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Egypt: Education min. to integrate students with special needs in society

Asia/Egypt/05.06.2018/Source: www.egypttoday.com.

The Ministry of Education signed on Saturday a cooperative protocol with the National Union bank and Misr El Kheir Foundation (MEK) to implement the media campaign “Differently-abled” that aims to integrate students with special needs in the society.

Advisor of the Minister of Education for Marketing and Promotion, Yousra Allam, launched the biggest national campaign “Differently-abled”, focusing on psychological and educational needs of students with special needs, according the spokesman for the Ministry of Education Ahmed Khairy.

Allam remarked that the campaign will raise the awareness of the society particularly parents about the sound ways to treat their children through different kinds of media.

The Ministry of Education has taken several steps to enhance education in Egypt, which is part of Egypt’s 2030 vision to cultivate economic and social justice and revive the role of Egypt as a regional leader. Launching the first Arabic Citation Index (ARCI) worldwide comes at the top of these efforts.

First Arabic Citation Index worldwide

Minister of Education and Technical Education Tarek Shawki, a representative of the Knowledge Bank, signed on May 28 a protocol with Clarivate Analytics to launch the first Arabic citation index worldwide.

The signing ceremony was attended by Minister of Culture Inas Abdel Dayem, head of Bibliotheca Alexandrina Mostafa el Feki, public figures, members of Parliament and leaders at the Ministry of Education.

“The ARCI will be powered by the Web of Science – the world’s most trusted and only publisher – neutral citation index for researchers in Egypt and across the 22 member states of the Arab League,” according to Clarivate Analytics’ website.

The new system of education

In the same context, he mentioned that the index is included in the new system of education at the secondary school, stressing that the Ministry of Education has contracted many international entities to buy their contents and deliver them to Egyptian students, along with buying 2D and 3D films, adding that 5,700 videos in English and Arabic have been bought. He said that these movies, Al-Adwaa book and other scientific content would be put on tablets.

He stated that a random exam would be prepared every week to encourage students to come to schools.
Japanese schools

On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, the minister of education said in a press statement that the Egyptian-Japanese schools’ curriculum will be in Arabic at primary schools.

The Japanese education system, Tokkatsu, will be applied at 40 Egyptian-Japanese schools in different governorates in September.

A total of 20,000 teachers have applied to receive a training in the Japanese Tokkatsu education system in the ministry.

Shawki added that the ministry will hold a meeting on June 4 to choose 1,500 students for Japanese schools.

 

Source of the news: https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/51471/Education-min-to-integrate-students-with-special-needs-in-society

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Egipto: Al Sisi promete mejoras en educación en su segundo mandato

África/ Egipto/ 06.06.2018/ Fuente: start.att.net.

Dos meses después de ser reelegido en las urnas en unos polémicos comicios, el presidente de Egipto, Abdelfatah al Sisi, asumió hoy su segundo mandato en un acto en el Parlamento de El Cairo en el que prometió ocuparse en primer término por la educación, la sanidad y la cultura.Con la ceremonia comienza oficialmente su nuevo periodo al frente del país tras unas elecciones que ganó con una clara mayoría pese a las acusaciones de manipulación y del autoritarismo con el que ejerce el poder.

En 2014 Al Sisi fue elegido con casi el 97 por ciento de los votos, después de que encabezara un golpe de Estado en medio de fuertes protestas en el país contra el primer presidente elegido democráticamente en Egipto, el islamista Mohammed Mursi.

«En el primer mandato nos enfrentamos juntos a los mayores desafíos en la historia de nuestra patria», afirmó el presidente, y añadió que seguirá intentando mejorar las relaciones con los socios internacionales y regionales sin entrar en conflictos inútiles.

Egipto enfrenta una difícil situación económica. Los críticos acusan a Al Sisi de haber recortado la libertad de expresión y de perseguir a los opositores. Miles de islamistas y miembros de la oposición secular han sido encarcelados desde que Mursi fue destituido.

