Open Curriculum Project in Egypt/Call for Volunteers

Egypt is a place with many potentials. Enhancing education is one way to empower a better future. Our project breathes life into school curricula. It gives students a whole new, sci-entific mindset.

To achieve this, we need your help. In this stage, we need people who are experienced in WikiSource but all interested volunteers active in any Wikiproject are welcome as well.

Kindly read all about our project below.

What is the project’s aim?

The project allows teachers, parents, academ-ics, and almost anyone to search, discuss, and contribute to school curricula, thus improving its quality.

How did we achieve these goals?

1) We took all the Egyptian government's school text books from their Microsoft open drive. 2) We then uploaded the textbooks into wiki commons and we tagged each textbook with the appropriate categories so they can be easily searchable. 3) For each Text book we made a Wikisource index for some books (in order to create a digital version of the book. 4) Each uploaded Wikisource book is auto-populated with OCR content and users should help transcribe the content from here 5) Once that is done you should have a page like this for each text book (note its a work in progress so there is no content yet.

What are the project’s benefits?

It is a platform to quickly search, dis-cuss, update School Curriculum and text books. It keeps students up-to-date with the latest revisions in their subjects, for free. It ignites students’ passion for learn-ing through Technology. It develops research skills in students from an early age. It allows students to tailor their re-search and their study needs.

What is our plan?

1. Writing a proof of concept. (ongoing) 2. Contacting charities and NGOs in Egypt. 3. Getting attention and contributors 4. Provide metrics on the projects success through Wikidata. Examples: number of text books updated, number of views, number of edits and discussions etc..

Is it worth it in Egypt?

Yes, 44.1% of Egypt’s population uses the inter-net. Hence, the project might widely spread. Furthermore, the fact that Egypt is the highest contributor in Wikipedia ‘s Arab World Education Program proves that Egyptian students are energetic and ambitious.

How can Wikimedia Foundation help?

By reaching out to the wiki community for vol-unteers to the project. Also, using Wikimedia projects for storing the curricula will help in guaranteeing the continuity of the project.