education budget, a large number of the country’s children are still missing out on quality education – or any education at all.

“Supporting girls’ education is one of the single best investments we can make to help them overcome the cycle of poverty. Dubai Cares strongly supports different education stakeholders in Egypt to ensure that girls take their rightful place within their community,” Al Gurg said.

Despite near universal enrolment in primary education in Egypt, which has been in place for several years, a recent study, conducted by the Population Council, found that around 26% of girls surveyed in the country’s frontier governorates, and 23% of those surveyed in rural parts of Upper Egypt, had never attended school, as opposed to 10% and 7% of boys surveyed in these respective area. Egyptian primary schools also have, on average, around 43 students per class, but some governorates – such as Giza, with 52 students per class – have an even higher student-to-teacher ratio.

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