Las elecciones también son cuestionadas. Según la Comisión Electoral, un 97,08 por ciento de los votos válidos fueron para Al Sisi, frente a un 2,92 por ciento para su rival, Mussa Mustafa. La victoria era esperada porque todos los adversarios de peso se retiraron antes de los comicios en medio de dudosas circunstancias. El único que se enfrentó a Al Sisi fue Mustafa, un político desconocido que los observadores consideraron una marioneta para dar una fachada de legalidad.

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EGYPT The current educational system will end by 2026: Education Minister

Minister of Education Tarek Shawki announced that the current educational system will vanish by 2026, gradually replaced by a new one.

During group Iftar (Breaking fast) at the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo, Shawki disclosed that the new educational reform will keep the class teacher away from correcting any school examinations.

Shawki said that that the new system will modify the “Thanaweya Amma” high school exams, which causes great pressure and stress for students and their families. Instead of one final exam, there will be an evaluation over three years, and the exams system will change to something that fairly measures the skills and understanding of students.

He also shed light on the issue of how expensive private tutors are, saying that they cost families LE 20-25 billion annually, and that some private classes have very expensive tickets ranging from LE 200 to LE 500.

“Paper books will be cancelled as well,” Shawki said.

Shawki explained that the education budget costs a total of LE 80 billion; LE 68 billion for salaries, LE 6 billion for buildings, LE 3 billion for books and LE 3 billion for food and the costs of Thanaweya Amma.

Shawki announced earlier that school tablets will be provided for free by the Ministry of Education, and will operate through school networks and pre-saved data to avoid any possible internet connectivity problems. Tablets, scheduled to be distributed to first year high school students starting next year, will operate with high capacity in all cities and towns at equal quality and performance.

A few weeks ago, Shawki unveiled a new reforming system to take place in September 2019 as part of Egypt’s educational development strategy which will cost approximately $2 billion over a period of 14 years; the new system will be applied to kindergartens and first grade and will include new curricula, assessment methods and exams, and that the rest of the existing grades will be developed in parallel.

The minister also pointed out that the Thanaweya Amma exams will be electronic, and without any interference from teachers. The exams will be held at the school level and not through a unified nation-wide exam.

The results will be answered, checked and announced electronically. High school students will take 12 exams over three years and the highest score will be calculated, giving students more than one chance to answer.

Shawki said that the first component of the project is to build a new early childhood education system with real balanced life skills, the second component is to improve the conditions of teachers, the third component is to improve the assessment systems to measure the real skills of the secondary school students, and the plan includes the launch of electronic learning platforms.

Fuente: http://www.egyptindependent.com/the-current-educational-system-will-end-by-2026-education-minister/

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EGYPT Caution greets private universities twinning requirement

Africa/Egipto/universityworldnews

Resumen: A las nuevas universidades privadas no se les permitirá operar en Egipto a menos que tengan acuerdos de colaboración con instituciones clasificadas entre las 50 mejores universidades del mundo, según el presidente egipcio Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.La medida recibió críticas mixtas de expertos en educación superior. «No se deben otorgar permisos a ninguna universidad a menos que firme un acuerdo de gemelos con la mejor universidad en el extranjero para garantizar un mejor nivel de educación a los estudiantes universitarios», dijo El-Sisi en unadirectiva dirigida a funcionarios de educación superior el 22 de marzo. La medida, encaminada a mejorar la calidad de la educación universitaria en Egipto e impulsar las clasificaciones universitarias locales, fue confirmada por el viceministro de Educación Superior e Investigación Científica, Essam Khamis, según un informe local .  Las mejores 50 universidades del mundo se determinarán utilizando seis rankings de universidades. Entre ellos se encuentran los rankings universitarios mundiales Times Higher Education , los rankings QS World University , el ranking académico de las universidades del mundo y el ranking Webometrics de las universidades del mundo . A pesar de contar con una de las universidades más antiguas del mundo, la Universidad Al-Azhar, ninguna de las 48 universidades públicas y privadas del país ha llegado a la lista reciente de las 100 mejores universidades de clase mundial. Los expertos internacionales han acogido con cautela la medida. «Es una excelente idea tener universidades extranjeras asociadas con universidades locales para establecer nuevos programas conjuntos o universidades», dijo Jane Knight, experta en educación superior internacional en el Instituto de Ontario para Estudios en Educación de la Universidad de Toronto, Canadá. Sin embargo, dijo que limitar la colaboración a las 50 mejores universidades del mundo es «demasiado estricta y restringe la posibilidad de establecer asociaciones». Knight, quien también es un distinguido profesor visitante en el Centro Ali Mazrui de Estudios de Educación Superior en la Universidad de Johannesburgo, Sudáfrica, dijo que aumentar el número de instituciones de educación superior elegibles podría en realidad impulsar las opciones. Angel Calderon, asesor principal de planificación e investigación en RMIT University, Australia, dijo a University World News que la posición de una institución en el ranking universitario mundial no debería ser el criterio definitorio de si una institución es digna o no de una asociación con otra institución. «De hecho, los criterios para un top 50 son totalmente espurios y es poco probable que produzcan un compromiso significativo», dijo Calderón, un experto en rankings y miembro de la junta asesora del QS World University Rankings.


