Ain Shams University, headed by Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, received the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy for the year 2021 in the presence of Prof. Dr. Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education, Mr. Nizar Hassan, Acting Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Science in the Arab States, Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Ayman Saleh, Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research, Prof. Dr. Hesham Tamraz, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, Dr. Ghada Abdel Bari, Secretary General of the Egyptian National Committee for UNESCO, Dr. Ashour Al-Omari, President of the General Authority for Adult Education, Dr. Islam Mohamed Al-Saeed, Director of the Adult Education Center - Ain Shams University, Dr. Ashraf Moharram, Director of the Center Regional Adult Education (ASFEC) and a group of deans and vice deans of faculties.

In his speech, Prof. Dr. Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education, said that today’s celebration represents a step towards achieving the desired goal of the new republic, which is declaring Egypt free of illiteracy by 2030. and implement literacy assessment programs and rates, expand literacy activities among girls and women, strengthen ways to implement literacy activities using information and communication technology, expand knowledge and monitoring and evaluation processes, and expand literacy programs on the current agenda.

He pointed to the ministry's orientation to the villages most in need, communicating with universities and forming many partnerships with various state institutions such as universities and national institutions, as well as through many national projects such as the project of no illiteracy with solidarity and the use of technology to transform adult education programs into a digital image and the work of virtual classes on the Internet, forming the mind of the literate, and providing it with a number of other skills, such as teaching professional trades.

Also Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, reviewed the measures taken by Ain Shams University since 2019, which reinforced the university’s winning of this award, were represented in the university’s signing of a cooperation protocol with the authority regarding the literacy project, which provided a set of possibilities and incentives in innovative ways and various incentives that bore fruit, following University Council Resolution No. 36 of 2019 approving that students of theoretical colleges educate 4 individuals as a condition for obtaining a graduation certificate, in addition to issuing an incentive of (250) pounds for each student freed from illiteracy from the Literacy and Adult Education Authority, in addition to issuing an incentive of (50) pounds for Each student is free from illiteracy, in addition to the exemption from the expenses of the next year for everyone who eradicates illiteracy (4) students provided by the university. He also referred to the effective role played by comprehensive development convoys, as he explained that, in addition to medical and curative services, it also includes literacy.

He pointed out that cooperation with the Adult Education Authority has been strengthened using digital technology as an alternative, and the Corona pandemic has been exploited in the speed of digital transformation and the use of digital technology, pointing to the role of comprehensive convoys carried out by the university in providing comprehensive medical care, in addition to the presence of literacy as an essential element in addition to teach simple crafts.

He also thanked Prof. Dr. El-Hilali El-Sherbiny, former Minister of Education, Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Hesham Tamraz, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, and Dr. Ashour Omari, Head of the Adult Education Authority.

The Chinese Ambassador to Cairo, Liao Liqiang, also delivered an online speech in which he congratulated Ain Shams University for winning the Confucius Prize, praising the cooperation between Egypt and China.

Prof. Dr. Ghada Abdel Bary, Secretary-General of the Egyptian National Commission for Education, Science and Culture at UNESCO, noted that the Egyptian state has been working hard at all levels to eradicate illiteracy as a major obstacle to the efforts exerted for development, as literacy is a key tool to enhance personal capabilities to achieve human and social development.

The Egyptian National Committee for Education, Science and Culture is actively seeking to support the efforts of the Egyptian state in this context by optimizing the efforts of national authorities to benefit from what is provided by international organizations working in the fields of education, science and culture. Preparing and implementing project programs in a way that achieves the Egyptian point of view.

Prof. Dr. Ashour Omari, head of the General Authority for Adult Education and Literacy, expressed his happiness at the celebration of the UNESCO Literacy Prize, which was won by the experience of Ain Shams University, in cooperation with the General Authority for Adult Education, where the authority is keen to invest the energies of university youth in the field of literacy and adult education in rural and poor areas. He thanked Prof. Dr. Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education, who provides all aspects of support to the authority, which is a new direction taken by the Egyptian state, which is that major national issues are undertaken by several institutions through a partnership between various ministries and fields, foremost of which is the eradication of illiteracy, pointing out that the eradication of illiteracy is witnessing a radical change.

He pointed out that the Literacy Law No. 8 of 1991, which states that literacy and adult education is a national duty shared by all sectors of the state, in addition to civil society organizations and the private sector, where we rely primarily on partnerships with various bodies and institutions, including universities.

He added that winning the Confucius Prize did not come from a vacuum, but there was a clear plan between the authority and state institutions, and the main partner in this experiment was the Egyptian universities, especially Ain Shams University.

He pointed out that the General Authority for Adult Education is an independent body under the supervision of the Minister of Education that relies on partnerships, indicating that they do not have private buildings, but they do partnerships with various state agencies with the armed forces, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Social Solidarity, pointing to the role of awareness convoys in various Egyptian villages.