Egypt's youth 'key to revival'

摘要

There is a pool of talent among the youth in Egypt that is unbelievable. They are people who think creatively and critically, who are yearning for the freedom to express themselves, and many of them are those who are leading this revolution." Tarek Khalil, president and provost of the non-profit, independent Nile University in Cairo, is convinced that the country's Facebook generation represents the best chance in decades for the intellectual renaissance of a society that has been rendered moribund and impoverished by the military dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak. Other Egyptian researchers contacted by Nature share Khalil's views (see 'Scientists speak out'). They emphasize that, with the regime still in place two weeks after anti-Mubarak protests began on 25 January, the most urgent priorities are to halt the regime's crackdowns on protesters, and to ensure that the pro-democracy movement prevails. But in the long term, they say, Egypt's education and science systems must be completely overhauled to help address the root causes of its social and economic woes.