Education in Egypt: out of the darkness

A child could lose its life when it gets the wrong medicines, or medicines that are past their use-by-date, or an overdose. Such tragedies can happen simply because the child's mother cannot read or write. Oxfam partner, the Better Life Association for Comprehensive Development educates women, and the whole family benefits.

 

More than 3.5 million people live in Minia governate in Upper Egypt. The rate of illiteracy among women is 50 percent, rising to 67 percent in rural areas. This is due to the old custom of giving preference to boys over girls in all aspects of life, including education. The economic strains families face cause them to not send their daughters to school, or to take their daughters out of school.

The Better Life Association for Comprehensive Development is a non-governmental, non-profit association working to improve the quality of life of poor and deprived people in Upper Egypt. Women are one of the target groups that BLACD focuses on, working to empower them and improve their living conditions.

In partnership with Oxfam, BLACD has designed a three-year action plan called ”˜Development of Poor Communities'. It focuses on the whole community, but especially on improving the economic and social position and health of women. Literacy classes are a means to achieving these goals.

In partnership with community leaders BLACD has succeeded in starting 40 literacy classes in 12 communities and districts in 2005. 800 women are enrolled in these classes, around 20 per class, aged 14 to 50.

Be educated, be freeBLACD selected and trained class coordinators from within the communities. They give the literacy classes and hold monthly meetings where women get additional training on women's issues and talk about how to integrate them in the classes. BLACD has provided books, furniture, blackboards and other educational materials.

The curriculum has two components of nine months each, and is called ”˜Be educated. Be free'. It is based on the interaction between teaches and students. Women who have successfully completed the course can apply for a government literacy certificate.

Literacy provides women with a means to educate themselves and for acquiring new ideas. However, it is wasted when they have nothing to read. BLACD has therefore set up reading libraries on three locations, allowing women to practice reading and enabling them to become more educated.

Useful skillsThe program also teaches women about their rights and helps them to obtain their birth certificates and ID-cards, which are necessary in many spheres of life, ranging from opening a bank account to voting at elections.

Furthermore, the classes help women acquire important and useful life-skills, like in healthcare, how to prepare low-cost meals that are highly nutritional, and how to produce handicrafts for sale or use at home. The first group of women is scheduled to finish the second level in August 2006.