Education Minister Ahmed Zaki Badr has announced a decision to modify the curriculum for primary and secondary school students, with changes taking effect at the beginning of the 2010-2011 academic year. Ministry sources point to plans to remove “superfluous material” from the textbooks it distributes to Egypt's school districts. Adel Shoukry, the minister's consultant for administrative development, said the entire school curriculum at every level was currently under revision. He stated that the ministry wanted to eliminate those parts of the curriculum that “wear students out.” Shoukry noted that lists of the portions of the curriculum to be scrapped would be sent to school districts by the beginning of the school year. “The textbooks will reflect such curriculum changes with the advent of the 2011-2012 school year, because this year's textbooks were printed last year,” he explained. “It would be difficult to print new ones now, due to the associated cost of doing so.” Shoukry went on to state that all textbooks currently being used in Egypt's school system would be reviewed and amended according to academic principles and students' best interest. The curriculum reform will not be restricted to government schools, Shoukry added, but will also encompass language instruction and advanced learning courses at private and experimental schools. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
