MDGs and SmartSchoolsNetwork

							           Towards the MDGs:
           Smart Schools Network
           The Smart Schools Network project Addresses the MDGs by Improving Universal
           Access to Education (MDG 2)




January 2010

Over the past decade, UNDP has strongly supported the government of Egypt to make the
utmost use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in order to contribute to
sustainable socioeconomic development in the country. The Smart Schools Network was
developed within the framework of the project entitled “ICT to Foster Egypt’s Sustainable
Human Development.”

The Egypt ICT Trust Fund (supported by the Ministry of Communication and Information
Technology [MCIT], the Italian Cooperation and UNDP Egypt) established several smart schools
within the country, each of which is fully equipped with computers, connectivity and training.
The computer labs were also used as Community Learning Centres (CLCs) after the official
working hours to serve the community at large. The educational process has been enhanced by
the introduction of technology into the schools; however a lot is still to be done to harness the
use of technology for women in particular.

The Smart Schools Network (SSN) made a great development in communication within schools
and between the schools and the outside community. Additionally, ICT facilitated the learning
process and trained the students, administrators, teachers, and even the parents which serves
as an ICT channel connecting all the different components of the educational process.

The schools also extended to most governorates of Egypt inspiring the whole educational
system. The beneficiaries have so far included around 18,350 students in 38 schools distributed
in 17 governorates. The trained teachers on ICDL were 1,720, while the benefited number of
school administrators was 333. The users of Community Learning Centres (CLC) exceeded
6,000 people. This reflects the huge positive impact of the project on the whole of the
educational community.

By the integration of ICTs into the learning process, ICT makes possible the exchange of
knowledge with no difficulty at all. ICT allows easy communication at a low cost, which also
means a cheaper, easier and universal access to education and information (MDGs 2, 3 & 8).
This project has been finished with success, and continues by the “Egyptian Education
Initiative”, which is currently ongoing.