CAIRO: Thanawiya amma, Egypt's national secondary school certificate, will be transformed, bringing an end to a system where the future of high school students depends entirely on a single grade, announced the Minister of Education at a press conference Sunday. The new system is slated to include two different types of curricula. The first one includes core requirements obligatory for all students and whose grade will be based on a single exam at the end of the academic year. The second one includes optional subjects that students choose from according to their interests and from the field in which they plan to major at college. The final grade on these subjects will depend on a final exam at the students' own school, as well as an evaluation of their performance throughout the year. Students will be required to take standardized entry tests to determine their acceptance into their field of choice at university. "We are planning to start executing this new system on the high school class of 2013 who will enter high school in 2010, said Farid Abdel Samei, media advisor at the ministry. The next two years will give the ministry time to train teachers and schools on the new system and make the necessary changes to the curriculum. Abdel Samei added that there is a long process ahead of the ministry before finalizing the new system as it must first be approved by the President, discussed at the Shoura Council and then sent to the People's Assembly for final approval. "It is a long process during which many amendments will be made which is why we can't offer a detailed explanation at the moment, said Abdel Samei. Through this new system a student's thanawiya amma score will not be the only determinant of his eligibility to join the university faculty of his choice. This will release some of the notorious "thanawiya amma stress, said Education Minister Youssry El Gamal. Every student in Egypt is brought up to fear thannawiya amma and is faced with tremendous social pressure to perform well at the two-year program they've been warned against since kindergarten. With the new system requiring a year-round evaluation of the student's performance at school, students will have to go to school and not completely depend on private tutoring, which has become a basic requirement for earning a thanawiya amma certificate as schools tend to stop functioning these two years. "School is no more than a medium through which you register for the exams, one parent of a thanawiya amma student previously told Daily News Egypt. "But sometimes they call the students and tell them to come and fill the classrooms when there is an inspection from the ministry of education, she added. There are two divisions within thanawiya amma: arts and sciences. Fatma El Hout, principal of Sheraton Heliopolis Language School, explained that the number of students wanting to join the arts division is much higher than those wanting to join the sciences section because the chances of getting a higher grade are bigger. "The main concern of any thanawiya amma student now is the grade not the education, she said.
