Meeting Egyptian Children's Needs, Major Seminar to Propel the Alam Simsim Educational Experience Into The Future
The event is part of the tenth anniversary celebration of Alam Simsim
Alkarma Edutainment and Sesame Workshop opened today a major seminar on "Meeting Egyptian Children's Needs" as part of the tenth anniversary celebration of Alam Simsim, the popular children's television program.
Addressing how best to maximize the positive impact that Alam Simsim has had on Egypt’s children, the seminar includes prominent members of national and multi-national businesses, broadcast media, government, non-government, early childhood education, and donor organizations. The seminar aims to chart a course for the program's continued growth and success in Egypt and in the broader Arabic-speaking region.
Alam Simsim is co-produced in Egypt by Alkarma Edutainment, the Cairo-based leading provider of educational entertainment media programs in the Arab world, and Sesame Workshop, a non-profit global organization with a mission to harness the power of media to help children around the world reach their highest potential.
“This seminar presents a unique opportunity to study the lessons of Alam Simsim among a group of educational experts,” Alkarma Edutainment Chairman Amr Koura said. “We are enormously proud of Alam Simsim and have organized this semainr to expand on the positive impact created by the show in the last ten years.”
“The seminar will not only allow us to showcase the success of Alam Simsim,” Gary E. Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop said, “but it will be a venue for discussion of the program's pioneering content and outreach programs, leading to even greater possibilities for Alam Simsim in the future.”
Funding for the series has been provided by a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Ministry of Education and under the Ministry of Information's supervision.
Dr. Kenneth Ellis, the Director of USAID in Egypt, said, “Alam Simsim has shown how media in Egypt can also educate, both here and throughout the Middle East. USAID's work with the program has become a model for our other financed educational projects in the region, and what better way than an open seminar to ensure that this now vital children's program enjoys an even brighter future.”
In preparation for the first day of the seminar, attendees will view relevant segments of Alam Simsim. The participants will then initiate a series of discussions on a range of educational topics, from assessing the needs of Egyptian children today to reviewing the program’s educational content and its related Outreach Program and Book Project.
Alam Simsim is produced in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, which helps maintain the educational content of the show, and the Ministry of Information, which supports the series by facilitating broadcast on Egyptian television.
