Ministers of Planning and Education follow up on the implementation of the education component of the structural reforms program
07 October 2021
H.E. Dr. Hala El Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, received recently Dr. Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education, to follow up on the progress and implementation of the National Structural Reform Program (NSRP), which represents the second phase of the economic and social reform program.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Nada Masoud, Economic Advisor to the Minister of Planning, Dr. Mohamed Megahed, Deputy Minister of Education for Technical Education, Dr. Amr Basila, Head of the Applied Technology Schools Sector at the Ministry of Education, and Dr. Hanan Nazir, Advisor to the National Council for Wages at the Ministry of Planning.El-Said explained that the main idea of the reforms depends on fixing some of the imbalances in the Egyptian economy, and ensuring that this economy becomes more robust.El-Said pointed out that work is being done on three main pillars, including the sectors of industry, agriculture, communications, and information technology, as they are the sectors of the real economy, with a focus on some other pillars that intersect with those basic pillars in the structural reforms plan, which includes the labor market axis. El-Said explained the importance of the technical education part in the labor market, in addition to the axis of developing the role of the private sector, as well as the pillar of governance and financial inclusion.
During the meeting, El-Said touched on the importance of developing the technical education system to achieve several goals related to improving the efficiency of the labor market, explaining that Egypt has a large number of young people and that it is a good source of Egyptian labor.El-Said stressed the importance of providing manpower, explaining that there are many challenges associated with technical education, the most prominent of which is a cultural part related to the extent to which society accepts the idea of technical education.El-Said pointed out the importance of the Ministry of Education's development of the mental image and the development of the intellectual and cultural system of technical education, in addition to the pillars related to all forms of development related to technical education.For his part, Minister of Education, Dr. Tariq Shawky, confirmed that technical education has become a priority, pointing to the launch of applied technology schools in 2018, which represents a good attempt for technical education.Shawky explained that the most prominent feature of these schools is their direct connection and participation in the labor market, stressing that the applied technology schools, which numbered about 27 during the three years since their launch, include specializations imposed by the labor market, adding that the community’s acceptance of these schools differed greatly, as there was competition for their entry and sought to her first.Shawky talked about the Quality Authority “Itqan” for the quality of technical education, which has been working on for two years and is awaiting presentation to Parliament, explaining that it represents an independent body and an important source for the development process and evaluation of old and new schools, which represent 2500 schools.Dr. Nada Masoud reviewed the National Program for Structural Reforms (NPRS) and the follow-up and implementation mechanisms, referring to the Supreme Council for the Follow-up of Structural Reforms headed by the Prime Minister, from which the technical secretariat of the program emerged, which formed 5 working groups: business environment, agriculture, labor market, technical education, financial inclusion and availability of financing.Nada referred to the tasks of the working groups, which include contributing to the development and follow-up of performance indicators and proposing measures that would solve obstacles and challenges.