New private universities will not be allowed to operate in Egypt unless they have collaboration agreements with institutions rated among the top 50 universities in the world, according to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The move has received mixed reviews from higher education experts.

“Permits should not be given to any university unless it signs a twinship agreement with the best university abroad to guarantee a better level of education to university students,” El-Sisi said in a directive to higher education officials on 22 March.

The move, aimed at improving the quality of university education in Egypt and boosting local university rankings, was confirmed by Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Essam Khamis, according to a local report.

The top 50 universities in the world will be determined using six rankings of universities. Among these will be the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the QS World University Rankings, the Academic Ranking of World Universities and the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.

Despite boasting one of the oldest universities in the world, Al-Azhar University, none of the country’s 48 public and private universities have made it onto the recent list of the top 100 world-class universities.

International experts have cautiously welcomed the move.

“It’s an excellent idea to have foreign universities partner with local universities to establish new joint programmes or universities,” said Jane Knight, an expert on international higher education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, Canada.

However, she said limiting collaboration to the top 50 universities worldwide is “too strict and restricts the possibility of establishing partnerships”.

Knight, who is also a distinguished visiting professor at the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, said increasing the number of eligible higher education institutions might actually boost the options.

Angel Calderon, principal advisor for planning and research at RMIT University, Australia, told University World News that the standing of an institution in the world university rankings should not be the defining criteria of whether or not an institution is worthy of partnership with another institution.

“In fact the criteria for a top 50 are entirely spurious and unlikely to yield any meaningful engagement,” said Calderon, a rankings expert and a member of the advisory board to the QS World University Rankings.

Susanne Kammüller, a senior expert in transnational education with the transnational education and cooperation programmes of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), told University World News the rankings were one way to judge the academic quality of universities, but their usefulness and informative value continues to be a controversial topic.

“The methodology and specific focus of analysis in international rankings lead to very different results among different rankings and practically exclude many higher education institutions which are excellent in their specific field,” Kammüller said.

“The rankings might be helpful to gain a broad overview on potential international partners but for the decision on a fitting university partner, ranking placements and, even less so, ranking results alone, are not an appropriate criterion,” Kammüller added.

Kammüller warned that the ideal partner would depend on specific circumstances, for example, a collaboration with a top-ranked research institution of international renown might be helpful for a new university aiming to create a name for excellence in fundamental research.

“If the aim is to educate qualified engineers to meet increasing industry demand for highly skilled specialists in an emerging economy, a good university of applied sciences without ranking status but with fitting specialisation and industry links could turn out a better choice of an international university partner,” Kammüller said.

But rankings expert Calderon said the driving criteria should be institutional affinity based on the institution’s mission and vision, as well as its orientation in alignment with the institution it seeks to partner with.

“Further, consideration needs to be given to an institution’s discipline strength and areas where it could have meaningful engagement,” Calderon said.

Fuente: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180417094909381
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Of investment in education: is Nigeria still Africa’s giant?

