Egypt Launches Brilliant New Government Program to Turn Children into Adorable Tour Guides

In an initiative to revive children's passion towards Egypt's rich archaeological history and antiquities, Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities announced the launch of its Young Guide Program, which is an extensive tour guiding training course for school children, in order to qualify them to guide tours for museum visitors. The first wave of trainees was a batch of 30 school children aged 8-12, who went through a week of training at historical Muizz street from the 29th of January until the 4th of February as an extracurricular activity, Al Monitor reports.The program follows in the footsteps of the Children Museum, which was launched in 2002 to educate children about Egypt's history through fun and entertaining activities.

When asked about the goals of the unique program, the General Director of the Cultural Development and Museum Education Department at the Ministry, Rasha Kamel, told Al Monitor: “The Young Guide program aims to counter the phenomenon of antiquities theft and introduce the children to the value and history of antiquities. The child will then share what he or she learned with his or her family and encourage and show interest in preserving antiquities. Furthermore, thanks to the program, the children now feel proud of what they learned about the importance of their culture and history.”Upon her participation in the program's first edition last month, 10-year old Egyptian student Maryam Ayman said: "I feel a lot of pride when explaining my country's great history. It frustrates me that not many people know about the richness of our archaeological history, so I feel that it is my duty to educate them."

Photos: Al Ahram