Cairo: Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel Ghaffar chaired a meeting of the ministerial group for human development on Monday, September 8th, 2025, bringing together top officials to coordinate efforts on early education, innovation, digital transformation, and women's empowerment as part of broader national development goals.According to State Information Service Egypt, the meeting, held at the Ministry of Health and Population premises in the New Administrative Capital, included the ministers of education, higher education, local development, youth, social solidarity, awqaf and legislative affairs, in addition to representatives of the high advisory committee on human development.Abdel Ghaffar stressed that the group's role is to enhance and align ministerial efforts rather than duplicate them, urging more collaboration to expand early childhood education and eliminate learning delays and illiteracy among children under ten. He praised the work of the Social Solidarity Mini stry and called for an emergency plan to improve literacy rates.The minister also highlighted the need to expand innovation and IT centers in Egyptian universities and raise public awareness of their role. He stressed the importance of integrating digital tools, especially AI, into both university-level research and pre-university education. The group discussed a plan to use the upcoming edition of Egypt's Global Congress on Population, Health and Human Development as a platform to showcase achievements in cross-ministerial cooperation.Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister Ayman Ashour presented the 'Be Prepared' initiative, which has trained more than 81,000 students and graduates through innovation centers at universities, aiming to build youth capacity for the modern labor market. He urged other ministries to support similar programs aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.Youth and Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhy proposed the creation of a central coordination unit to streamline j oint human development projects across ministries and ensure efficient implementation.Awqaf Minister Osama El-Azhari announced the launch of a digital platform for Islamic heritage, with plans to integrate audio-visual content and AI to make it globally accessible. Abdel Ghaffar called for interfaith support to expand the platform's impact.Education and Technical Education Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif said Egypt had launched urgent reforms in general and technical education, including introducing AI and coding into school curricula. He also noted cooperation with Japan to upgrade vocational education and provide internationally recognized certifications for students.Social Solidarity Minister Maya Morsy emphasized the importance of unified media messaging and integrating performance indicators across ministries. She called for establishing nurseries in cultural centers and sports clubs to support child development.Local Development Minister Manal Awad highlighted the need for every ministry to compile progress reports on development-related indicators and activities, stressing efforts to improve local services, training, and job creation in rural and urban areas.Parliamentary, Legal Affairs and Political Communication Minister Mahmoud Fawzi underlined the need to define key human development indicators and prioritize them, proposing that the ministerial group meet quarterly to maintain momentum.Maged Othman, head of the advisory committee, presented recommendations for better monitoring of training programs, linking them directly to employment outcomes. He also proposed expanding AI integration in education, regulating professional practices, and enhancing pre-university learning outcomes.The meeting concluded with agreement on setting fixed dates for regular sessions and improving inter-ministerial reporting mechanisms. The group aims to consolidate progress ahead of Egypt's upcoming international conference on population and development.