The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education held a ceremony to handover the graduation certificates to the first batch of Egyptian Tokkatsu Officers who have played a significant role in promoting and practicing Tokkatsu activities in Egypt.
The ceremony was attended by Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education and Technical Education; Ambassador Designate of Japan to Egypt, Oka Hiroshi; Hany Helal, former Minister of Higher Education and the Secretary General of EJEP Steering Committee; Imoto Sachiko, JICA Senior Vice President; Nevine Hamouda, Advisor to the Minister for Strategic Relations; Omura Yoshifumi, Chief Representative of JICA Egypt office; and Isam Hamza, Director of Liberal Arts and Culture Centre (LACC), on behalf of Ahmed ElGohary, President of Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST)
Since the launching of Egypt-Japan Educational Partnership (EJEP), during President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi’s visit to Japan in 2016, and with the opening of the Egypt-Japan School (EJS) in 2018, JICA and the Ministry of Education have been collaborating for the promotion of activities related to Japanese-style education and character building, with a focus on “Special Activities”, adopted under the name of “Tokkatsu” in the Egyptian national curriculum.
These Tokkatsu activities focus on the development of the children’s non-cognitive skills through fostering their autonomous abilities, social and independent attitudes, and establishing human relationships that form the basis for academic achievement. Tokkatsu in Egypt is implemented through a bunch of activities such as the Classroom Discussion, Class Instruction, Daily Coordinator, Cleaning, and others similar to what is applied in the schools in Japan.
In this regard, JICA in cooperation with Ministry of Education and Technical Education have supported the establishment of a pilot project of “Tokkatsu Training and Certification System” (TTCS) to develop the knowledge methodology and to examine the skills acquired by Tokkatsu Officers through the training provided by Japanese Experts.
Both sides praised the achieved progress and agreed to continue the mutual cooperation for more achievements that contribute to the Egyptian government’s efforts for comprehensive reforms of education.
