The Faculty of Al-Alsun at Ain Shams University organized a celebration of Al-Alsun's achievements in the literacy project, under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of the University, Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Ghada Farouk, Acting Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, Prof. Dr. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, and the supervision of Prof. Dr. Nasser Abdel Aal, Vice Dean for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Youmna Safwat, Vice Dean for Community Service and Environmental Development, in the presence of a delegation from the Adult Education Authority headed by Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yahya Nassif, Head of the Executive Body of the Adult Education Authority, Dr. Islam Al-Saeed, Director of the Adult Education Center at the university, Dr. Nahed Rahel, director of the literacy unit at the Faculty.

During his inaugural speech, Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, said that Ain Shams University is a five-star university with its professors and students. He added that illiteracy is a scourge and a danger to society as a whole, indicating that the rate of economic development is affected by the percentage of illiteracy, which has a great impact on society.

He began his speech by saying that it is not reasonable for the world to talk about the illiteracy of technology and digital programs while we are still illiteracy of writing, just as illiteracy is considered a fertile breeding ground for the danger of inserting terrorist and false ideas into the mind of the illiterate.

He also praised the role of Egypt's universities, which were able to eradicate the illiteracy of 720,000 citizens, pointing to the role of Ain Shams University as the first Egyptian university to initiate this obligation out of its belief in the role of community service. He also expressed his pride in the students of the Faculty of Al-Alsun and the students of the university as a whole for their effective role in eradicating illiteracy among citizens in light of the burden of study.

Prof. Dr. Ghada Farouk, Acting Vice President of the University for Community Service and Environmental Development, explained that literacy is not only in quantity but in quality and the extent of resonance to inculcate the value of community solidarity in the minds of university students and their role in the development of the surrounding community.

She pointed to the importance of sensing the illiterate, after erasing his illiteracy, the difference and change in his life, and the opportunities that appeared before him, whether at work or in his life in general, to ensure that he does not return to illiteracy again, asking students to maintain a sense of responsibility in community service.

While Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yahya Nassif, head of the executive body of the General Authority for Adult Education, explained that the problem of the world now is technology illiteracy, and we are still fighting today the illiteracy of the alphabet, stressing that having a military force that protects the homeland is equivalent to having scholars who are able to protect the minds of the people of the country and starting from that point, the Egyptian state has taken Extensive steps to eradicate the illiteracy of citizens to preserve the capabilities and gains of sustainable development.

As Prof. Dr. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty confirmed that the literacy project 2019 has become a mandatory assignment for graduation, and in cooperation with the Adult Education Authority, which provided many of its services to support the success of the national project for literacy with the help of the children of Ain Shams University, it contributed to Ain Shams University obtaining the UNESCO Prize for Literacy.

And she continued her speech, stressing that the education sector and students, in conjunction with the Corona pandemic and the mechanization of the educational system, took it upon itself to work to support the literacy eradication project according to the highest developed system that contributed to overcoming all the obstacles that the project faced at the beginning, so that today the Faculty of Al-Alsun has succeeded in eradicating illiteracy of nearly 3,600 citizens, stressing that Egypt has nearly 18 million illiterate citizens, and universities must play their enlightening role to combat illiteracy.

As discussed by Prof. Dr. Nasser Abdel-Aal, Vice Dean for Education and Student Affairs, during his speech that the mission assumed by the university in partnership with the Commission and in the partnership of university students aims to consolidate belonging and harness the great energies of young people to serve the complex, develop the environment and advance the nation through a community partnership capable of returning Egypt to the right track in line with the state’s orientations to achieve sustainable development.

Prof. Dr. Youmna Safwat, Vice Dean for Community Service and Environmental Development, confirmed that the students have sufficient awareness to achieve the process of developing Egyptian society by working on the literacy project.

She explained that the Faculty of Al-Alsun applies a plan that is approved annually, and a guide is issued that includes information on literacy, locations, and numbers of offices of the Adult Education Authority, and a mechanism for obtaining a graduation certificate with the aim of achieving graduation requirements, and more than 150,000 illiterate data were provided to provide illiterate students, as well as applying instant tests. To eradicate illiteracy in the college, in addition to incentive prizes for students, including exemption of students from expenses for those who erased illiteracy from four citizens.

During his speech, Dr. Islam Al-Saeed, Director of the Center for Adult Education at the university, stressed that the problem of illiteracy haunts the Egyptian society

There is no room for the luxury of participating in it, but it is a national issue. Ain Shams University had the first center for adult education at the level of Egyptian universities. The Adult Education Center holds courses to prepare students to participate in the project because dealing with the elderly requires specialized expertise, even if a graduate of the Faculty of Education. Also, he explained that the center has an electronic platform via YouTube that contains important information about adult education that helps students to gain different experiences in adult education, and called on distinguished students to work as trainers in adult education courses at the center.

In conclusion, Prof. Dr. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty of Al-Alsun, honored Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Ghada Farouk, Acting Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, handing them certificates of appreciation and memorial shields.

The ceremony also witnessed the honoring of distinguished students who made great contributions to the eradication of illiteracy for a large number of citizens, and they were handed certificates of appreciation.