The brilliance of Hegazy and Mandela
Translated from Arabic. Read the original.
Treasures of experience
The African activist Nelson Mandela said ” education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”
From Nelson Mandela to Reda Hegazy
Icons of quiet change
In the 1980s a young man from Dakahlia Governorate set out with a bachelor's degree in science and education from Mansoura University ” 1982″ heading for the top …He began his journey with a dream of change in his mind and heart, and through fieldwork in classrooms he learned and he taught.
He began work as a science teacher at preparatory level, then as a chemistry teacher at secondary level, and gained a deep understanding of learners' needs ” the journey of a science teacher to the post of minister ” Youm7 website – Wikipedia ”
The man saw education as a national mission to build an educated, capable person who holds to their values. He calls for a move from rote learning to understanding, and from traditional assessment to comprehensive assessment, with a focus on the teacher” he used to repeat that the teacher is the pole of the tent ”
,, the chemistry teacher who was fused in the crucible of education, a teacher who lived the reality and drew up the plan for change,,
Dr Reda Hegazy, from his position as an education expert, adopted the philosophy of education as the engine of sustainable development. Among his well-known phrases: the educational institution is not merely a place for transmitting information…it is a “laboratory” for shaping the individual's awareness so that they become an active citizen … which intersects with Mandela's view that education is a “national project of liberation” from ignorance and backwardness.
Mandela practised a “politics of tolerance” and inclusion, the highest degree of wisdom in managing crises and complex societies.
Dr Reda Hegazy, in the context of developing education, adopts a similar philosophy based on “informed gradualism” and ”involving the stakeholders”. Bringing about change in the structure of education requires a strategic patience resembling Mandela's wisdom in building bridges between different currents inside the education system.
People at the centre of the process (humanism)
* The deeper philosophical link is “human centrality”: Mandela held that any political project fails if it does not put people at its heart.
Dr Reda Hegazy, in his educational thinking, focuses on “quality of education” and ”empowering the learner”, including gifted learners and people with disabilities. This springs from a philosophical belief that people are the real resource: just as Mandela staked everything on the “people” of South Africa to rebuild the state, the education expert stakes everything on “the human mind” as the sole pillar of a knowledge economy.