Death, exam answers leaked and cheating were the main features of this year's thanaweya amma or the General Certificate for Secondary Education (GCSE). This year 4,188 students sat for the exams according to the old system; whereas 510,000 students for the exams according to the new system. This year's success rate of thanaweya amma was 79.4 per cent, higher than last year's 76.6 per cent, a 2.5 per cent increase. Minister of Education Moheb Al-Rafei announced in a press conference that the success rate among boys was 77.5 per cent and 80.9 per cent among girls. “Six students this year received a perfect score of 100 per cent. “The success rate was 86 per cent for public schools, 67.7 per cent for private schools, and 55.3 per cent for students studying at home,” Al-Rafei said. Students are now applying to public and private universities based on the grades that educational institutions request. Photos on social media of confused parents and puzzled students filling out the required forms have become a familiar sight every year after thanaweya amma results are announced. Angry parents blame the government and education officials for not facilitating the registration process for applying students. Extremely high grades needed to join the top faculties of medicine, engineering, pharmaceuticals and political science have made both parents and students angry and disappointed. Many believe that Egypt's education system is a mirror of the society — a big mess. It is not that high school students are sometimes required to score over 97 per cent but sometimes over 100 per cent in order to join a prestigious faculty. In addition, because of the high percentage of unemployment in the country, students hoping to enter elite faculties might not be able to find a job market after graduation. This year, head of the Pharmacists Syndicate Mohei Ebeid decided to go to the State Council Court to appeal a decision by the Supreme Universities Council (SUC) in which 9,000 students will be enrolled at public universities, in addition to the extra 6,000 who will join private universities. “The pharmaceutical market cannot take in more than 4,000 pharmacists a year. SUC broke our agreement and, therefore, I have to appeal its decision,” Ebeid said. Ebeid pointed out that abroad there is a pharmacy for every 4,000 individuals, “while here in Egypt we have a pharmacy for every 1,400 people. “We asked SUC to reduce the percentage of students accepted in pharmacology by 20 per cent. There is a very high unemployment rate among pharmacists.” “My oldest daughter got 98.7 per cent in the thanaweya amma and she wants to join the Faculty of Pharmacology in Cairo University,” Yasser Hammad, a father of three, said. “Now we are afraid that after she graduates, the syndicate will refuse to accept her, preventing her from getting the license needed to work as a pharmacist,” Hammad said. Many become depressed after scoring less than expected in the thanaweya amma. According to social principles and values, they are considered losers. Mohamed Saad, general manager of the thanaweya amma exams department, said the first phase of registration (tanseeq) to join public and private universities will end on 9 August. A week later, a second phase will start for one week, followed by one final stage. According to Saad, this year's grades were high due to the “good standard of education and studying. “They (students) studied properly so they got high grades. This year's percentage of success was higher than last year's,” Saad said. Mahmoud Al-Kurdi, an education expert, believes that this year's problems in the thanaweya amma were being created deliberately in order to decrease the number of students joining free public universities. According to Al-Kurdi, there is no place for all these students in public universities. “Instead of establishing and creating new governmental universities, the government has chosen to give up its responsibility regarding providing free education to university students and instead sent them indirectly to private universities which butchers parents with their high fees,” maintained Al-Kurdi. The government is thus sending indirect messages to parents and students. It wants to force them to join private universities in order to decrease the pressure on the government's 22 universities, he argued. Saad said this year's grades were expected to be lower than last year's but were unexpectedly higher. Accordingly, grades required to enter universities will be higher, “This is normal, and there is no need for parents or students to panic, as everything is under control and the ministry seeks the welfare of its students, nothing more, nothing less.” Al-Kurdi called the educational system unsuccessful “and has become a threat to Egypt's future. The lack of a good education is the root of all our problems,” he added. He said he pitied “desperate students and parents” and questioned plans by the Ministry of Education to enhance and improve the curricula, schools and the overall education system. Al-Kurdi said he believed that it was about time to consider the possibility of applying “our own educational systems -- like Malaysia -- instead of adopting other systems from developed countries and then modify them to suit our needs. “We have our own specialists and experts who are capable of doing this. Why doesn't the Education Ministry request their help in order to spare our people the hassle of thanaweya amma?” argued Al-Kurdi. According to sociologist Ahmed Zayed, professor at the Faculty of Arts in Cairo University, due to the thanaweya amma dilemma, parents, families and students are willing to do anything that works, even if it is illegal. Another point Zayed raised: more than 70 per cent of thanaweya amma students decide not to join the faculties of science and math. They prefer the arts since it is much easier. “This does not match the country's needs. If the educational system as a whole, in particular the thanaweya amma, is not reformed in a period estimated at 30 years, Egypt will be almost void of engineers and scientists who are necessary for the country's development,” argued Zayed. Analysts and social commentators have long called for a change in the thanaweya amma “nightmare”. One constant complaint from students is that even though they study all year, they cannot answer so many of the exam questions. They also claim that students whose parents are important get the exam questions in advance. They say these students do not need to score high grades to join a public university because their parents will pay for them to join any private university, and will also easily find for them a decent job. But, according to Zayed, all demands to improve the education system in Egypt have fallen on deaf ears. He said the Ministry of Education goes on promising parents and students with radical solutions for the thanaweya amma crisis, but without results. “Even the changes in the curriculum have proven to be superficial and ineffective within a system that is highly resistant to change. “The problem continues and sometimes the solutions which the ministry provides make matters worse.” Egypt's education system is in dire need of an overhaul, according to Zayed. He says that instead of wasting LE3 billion over private lessons, less than half of that amount could be used to improve schools, curricula and teachers.
