Egypt Leads the Largest Campaign for Information Literacy

Dr. Bahaa Helmy Writes:

Egypt’s adoption of a strategy for developing education, after it occupied last place in the world for the quality of primary education in 2014 among the (148 countries) covered by the Global Competitiveness Report issued by the World Economic Forum, was inevitable, given the political leadership’s determination and direction to place Egypt among the developed countries of the world.

The Minister of Education was entrusted with the responsibility of implementing this strategy because of his international experience, thought and foresight; he had previously served as director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Technology in the Arab States and as a professor at a number of major international universities, won many awards in the field of scientific research, and led the implementation of many projects around the world in the field of applications of information and communication technology in education, science and culture.

In the current year 2022, Egypt jumped to 42nd place in the world and third in the Arab world in the education quality index, and it was considered one of the 3 best countries in the world in dealing electronically with corona in education in 2020. But this is not the main goal; rather, it was a result of the state’s attention to and care for education.

Here a question arises about what the strategic goals of developing education in Egypt are?

Egypt’s goal in the education development strategy is to develop digital (information) literacy among children and young people, as the future of Egypt and its hope of becoming one of the top ten in the world scientifically, intellectually and economically, as it is the mother of civilizations.

To achieve these goals, it was necessary to move forward in developing the information literacy of young children and youth by training them to use information tools such as (iPads – computers) efficiently in order to solve problems and make effective decisions.

The Minister of Education and the government have borne much criticism, whether from parents and families or from enemies of the homeland abroad and at home, merely for trying to generalize and spread the use of the tablet and correct electronic dealing with databases and research and development for the purpose of creativity and achieving material and scientific gains and intellectual property.

The certain truth lies in the fact that Egypt’s children dealing with electronic means and being trained to use them is training in dealing with information and eradicating digital illiteracy among the new generations of children and young people.

And building people capable of moving from being targets of information to minds ready and qualified to interact with information and turn it into creative innovations, relying on the skilled user of the tools of these technologies and developing the abilities to search for and find information and translate it into understandable meanings to create new ideas.

Developing digital and information literacy among our young children, “the youth of the future”, is the hope and the ambition, despite the criticism of these policies by many parents.

We know that this talk may not please or agree with some, but we must address the subject with research and scrutiny from different angles to show the future goals. Foremost among them is the direction of the political leadership and the government to place Egypt on the highest global platform scientifically, economically, intellectually and in information.

Children’s use of the tablet and the computer is training in how to carry out scientific and information research on the curricula and topics, and learning the methods and skills of information literacy.

The Minister of Education did well to make it easier for parents to help their children with their research on the internet, since the intention was to eradicate the illiteracy not only of the children but of the parents as well.

Children’s practice of technological means and dealing with data simply means raising the ability to classify and select the required information, interpret it and translate it into knowledge, awareness and understanding, create and develop new ideas, as well as drawing on the ideas of others, acquiring the skills of verifying and sorting information, interpreting it accurately and using it well, and developing the skills of research projects so as to turn them into productive projects that yield profit and material and moral gain for the individual and the state alike.

Hence Egypt is leading the largest campaign for information literacy, in line with the thought, performance and goals of the New Republic.