Consultants of the former education minister have resigned en masse, reports Reem Leila After taking his oath of office on 3 January newly appointed Minister of Education Ahmed Zaki Badr pledged to reform Egypt's education system. Badr is reputed to be an optimist, a man with a great deal of faith in the abilities of the younger generation. "I will do my best to improve education standards in Egypt. At the same time, I do not intend to dismiss any of the current advisors, each will continue working in his field." Badr said immediately after joining the cabinet. Two weeks after his statement and five advisors of his predecessor, Yosri El-Gamal, are reported to have submitted their resignations, including official spokesman Adel Abdel-Ghaffar. Sources close to those who resigned say that since taking office Badr has totally ignored the officials and failed to hold a single meeting. "Instead of appointing employees who have been working at the ministry for years Badr has imported staff who were working with him at Ain Shams University before he was appointed education minister," complained one official. The reports have not been confirmed by the departing officials. Abdel-Gaffar points out that he was appointed by the former education minister as an official spokesman in order to contend with the problems posed by the spread of swine flu. "Now that the H1N1 wave is coming to an end there is no need to continue," he said. Though Abdel-Ghaffar's contract officially ends in May 2010, he has said that he preferred to resign because "my dignity as a university professor prevents me from waiting to be dismissed". Whatever the circumstances of his departure, Abdel-Ghaffar insists he is satisfied with having set up a plan to restructure the media department at the ministry. "The new minister," he says, "has approved the plan and I hope one day it will be implemented." Deputy Education Minister Reda Abu Serei argues that the curricula, teaching methods and teacher skills must all be overhauled. In addition educational administration must be decentralised, a culture of scientific research supported and the services offered to students with special needs upgraded. "Badr will abide by the criteria to develop secondary education set by the former education minister," says Abu Serei. "He will restructure the curriculum, teaching methods, examinations and admittance to universities so as to qualify secondary school graduates for the labour market... There will be just one exam for the secondary school certificate, as planned, testing will be a prerequisite of university admittance and comprehensive evaluation in schools will continue without any changes." Commenting on the resignation of the five consultants of the former minister, Abu Serei says their departures were a matter of personal choice and not the result of any pressure being applied. "Their mass resignations will not affect the ministry's plans and the new minister does not intend to appoint any new consultants for the time being." Hassan El-Beblawi, one of the resigned officials, says he left because he did not want to cause any embarrassment to Badr. "Any new minister has the right to appoint and dismiss whoever he wants. I resigned to give him space to appoint someone else. I will not impose myself on any one, especially when I feel unwanted." Badr is currently working on ways to improve technical and vocational education in order to create a generation of graduates ready to meet the demands of a changing job market.
