The General Authority for Adult Education congratulates Ain Shams University for being at the top in eradicating illiteracy

The General Authority for Adult Education extended its sincere thanks and appreciation to Ain Shams University for its unremitting efforts in the field of literacy and adult education. 21,090 successful students during the academic year 2020/2021, which is a qualitative leap in the achieved results in line with the value and position of the university at the national, regional and international levels.

This is based on Egypt’s strategic vision for the year 2030 and in implementation of the initiative of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, President of the Republic, under the slogan of a decent life without illiteracy and declaring Egypt free of illiteracy by 2030, where illiteracy is a homeland issue, because of its social, economic and political effects that affect the progress of Society and its advancement, impeding sustainable development processes, and making a real shift in the various fields of work, and as one of the most important and most serious problems facing developing countries at the present time, as the number of illiterates in Egypt is about 17 million, representing 27% of the total population in this segment. The age range is from (15 years and over), and the percentage of illiterate females is higher than that of males by about 10%.

Because the war on illiteracy is not the responsibility of the official authorities alone, but the responsibility of everyone, and in light of the presence of several regions in the various governorates where the illiteracy rate is high, the university was interested in participating in initiatives to eradicate this phenomenon, which stands as an obstacle to Egypt’s progress.

The university was keen to play its societal role, by taking many measures that enabled it to lead all Egyptian universities in eradicating illiteracy.

This achievement is the culmination of the efforts made by the university headed by Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, and Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, and Prof. Dr. Hisham Tamraz, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, and effective partnership with the General Authority for Adult Education, led by Dr. Ashour Omari, as well as the pivotal role played by the University's Adult Education Center headed by Dr. Islam Al-Saeed Director of the Center and General Coordinator of Ain Shams University for the project, in terms of training students and qualifying them to work in the field of literacy.

To this end, the university has concluded a number of joint cooperation protocols with the General Authority for Adult Education, emphasizing the importance of community partnership in facing the threat of illiteracy, and in order to facilitate the desired tasks, through which the university, through its human cadres (faculty members, students), is responsible for eradicating the illiteracy of university workers. villages, neighborhoods and governorate centers, while training university youth participating in the project on the methods and methods of adult education.

The University Council also issued a decision obligating each student of theoretical facultys to eradicate illiteracy (4) individuals throughout the years of study at the university and as a condition for graduation from theoretical faculty: (Business - Arts - Education - Specific Education - Alsun - Law - Specific Education).

In addition to providing a cash incentive of (250) pounds to the student for each student who is emancipated from illiteracy, with the participation of the Literacy and Adult Education Authority, in addition to an exemption from expenses for the following year for each of those who eradicate illiteracy (4) students provided by the university.

The university also selected a coordinating committee to manage and implement the project, and set up literacy units in each faculty to follow up on the implementation of the project, and the General Authority for Adult Education provided a specialized employee from the authority to respond to students’ inquiries about the mechanisms for opening literacy classes while giving students certificates of appreciation for each student who participated in the success students it has.

The University’s Adult Education Center held 60 introductory seminars and workshops, 6 conferences on eradicating illiteracy and its impact on society and new ways to eradicate it, and 90 courses to prepare an adult teacher in various university faculties on the concept of adult education, the difference between adult education and young education, characteristics of adult learners, methods Attracting illiterates to literacy classes, methods of teaching reading, writing and arithmetic skills, procedures for teaching reading, writing and arithmetic to adults, and providing training to some faculty members and their assistants from the "lecturers and assistant teachers", and the training was not limited to university students only, but extended to include students from other universities to qualify and train them to practice community work and benefit from literacy programs.

Postgraduate students, along with students in theoretical faculties, were also recruited with voluntary contributions.

The university did not stop its path to eradicate illiteracy with the emergence of the Corona pandemic, but instead replaced with modern applications to complete training, programs and activities through zoom cloud meeting programs, as well as a YouTube channel, and the channel broadcasts everything related to the project in terms of:

Procedures for opening literacy classes, and how to attract illiterate people to learn.

Incentives offered by the university and the adult education body to students participating in the project.

Addresses and telephone numbers of the Departments of Adult Education at the level of the Republic.

Answer all students' questions about the project.

In addition to the participation of the Adult Education Center in all the comprehensive development convoys of the university, which amounted to 16 convoys from 2015 to 2021.

The order of the university’s faculties in eradicating the illiteracy of citizens was as follows: Education, Girls, Arts, Business, Al-Alsun, Law, then Specific Education.