By Adekunle Adebajo

For as far as most Nigerians can remember, this country has been proudlyreferred to astheGiant of Africa. This title was earned by virtue of her intimidating economy, her huge population and her big brother role during the years immediately following her independence from British rule. However, the country is fast losing the respect accorded to her in the past, not only in Africa but across the globe. The factors responsible for this are not far-fetched: poor supply of electricity, poor state of infrastructure, notoriousness for internet fraud, corruption, an inferior quality of education among others.

Homing in on the last, it has been discovered that the state of the country’s schools can be easily explained financially. Comparing the budgetary behaviour of Nigeria and some other countries across Africa reveals that Nigeria’s giant status is not found where it matters the most, particularly in the level of attention paid to the education sector. While other African countries seem to have recognised the potency of education as a midwife to development, a better economy, a safer society and a more prosperous population, Nigeria’s priorities are still found in sustaining an excessively expensive system of governance and in national security, the funds for which often reflect better in foreign bank accounts rather than local battlefields. Rather than set the pace in implementing global standards, Nigeria evidently has a lot to learn from smaller and younger countries across the continent.

Kenya
Kenya’s education sector has traditionally received the lion’s share of the country’s national budget to take care of teachers’ salaries, and primary and secondary school subsidies; and this tradition was upheld in the 2015 budget.In April 2016, the Kenyan government tabled its 2016/17 national budget estimates before the National Assembly. The Budget Policy Statement (BPS) ceilings in all the sectors summed up to 1,498 Kenyan shillings; but the Gross Expenditure Estimates, after the increase by the Treasury, amounted to 1.667 trillion Kenyan shillings. Based on the BPS, education received a total of 346.6 Ksh, which in other words is 23.1% of the entire budget. This figure is topped only by the allocation to Energy, Infrastructure and ICT, some of the projects under which are also academic in nature, for instance the laptop project gulping Ksh 17.58 billion.

South Africa
In the 2016/17 budgetary year in South Africa, the country spent R213.7 billion on basic education, which is about 15% of the total budget; and, according to the National Treasury, the allocation is projected to rise an average of 7.4% annually over the following three fiscal years. In terms of percentage, this allocation, according to data from the United Nations, trumps those of the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. As projected, more recent figures are even more education-friendly. According to aUnited Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) document titled, “Education Budget, South Africa, 2017/2018”, the budget for school children is presently 17% of total government expenditure.

Ghana
Ghana has also established herself as one of Africa’s big spenders on education. In 2013, she committed a whopping 31% of her budget to education as against Nigeria’s 8% in the same year. The following year, the figure dropped to 20.5%; and it declined even more in 2015 to 17.8% and in 2016 to 13.5%. In 2017, however, the Ministry of Education’s budget experienced a 20.7% increase from the previous year’s figure; that is from 7.55 billion Ghanaian cedes to 9.12 billion Ghanaian cedes. And in 2018, the allocation has increased by another 11.6% as the government proposed last year to spend GHS 10.18 billion on the Ministry. This amounts to 16.42% of the total budget of GHS 62 billion.

Egypt
As for Egypt, one country whose universities alwaysstand out on the continental ranking, the government proposed to spend EGP 104 billion on education in the 2016/2017 fiscal year, which amounted to 11.1% of government spending in that year. This is an improvement on the allocation of EGP 99.3 billion the previous year. The increment in the allocation is partly attributable to the Egyptian Constitution. According to the document, the government is required to spend at least 3 per cent of the Gross National Product (GNP) on healthcare and at least 4 per cent on education every year. It is noteworthy that the global average education budget in relation to GDP stands at 5%.

Lesotho
This country is renowned to spend most part of its GDP on education. According to the budget speech to the parliament for the 2017/2018 fiscal year presented by Dr.MoeketsiMajoro, the Minister of Finance, the government proposed to spend a total of M2.423 billion on education and training in 2018. This, to put it differently, is 19.2% of the entire budget. The previous year, the government had spent 20.7% on

the same sector.

