CAIRO: Students of six Egyptian schools received wireless-enabled classmate PCs, Intel announced Sunday. This marks the completion of the first phase of the Intel-powered Classmate PC project, which is being executed with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and collaboration with EDU Systems International (ESI). The second phase has a set goal of reaching 40 schools. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology said that "the main source of economic development in Egypt depends on the spread of ICT tools in the society and partnering with global companies such as Intel is instrumental to up-leveling ICT development in schools. In doing so, we are successfully preparing the country's youth generation to meet today's market needs. Also present during the press conference announcing the achievement was Yousri El-Gamal, Minister of Education. "The use of technology has garnered great importance in today's education system, and we are confident that the launch of this initiative will help education development for the knowledge age, he said. In a press release, Intel said that "integrating local content into the e-learning environment, Intel and ESI also provided skooolT.com, set for launch in September, with math and science modules tailored to the Egyptian curriculum. The learning resources of skooolT technology are populated with local content and have features including: multimedia learning objects (LearnSteps), interactive simulations (LearnSims), an award-winning math toolkit, exam center study notes, exam guides for math and integrated science as well as study and revision tips. Khaled Elamrawi, Intel General Manager Egypt, Levant and North Africa, said, "In an era driven by innovation, Intel has a strong belief that all students deserve to have the right skills to succeed, and over the last 10 years has invested $1 billion and 2 million employee volunteer hours to improving education worldwide. Student motivation increases significantly with the ability to interact, communicate and collaborate through technology. In order to compete and succeed at international level, students need to be comfortable with technology and include it in their everyday life.
