Egypt’s House of Representatives in a general session on Tuesday approved a $500 million agreement loan to support the education reform project signed between Egypt and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
The agreement was signed by Egypt in April at the United States. A Joint Committee of the Education Committee and the Bureau of the Committee on Economic Affairs recommended that the parliament approve the agreement.
The IBRD is an international financial institution that offers loans to middle-income developing countries. The IBRD is the first of five member institutions that compose the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, DC.
The World Bank said in April that the agreement will support increasing access to quality kindergarten education, improving the quality of learning and adopting technology as a vehicle to achieve reform objectives.
The project will expand access to quality kindergartens for around 500,000 children, train 500,000 teachers and education officials, while providing 1.5 million students and teachers with digital learning resources.
The five-year Supporting Egypt Education Reform will help transform the education system through bold modernization initiatives. The project is aligned with Egypt’s ‘’2030 Vision’’ sustainable development strategy, which puts a strong emphasis on the critical role of education sector reform in Egypt’s social transformation.
“September 2018 marks the start of the journey to make our students ready for life, and we are pleased to have this partnership with the World Bank to accompany us on that journey. Our goal is to provide our students with the competencies they need to create a society that learns, thinks and innovates,” Egypt’s Education Minister Tarek Shawki said in April.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
