Egyptian school curricula to focus on renouncing violence

School curricula in 2015-2016 will include lessons on renouncing violence and fighting terrorism and extremism, the Egyptian education minister has said.

The new curricula will also focus on the concept of tolerance, as well as accepting the Other, Moheb el Rafie told MENA correspondent Tuesday night.

Rafie was attending the fifth extra-ordinary meetings of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).

"We hope to have a joint Arab action concerned with education," Rafie said, stressing the need to give more focus on the threat of extremist groups.

"Wrong education has led to the emergence of many [extremist] groups."

The Egyptian minister urged his Arab counterparts to promote the concept of tolerance through school curricula, that should also focus on fighting extremism, violence and terrorism.

Hopefully, ALECSO will play a more effective role in this regard, Rafie said.

Asked about Egyptian-Arab cooperation in the field of education, the minister said: "There is a big partnership between Egypt and Arab countries in this field, which is considered the most important file to which we should all pay enough attention in order to move on the right track."

He touched upon the role played by the Saudi-based Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education and the Regional Center for Adult Education (ASFEC) located in Cairo, Egypt.

Commenting on the educational process in Egypt, Rafie said: "We are adopting a strategy to upgrade education in Egypt in the period between 2014 and 2030." The strategy has been approved by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Rafie noted.

Part of the strategy is to upgrade 16,000 technology classes and open an additional 5,000 with the aim to reduce class capacity, the minister said, noting this should be implemented in three years.

"Our vision is to have an educated, intellectual and creative society."

He also pointed to a proposition by the Supreme Council of Universities in Egypt not to issue graduation certificates unless graduates have contributed to educating four illiterates over the course of their university education.

"We are currently studying a mechanism to activate this proposition.

"We have some 3.5 million university students, which means we will educate about 14 million illiterates in four years.

"I think this Egyptian experiment is good."

Rafie said his Ministry is working according to a timetabled plan to address the reading problem of some students receiving basic education, noting this should take from eight to nine months.

The Ministry of Education is seeking to develop the educational process and restore discipline to schools, he added.

He also talked about a plan to change the organizational structure to better follow up the performance.

A quick intervention unit has been formed with the aim to interact with complaints of parents, the minister said.

A teacher performance application will also be issued as part of the reform strategy, he added.

The extra-ordinary meetings of the ALECSO kicked off here Tuesday to discuss a general framework of future action in the period between 2017 and 2020.

The future action is hoped to achieve multidimensional development and upgrade ALECSO's educational, cultural and scientific aspects.