Now to Nigeria
In the acclaimed giant of Africa and home to the largest black population on earth, regard for education appears to be an anathema to all forms of government, whether led by a military dictator or a democratically elected individual, a Northerner or a Southerner, a Major General or a Ph.D. holder. An assessment of the trend from 1999 shows that the lowest allocation, 4.46%, to education was in 1999, and the highest, 11.44%, was in 2015. The average allocation in all 16 years of democratic rule is 9.14%. In the pre-1999 years of military rule, the sector did not fare any better as a study has shown that the average allocation to education between the years of 1981 and 1998 was a meagre 4.18%.

The situation has in fact worsened under the present administration. The first budget presented by President MuhammaduBuhari in December 2015 for the 2016 fiscal year was in stark contrast to the double digits legacy left by his predecessor. Education received ₦369.6 billion, which was 6.07% of the entire budget. In the 2017 budget proposals, N448.01billion was allocated to education, representing about 6% of the ₦7.30 trillion budget. And in the 2018 Appropriation Bill, the government proposed an allocation of ₦435.01 billion to education, which is just 7.04% of the total budgeted amount of ₦8.612 trillion.

Nigeria against the world
Across Africa, most countries are spending more and more on education by the year. As a matter of fact, government expenditure on education in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from US$12 billion in 2000 to US$67 billion in 2013 representing over 450% growth. This trend has resulted in higher literacy rates, lesser numbers of out-of-school children, improved quality of learning, and more foreign investments as well as greater industrialisation owing to greater availability of skilled labour. It has also led to a gradual increase in GDP for many of these countries as educated citizens naturally earn more than those who do benefit from formal learning.

Nigeria, on the other hand, especially under the presidency of MuhammaduBuhari, has yet to board the train of progress, despite cries from various corners. For this country, it has become an unending cycle of budgetary disregard for education, and complaints from stakeholders, accompaniedby silence from the government. The same pattern is repeated year in year out. This habit has affected us greatly, because not only are our schools not reckoned with on the international stage, the culture of academic tourism has seen our economy shed weight to the benefit of such countries as the United States, the United Kingdom and even Ghana.

In 2012, the Chairman of Exam Ethics International, Ike Onyechere, said Nigerians spend over ₦1.5 trillion annually on students studying abroad. ₦160 billion out of this goes to Ghana, while ₦80 billion goes to the United Kingdom. Likewise, in 2016, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institution and Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Senator BintaMasi, said Nigeria spends over $2 billion annually as capital flight on education abroad. With this figure alone, Nigeria can build one or two world-class universities every year, considering the fact that Pakistan planned to spend $750 million for each of its new universities of engineering, science and technology and Qatar’s Cornell University spent the same amount establishing its School of Medicine in 2002.

The country’s lacklustre attitude towards education equally reflects in the ranking of universities across the globe and in Africa. According to the 2016 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, there is only one Nigerian university in the top 15 ranking in Africa, and that university, the University of Ibadan, is number 14 on the list. On the same list, we have six universities from South Africa, three from Egypt, two from Morocco, one from Uganda (ranked fourth), one from the Ghana (ranked seventh), and one from Kenya (ranked eighth). A similar pattern recurred in the 2018 ranking.

Finally
It is high time the Nigerian government recognised that recognising the good in education is for the good of the country. We do not have to go as far as the extreme West or the far East to get examples of countries reaping bountifully from great investments in education. Right here in Africa, there are more than sufficient instances. The Nigerian National Assembly should adopt the Egyptian legislative model by incorporating, into the constitution, a benchmark for budgetary allocations to the education sector. This preferably must not fall below 5% of the nation’s GDP or 20% of government’s annual spending.

Our schools are ailing; and it is not by scrapping Post UTME or quelling industrial actions that they will get better. We must make conscious, radical efforts by investing all we can to turn things around for good. Before we complain that our graduates are unemployable, we must ask first if our schools are habitable and if our facilities are universally acceptable. But beyond just dumping huge sums of money into the sector in theory, the government has to also ensure a balance in recurrent and capital expenditures as well as an effective implementation of whatever plans are laid out on paper. If we can do this, then the return of the giant to her rightful place is not only inevitable but will happen before long, before our very eyes.

