Impact Investment by AAIB for Teacher Training with SCE

When like-minded partners work together on something as important as teacher development, the impact ripples through exponentially. The Arab African International Bank (AAIB) joined forces with The American University in Cairo's (AUC) School of Continuing Education (SCE) to fund a 90-hour multidisciplinary scholarship program for 150 primary public-school teachers. The training fostered their skills and competencies in a variety of areas including teaching methodology, lesson planning, assessment, educational technology and gamification, and classroom management.

“We have a lot of projects with AUC, but this one is especially dear to me because it addresses a critical area; that is education. Teachers bear an essential and powerful role. The more we invest and empower them with the tools and resources, the better chance future generations have to succeed. We are proud of this partnership that trained them under Egypt’s best university,” remarked Hassan El Shahawy from AAIB.

This program was initially launched in the ‘old normal’ mode of face-to-face instruction. Their educational technology training was especially valuable as the world responded to the COVID19 pandemic and shifted online. And now after the competition of the rest of their program virtually, graduating teachers convened at SCE’s Falaki Academic Center for their recognition and certificates. Given the precautionary measures in place, groups of 15 graduates arrived over several days. A separate ceremony was held for the top 6 performing teachers with the partners’ leadership.

“This gathering is very moving. It reminds us of the importance of why we do what we do at SCE, and the value of cooperating with organizations that share our commitment to move forward as teachers and professionals with better outcomes. I want to thank our partners at AAIB for working closely with us to make this important program a reality,” SCE Dean James Ketterer affirmed.

This program was intentionally designed to include elements that promote students’ well-being alongside their academic progress. Through experiential learning assignments, the teacher trainees actively participated in micro-teaching activities and practical exercises to enhance their pedagogical skills and address their classroom challenges. Driven towards wider impact, one of the main selection criteria for the original pool of 350 applicants that were interviewed was the candidate’s ability to transfer their acquired learnings to other teachers.

As a distinguished graduate, Abeer Fouad Abd-Al Aleem exemplified, “I would share what I learned every single day with my late husband, may he rest in peace. That inspired me to also share with my colleagues. I then designed my own curriculum on educational technology. I once learned that the mark of a good education is one that leaves you pondering more questions. That’s exactly what happened, I built on what I learned here to help others. So, I am extremely grateful that you had the foresight to understand the value of investing in human caliber.”