The U.S. Embassy and the Ministry of Education announced today the launch of three new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) secondary schools in Alexandria, Dakahleya, and Assiut. The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), partnered with the Government of Egypt to build and develop the country’s first two STEM high schools in 2011.
“The remarkable thing about STEM education is students learn how to think outside the box, conduct experiments, and work in teams,” said USAID/Egypt Mission Director Sherry F. Carlin. “These are all important skills that will help Egypt’s youth grow into future leaders and design solutions to the country’s greatest development challenges.”
The STEM model of education in Egypt provides a strong academic foundation in science and mathematics for more than 500 of Egypt’s brightest students from a range of socio-economic backgrounds. USAID has developed the STEM curriculum, provided equipment for school laboratories, and conducted training and coaching for teachers and administrators for the STEM Schools in Maadi and 6th of October.
Students from these two schools have participated in – and won awards at –global competitions such as the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in the United States and the International Science Competition in Taiwan.
The United States has a long and positive history of partnership and cooperation with Egypt. The efforts in increasing access to education over the past three decades have provided 185,000 girls’ scholarships, and built 2,000 schools in underserved communities throughout the country. In recent years, USAID collaborated with the Ministry of Education to provide 24 million library books, train more than 200,000 teachers, assistant teachers, supervisors, and school boards, and to support the use of technology in education.
