Dr. Hossam Badrawi holds an important meeting with leaders of Ismailia Governorate as part of the Bridges Initiative

Bridges Initiative in Ismailia
In a special and exceptional visit to Ismailia Governorate, Dr. Hossam Badrawi and Dr. Mahmoud Hamza, Professor at Alexandria University and Executive Director of Education First Foundation, and the team and founders of the Bridges Initiative held an important meeting with the leaders of the governorate, where they were warmly received by the Governor of Ismailia, Major General Akram Galal, Dr. Nasser Mandour, President of Suez Canal University, Dean of the Faculty of Education, and education leaders in the governorate.
The dialogue and discussion took place on how the “Bridges” initiative was implemented in Ismailia to raise the level of education with a reference to Vision 2030, which Dr. Hossam Badrawi pioneered under the umbrella of the Ministry of Planning, led by Dr. Ashraf Al-Arabi, Minister of Planning in 2014.
The meeting was attended by the founders of the initiative, Dr. Saber Hassan, Head of the Education Sector at Misr El Kheir Foundation and member of the Executive Council of the initiative, and Ms. Mirai Nessim, CEO of Takatof Association. On the other hand, the meeting was attended by the Deputy Governor and Director of the Technical Office in the Governorate, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Solidarity in Ismailia, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education in Ismailia, Director of the Educational Buildings Authority Branch, Director of the Educational Complex in Ismailia, Director of General Education, Director of Technical Education, Directors of Educational Administrations in the Governorate, Director of the Decent Life Unit in the Governorate, and Director of the Vocational Rehabilitation Center.
The Governor of Ismailia began the meeting by welcoming the guests of Ismailia and all the concerned, participating and supporting parties of the “Bridges” initiative, expressing his optimism about this initiative and its role in developing education at every stage in Ismailia.
He added that the “Bridges” initiative project in Ismailia Governorate aims to support the role of civil society in developing education, considering education a national issue for the people and government.
For his part, Dr. Hossam Badrawi, Head of the Advisory Committee of the Education First Foundation and the Bridges Initiative, thanked the Governor of Ismailia for the warm and generous reception in the governorate.
Adding, we have a passion for the “Bridges” initiative in Ismailia to be a model to be emulated in the rest of the governorates, and we chose Ismailia Governorate for its distinguished culture, its distinguished management style, and the presence of a university integrated with the surrounding civil society “Suez Canal University”. This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Mahmoud Hamza, CEO of Education First Foundation and General Coordinator of the Bridges Initiative, a full presentation of the initiative in Ismailia Governorate, stressing that this initiative comes through the supervision of the Ministry of Education, the support of (the National Alliance for Civil Development Action), cooperation with the Federation of Egyptian Industries, and cooperation with a number of civil society institutions that support education issues, namely Education First Foundation, Misr El Kheir Foundation, Fahim Foundation for Psychological Support, Vodafone Egypt Foundation for Community Development, Takatof Association, and Nile Badrawi Foundation for Education and Development. The implementation steps included holding a meeting with the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, the Directorate of Education in Ismailia Governorate, representatives of the National Alliance for Civil Development Work, and representatives of the “Bridges” Initiative to agree on the work plan, signing a joint cooperation protocol between the Ministry, the Alliance, and the institutions of the “Bridges” Initiative, forming the Executive Committee of the “Bridges” Initiative, and holding an expanded meeting with the directors of the departments of Ismailia Governorate (8 departments): (North / South / Abu Suwayr / Qassasin / Tell El-Kebir / Fayed / Qantara West / Qantara East), then holding a meeting with the directors of primary and preparatory schools in Ismailia Governorate, activating the applied technology system in Ismailia Governorate. Hamza added that the initiative aims to implement the proposal to establish an applied technology school and pharmaceutical industries (within the Advanced Military Experimental Technical School for Information Technology), in cooperation with the industrial partner, Banque Misr and the Federation of Egyptian Industries. In addition to activating and operating paper and wood waste recycling plants, 4 factories have been established to recycle paper and wood waste since 2014, including the wood waste plant at the School of Architecture, the paper waste plant at the Salam Decorative School, the wood waste plant and the paper waste plant at the School of Heavy Equipment, in cooperation with the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

After that, Major General Pilot A.H. Akram Mohamed Galal, Governor of Ismailia, opened the discussion to the attendees, and asked questions to answer all inquiries and questions about the “Bridges” initiative in the governorate.

For his part, Dr. Nasser Mandour, President of Suez Canal University, confirmed that the university is fully prepared to provide all support during the implementation stages of the initiative in the governorate, through the university’s faculty members, and the university’s previous practical experiences in similar experiments such as the Egyptian-Chinese College of Applied Technology at Suez Canal University.

At the end of the meeting, the Governor of Ismailia confirmed that interest in technical and technological education has become a global trend, so the Egyptian government has adopted this model of education to keep pace with industrial and technological development worldwide.
Akram expressed his happiness that the application will start in Ismailia Governorate, which will benefit the governorate by preparing a well-educated and trained technician, according to the latest scientific and technological methods, to meet the needs of the labor market in the governorate.