Intel education programs set new milestones in the Middle East

During a regional trip last week, Intel's Vice President, Sales and Marketing Group and General Manager for Europe the Middle East and Africa, Christian Morales, along with Karim Fahmy, Intel's general manager in the Egypt, Levant and North Africa region and Bassem Nasir, Intel's education manager in the Middle East, attended 2 celebration ceremonies in Jordan and Egypt, to mark the training of 15,000 teachers and 1000 teachers in each country respectively.

In Amman, the celebration was attended by His Excellency Dr. Issam Al-Zaabalawy, minister of higher education, and attended by teachers and ministry officials from throughout the Kingdom. The 15,000 teachers trained represent 35% of Jordan's total teacher population and the program is set to continue at the same rate; it has so far been successfully implemented in various cities around the country such as Amman, Irbid, Maan, Aqaba, Zarqa, Jarash, Karak and Salt.

In Cairo, the ceremony was attended by His Excellency Dr. Ahmed Gamal El Din Moussa, Egypt's Minister of Education and His Excellency Dr. Tarek Kamel, Egypt's Minister of IT and Telecommunications and marked the training of the country's first 1000 teachers since the launch of Intel Teach to the Future in May of this year. The initial wave of training, targeted at core trainers, has covered Alexandria, Menia, Aswan, Luxor, Menofia, Domiat, Kalyoubeya, and North Sinai.

"The success in both Jordan and Egypt is a testimony to the collaboration between Intel and the governments" said Karim Fahmy. "at Intel, we believe that we have a role to play in spreading ICT skillsets which are essential to help the youth compete in today's technology based job market. We look forward to more successes in our initiatives throughout the Middle East."

The Intel Teach to the Future program, set to train two million teachers worldwide, by the year 2005, is a worldwide education initiative that enables teachers to train other teachers on how to integrate technology into their day-to-day lesson plans and incorporate the use of the Internet, Web page design and productivity software to encourage higher-order thinking and creativity in their students.