Cairo, March 19, 2019

Grassroots Assistance

Japan Provides Assistance to Improve Quality of Education through the Project for Improvement of Primary School in Sayeda Zeinab in Cairo
　

On March 19th of 2019, Mr. Masaki Noke, Ambassador of Japan to Egypt and Ms. Fardous Ahmed Ali, Chairperson of Tanweer Center for Development and Human Rights, signed a Grant Contract for Japanese Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots and Human Security Projects.

The grant assistance amounting to 172,228 USD is extended by the Government of Japan to Tanweer Center for the purpose of implementing the project for providing safe and decent educational environment at Shohadaa Port Said Primary School through refurbishing buildings and facilities of the School and offering capacity building training programs to school teachers.

At Zeinhom in Sayeda Zeinab district of Cairo, there are only two primary schools including Shohadaa Port Said Primary School. Currently, the school building is aged and children are studying under unsafe environment with broken windows and low fences on the high floors at risk of falling down. Furthermore, the school is unable to provide music, sports and art classes to children due to the lack of rooms and facilities. The project will not only improve the safety standard of the school and increase its capacity from 550 to 1,000 children, but also provide facilities to conduct music, sports and art classes for a better quality education.

At the signing ceremony, Ambassador Noke highlighted the Government of Japan has been making its best efforts to support educational reforms of Egyptian government through Egypt-Japan Education Partnership, and the civil society also plays a pivotal role in educational development in Egypt. Ms. Fardos Ahmed, the school principal and Dr. Khaled Abdou, General Director of Educational Department of Sayeda Zeinab District, highly appreciated Japan’s commitment to support the educational reforms in Egypt and showed their gratitude to Japan’s assistance to the project at this primary school. During the ceremony, Ms. Fardos Ahmed Ali emphasized the importance of conducting different extra-curricular activities to discover and enhance students’ different talents.

This grant is extended under the Japanese government’s assistance scheme of the “Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots and Human Security Projects” which provides financial support to non-profitable organizations including NGOs in fields such as health, social care, education, environment, vocational training, and empowerment of women. Under this scheme, Japan has supported 166 projects since 1994 to date in Egypt.

For more details, kindly refer to the Embassy of Japan homepage at URL:
https://www.eg.emb-japan.go.jp/e/assistance/grass_roots/index.htm