Egypt’s Ain Shams University has won the Unesco Confucius Prize for Literacy for its project that uses digital technology to teach literacy in rural areas of the country.
The annual Unesco international literacy prizes were awarded to six programmes from Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Mexico and South Africa, on International Literacy Day.
Ain Shams University president Prof Mahmoud El Meteini spoke in an online event held to recognise the award recipients on Thursday.
“Experience has taught us that despite the difficulties and challenges of using technology for adult distance learning, the opportunities are still encouraging,” Prof El Meteini said.
This year’s awards recognised projects that focused on inclusive distance and digital literacy learning during the Covid-19 crisis.
“Whether NGOs, non-profits, universities or national institutes, they are successfully reaching some of the most marginalised learners in the world,” said Stefania Giannini, assistant director general for education at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
At least 773 million youth and adults globally cannot read and write, and 250 million children are failing to acquire basic literacy skills, according to Unesco.
In Egypt, about a quarter of the population is illiterate, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics.
Ain Shams University is participating in the National Literacy Project launched by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, which aims to eliminate illiteracy in Egypt by 2030.
The public university in Cairo provides educational, economic and social services to poor villages, and trains students to join the project as literacy teachers.
For students in certain fields of study - including education, business, law and arts – teaching literacy is a requirement for graduation.
Student teachers are also provided with cash incentives of 250 Egyptian pounds ($16) from the government’s General Authority for Adult Education for every learner who becomes literate, as well as an expenses exemption for the following year from the university.
Between 2015 and 2021, authorities said, 21,537 learners successfully completed the programme, 55 per cent of whom were women and girls.
During the pandemic, there was an increased focus on using technology, such as creating a YouTube channel to share educational videos and offering online courses for students and university staff.
“Given the current Covid-19 crisis, we started using different educational platforms for both the teachers to provide the ongoing necessary training, as well as for the learning process,” Prof El Meteini said.
The “lack of adequate technological infrastructure” was a challenge, but the university continued to send educational convoys to the most disadvantaged regions in the country in parallel, he added.
The Unesco Confucius Prize for Literacy was established in 2005 with the support of the Chinese government. Each of the three prizewinners will receive a medal, a diploma and a cash prize of $30,000.
The prize gives special consideration to functional literacy and use of technological environments, in support of adults in rural areas and out-of-school youth.
The Unesco King Sejong Literacy Prize, sponsored by the Korean government and established in 1989, gives special consideration to language-based literacy development. The three winners will receive a medal, a diploma and a cash prize of $20,000.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Scoreline
Syria 1-1 Australia
Syria Al Somah 85'
Australia Kruse 40'
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
RESULT
Aston Villa 1
Samatta (41')
Manchester City 2
Aguero (20')
Rodri (30')
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
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Liverpool 2
Keita 5', Firmino 26'
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
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Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
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Honeymoonish
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
more from Janine di Giovanni
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
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Brief scores:
Toss: Kerala Knights, opted to fielf
Pakhtoons 109-5 (10 ov)
Fletcher 32; Lamichhane 3-17
Kerala Knights 110-2 (7.5 ov)
Morgan 46 not out, Stirling 40
Results
2.15pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,950m
Winner: Hello, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihi (trainer).
2.45pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,800m
Winner: Right Flank, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh115,000 1,000m
Winner: Leading Spirit, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
3.45pm: Jebel Ali Mile Group 3 Dh575,000 1,600m
Winner: Chiefdom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,400m
Winner: Ode To Autumn, Patrick Cosgrave, Satish Seemar.
4.45pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh125,000 1,200m
Winner: Last Surprise, James Doyle, Simon Crisford.
5.15pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,200m
Winner: Daltrey, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihi.