Conference 05: "Early Childhood Education for the Arab Child in a Changing World", Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt, September 2006

Conference 05: "Early Childhood Education for the Arab Child in a Changing World", Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt, September 2006

The fifth (5) Conference of Arab Ministers of Education discussed the topic of "Early Childhood Education for the Arab Child in a Changing World". The Organization submitted to the conference a main document entitled "Early Childhood Education for the Arab Child in a Changing World", prepared in the light of four reference studies. It consisted of six main axes aimed at demonstrating the importance of early childhood education and its psychological and educational components, and clarifying the roles of civil society organizations, the family and the media therein. It also studied and analyzed the reality of early childhood education in the Arab world and the challenges of the knowledge society, affirming the importance of environmental education for sustainable development.

• Report of the committee following up the implementation of the recommendations of the fourth conference.
• Report of the Director-General of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) on the implementation of the recommendations of the fourth conference.
• Studies and interventions for the round table on education reform in the light of the strategy for developing Arab education:
• His Excellency Professor Dr. Al-Munji Bousnina, Director-General of the Organization, presented a document entitled "Education Reform in the Light of the Strategy for Developing Arab Education", which addressed five main axes: contemporary global challenges and their repercussions on the Arab world; Arab education: its reality and trends; the reasons for reform from the perspective of the Arab education strategy; and indicators of reform from the perspective of the Arab education strategy.

In the light of the in-depth discussions, opinions and proposals that took place in the meetings of their Excellencies the Ministers and the experts, the conference produced a set of recommendations, most notably:

• Recommendations directed to the Arab states:
• Early childhood education axis:

1. Making efforts to make the kindergarten stage a compulsory stage and an integral part of the educational ladder in all Arab states. Providing all facilities to enable the private sector and civil society institutions to play a fundamental role in this field, and seeking to issue all legislation and laws necessary to achieve that, provided that these institutions are subject to the educational supervision of the Arab ministries of education, as well as to the institutions that will be established for accreditation and the application of quality standards.
2. Attention to providing high-quality early childhood education for children in the Arab world, and seeking by all means and methods to achieve this quality in the various components of the educational process (buildings, physical and educational environment, equipment and tools, curriculum and activities, the teacher, administration and the child).
3. Ensuring the establishment of an independent, neutral body for accreditation and quality in the various Arab states, whose responsibility is to monitor the educational institutions of this stage, whether governmental or private.
4. Seeking to increase the proportion of government spending on early childhood education institutions.
5. Caring for those with special needs of their various categories, from the gifted to the disabled and children in difficult circumstances.
6. Attention to the processes of preparation and continuous training of kindergarten teachers, and benefiting from the kindergarten curricula and references prepared by the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).
7. Working to establish specialized institutes and departments in faculties of education concerned with preparing kindergarten teachers.

• Education reform axis:

1. Expediting the formation of specialized research teams to provide practical proposals and mechanisms for education reform and submitting them to the Organization to prepare the required report in cooperation and coordination with the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, in preparation for presenting it to the General Conference of the Organization –December 2006– and submitting it to His Excellency the Secretary-General of the Arab League.
2. Giving special attention to girls' education and setting incentives and controls to reduce their dropping out of education.
3. Establishing practical mechanisms to elevate the Arab teacher, improve his living and professional conditions and raise his social status, as the basis for reforming and developing education.
4. Raising the ceiling of spending on educational research and setting appropriate budgets for scientific research and educational development.
5. Enhancing community participation in education in various forms.
6. Supporting literacy programmes and considering them a fateful battle for the future of the Arab states and an essential condition for reforming the educational system in the Arab states.
7. Establishing quality bodies and centres for measurement and assessment.
8. Providing the public schools in Lebanon that were destroyed or severely damaged due to the Israeli aggression with the various school equipment they need, especially computers, audio laboratories and libraries.

• Recommendations directed to the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO):

Early childhood education axis:

1. Preparing developmental standards for the Arab child to benefit from in building education curricula and preparing teachers.
2. Holding qualifying training workshops for the trainers of kindergarten teachers in the Arab states.

Education reform axis:

1. Introducing successful country experiences in the field of education reform and working to disseminate them by various means.
2. Expediting the completion of the Arab Observatory for Education, which the Organization has begun to implement.

The conference issued the "Cairo Educational Declaration on Early Childhood Education for the Arab Child in a Changing World", which affirmed that the future depends on what we offer our children in terms of upbringing, education and preparation to face this future, adapt to it and live in it, and on the importance of developing creative thinking in the child and making this development at the forefront of educational objectives. Proceedings book of the fifth (5) conference (click here)