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UNESCO and the Ministry of Education and Technical Education of Egypt officially launched the national "Artificial intelligence competency framework for teachers" on 3 June 2026. This marks a major milestone for the country’s digital transformation agenda and its commitment to preparing teachers for the age of artificial intelligence.
Within the framework of the UNESCO-Huawei Technology-Enabled Open Schools for All project, the launch follows the National Consultation and Validation Workshop held in Cairo in October 2025. This event was a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and UNESCO, bringing together over 120 representatives from government institutions, universities, teacher training bodies, civil society organizations, development partners, and the private sector to adapt UNESCO’s global framework to the Egyptian context. The framework itself was developed through a highly participatory process, involving national and international experts, conducting surveys, focus groups, interviews, and extensive consultations with a wide range of stakeholders. This comprehensive approach ensured that the framework accurately reflects local realities and effectively responds to the specific needs of Egypt’s education system, aligning it with SDG4 and the broader 2030 agenda for sustainable development.
The AI competency framework for teachers, developed by UNESCO, offers countries a flexible structure and comprehensive guidelines to support educators in effectively learning, understanding, evaluating, and responsibly utilizing AI technologies. This framework places significant emphasis on ethics, inclusion, human agency, and critical thinking, while simultaneously guiding teachers on how to leverage AI to enhance teaching and learning experiences. It aims to improve efficiency in educational processes, foster creativity among students and educators, and support personalized learning pathways. From UNESCO’s perspective, artificial intelligence is intended to serve as a powerful tool to support and empower teachers, rather than to replace their invaluable role. The core principle is that technology should always empower teachers. This fundamental belief underpins UNESCO’s global strategy concerning AI in education, which is further guided by key international agreements such as the Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and Education (2019), the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (2021), and the Santiago Consensus on Teachers (2025). Collectively, these documents advocate for and promote human-centered, ethical, and inclusive approaches to educational innovation.
In Egypt, the newly contextualized AI competency framework is designed to serve a dual purpose: it acts as a robust capacity-building tool for teachers and functions as a crucial policy reference for the seamless integration of AI across various educational domains. These domains include teacher training programs, professional development initiatives, strategic educational planning, and comprehensive curriculum reform. As a subsequent critical step, UNESCO and the Ministry of Education and Technical Education in Egypt are committed to implementing a detailed action plan. This plan involves active collaboration on a series of capacity-building initiatives, which encompass both online and face-to-face training programs. Furthermore, it includes the essential preparation of AI master trainers, the development of culturally relevant Arabic learning resources, and the establishment of innovative teacher training hubs. These hubs are envisioned to facilitate interactive and technology-enabled professional development opportunities. The launch of the "AI competency framework for teachers in Egypt" thus signifies another vital milestone in the country’s overarching efforts to cultivate a future-ready education system. This system is dedicated to empowering teachers, embracing technological innovation, and ensuring that technology judiciously serves learning in an ethical, equitable, and profoundly human-centered manner.