Egypt and USAID Welcome New Educators

Egypt and USAID Welcome New Educators
Congratulations are in order for the graduates of The Technology for Improved Learning Outcomes (TILO) program. These 234 graduates are a distinguished group of educators in the Greater Cairo area who are work to improve education and technology in classrooms. USAID and a few other private companies provide funding for TILO.

TILO offers training on new teaching methods, like how to incorporate technology and digital resources into lessons and ways to encourage their students to think actively and critically. Lisa Franchett, director of educational activities for the TILO program, is very confident in the positive impact TILO is having on young students. She explains, “The program has really helped improve the level of education in the schools. One of the important things happening in Egypt at the moment is the improvement in early grade reading because a few years ago we took a sample from early grade students, grades 4 and 5 they couldn’t read at all.”

The program continues to gain momentum. So far, over 255,000 students, 21,000 teachers, 192 elementary schools, 58 experimental language schools, and 127 preparatory schools have participated in TILO. This program may spread to places other than Egypt. Yemen officials have observed Egyptian classrooms in hopes of improving the reading skills of their own young students.

Egyptian colleges are also interested in employing some methods used by the program. Since TILO has been so successful for young students, universities would like to see their instructors incorporate more technology in their classrooms. TILO is scheduled to continue until late 2013 and the Egyptian government is eager to see even greater improvements up until then.

– Mary Penn

Source: Daily News Egypt