AUC Students Go Online to Tackle Issues in Egypt’s Education System

By: Omar El Behery
@omarrelbehery

Egyptian Minister of Education and Technical Education Tarek Shawki praised AUC student efforts to improve the national education system during the closing ceremony of the Student Union (SU) Real Life competition at Moataz Al-Alfi Hall on February 4.

This year’s competition focused on education and was designed to prepare students for real life scenarios after graduation,and provide them with a unique learning experience.

“Private tutoring is addictive,” Shawki said. “Many people do not necessarily care about education. They want the grade. They want to go to college,” he added.

Shawki said that teachers are resisting the reforms that the government is trying to apply to improve the education system, and that some parents play a role in slowing down the educational progress in Egypt.

The competition, which was organized by SU members Engy Ibrahim and Jana Aboughali in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, focused on finding viable solutions to systemic problems in Egypt’s education system.

AUC Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman and Vice-President for Student Life Deena Boraie celebrated the success of the top two teams and Shawki’s attendance along with members of AUC’s community.

The provost thanked Shawki, who was the former Dean of the School of Sciences and Engineering, praising his efforts and dedication to improving the educational sector in Egypt.

“History will remember two people in Egypt’s educational system, Rifaa AlTahtawi and Tarek Shawki,” he said.

Shawki responded by sharing his optimism about the future of education in Egypt and praised the AUC teams and the university for their efforts.

The winning team, comprised of students from the School of Sciences and Engineering, Nour El Ein ElTahawy, Marwan Sayed, Yehia Elkorma, Asser Hangal, and Business student Mohamed Abdelhamid, designed an online education platform to serve teachers, students and parents.

Known as Madrastak, it allows parents to participate in the educational development of their children by having the same access as the students.

Madrastak also provides training and assistance to teachers with the intention to motivate them, and aims to enhance the students’ scholastic experience by ensuring that they are up-to-date with their learning material.

Madrastak won the competition’s grand prize of EGP 40,000.

The runner-up team also built an online educational platform called Tamayoz, or excellence, which provided a variety of high quality features and learning experiences to completely qualify teachers within a fivemonth period.

The minister praised both groups for their remarkable efforts in trying to develop ideas towards resolving educational issues in Egypt.

“The event was very informative, I learned about various struggles that Egypt’s educational system is facing,” said Management of Information and Communication Technology student Yara Ahmed.

“I really think that both teams presented good ideas that might solve a big problem.”