Source:

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/263557/of-investment-in-education-is-nigeria-still-africas-giant.html

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Egipto brinda asistencia sanitaria y de educación a Sudán del Sur

África/Egipto/15 Marzo 2018/Fuente: Prensa Latina
El canciller de Egipto, Sameh Shoukry, se reunió hoy con el presidente de Sudán del Sur, Salva Kiir, para alentar el fin de la guerra civil en el país y brindar asistencia en materia de salud y educación.

El ministro del gabinete sursudanés, Mayiik Ayii Deng, recordó que Egipto ha sido un firme seguidor de su pueblo en las últimas décadas.

Sudán del Sur está eternamente agradecido por lo que ha hecho Egipto, que aceptó a nuestros refugiados y les dio acceso a la educación en sus universidades, comentó Deng.

En tanto, la embajada egipcia escribió en su página de Facebook que desde 2005 el país de las pirámides ha apoyado el desarrollo en Sudán del Sur y ha construido cuatro estaciones eléctricas, así como escuelas y clínicas médicas.

Durante la visita del ministro egipcio de Asuntos Exteriores fue inaugurado el primer centro de diálisis renal, establecido y operado por Egipto.

Sudán del Sur es parte de una visita de dos países realizada por Shoukry, quien viajará a Kenya este mismo lunes.

Aunque Egipto se compromete a apoyar el proceso de paz, proporcionando apoyo logístico, critica el embargo de armas impuesto por Estados Unidos desde principios de este año.

Sudán del Sur está en su quinto año de lucha y el conflicto, que ha matado a decenas de miles de personas y ha desplazado a varios millones, no da señales de terminar.

Fuente: http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?o=rn&id=159479&SEO=egipto-brinda-asistencia-sanitaria-y-de-educacion-a-sudan-del-sur
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Egypt: U.S. Agency for International Development and Ministry of Education Launch Renewable Energy Curriculum

United States / February 24, 2018/By: APO

Resumen: Un nuevo plan de estudios desarrollado por la Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional en asociación con el Ministerio de Educación ayudará a más de 300 estudiantes de escuelas técnicas en Aswan y Hurghada a especializarse en energía renovable y prepararlos para el empleo en los prometedores sectores de energía eólica y solar de Egipto.

A new curriculum developed by the U.S. Agency for International Development in partnership with the Ministry of Education will help over 300 technical school students in Aswan and Hurghada specialize in renewable energy and prepare them for employment in Egypt’s promising solar and wind power sectors.

This new, three-year diploma program is the first of its kind in Egypt. It supports the Government of Egypt’s plan to meet 20 percent of its electricity needs through renewable energy by 2022.  The program will provide skilled labor for power plants such as the Benban Solar Park in Aswan, where 40 solar stations will help meet Egypt’s increasing demands for electricity.

Developed by the Ministry of Education and Technical Education in partnership with USAID, the renewable energy curriculum is being piloted in three technical schools in Aswan and Hurghada and will eventually expand to 57 schools in nine governorates.  The coursework combines classroom instruction and hands-on, practical experience to produce technicians capable of immediately contributing to the renewable energy sector.

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“The launch of this new curriculum could not be more timely,” said USAID Mission Director Sherry F. Carlin at the program launch in Benban Technical School. “Employers like engineering companies and renewable energy firms need to hire people with skills and experience, and this new technical education program trains students to become skilled technicians who are qualified for these jobs.”

Speakers at the launch ceremony at Benban Technical School in Daraw included Aswan Governor General Magdy Fouad Hegazy and Deputy Minister of Education and Technical Education Dr. Ahmed El Geushey.

This activity is part of the $30 billion that the American people have invested in Egypt through USAID since 1978.

Fuente: https://www.cnbcafrica.com/apo/2018/02/21/egypt-u-s-agency-for-international-development-and-ministry-of-education-launch-renewable-energy-curriculum/

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