To make up for lost time, the curriculum in schools has been reduced, reports Reem Leila On 5 March more than 17 million students resumed the second half of the academic year, but many parents and students are complaining about the curriculum: too much to be studied and too short a time in a year cut short by the revolution. Schools were closed from between two to three weeks during the revolt which toppled the government. The Ministry of Education has said final exams for all school years except 12th grade, or thanaweya amma, will be held as scheduled. At the same time it decided to cut the curriculum for all classes by 20 per cent. However, Deputy Minister of Education Reda Abu Serie said the academic year will not be extended as was previously announced. "Changes made to the school curriculum will not require that final exams be postponed. They will be held as scheduled; therefore, there will be no need to extend the academic year. The only exception is secondary school students," Abu Serie said. The second term, which is less than 90 days, will not be enough for thanaweya amma students. Accordingly, their exam will be postponed to 11 June from 28 May, to give them more time to study, he added. For complaints, the ministry has set up a hotline, 62191, to contact the ministry as well as an e-mail, [email protected]. "If any school or teacher does not abide by what has been cancelled, violators will be penalised. Reforming Egypt's education system is on top of the Education Ministry's agenda. The ministry intends to remove all superfluous material from school textbooks," stated Abu Serie. Lists of sections of the curricula that have been cancelled have been sent to Egypt's 41,158 schools. Sections containing the accomplishments of former president Hosni Mubarak have been cancelled, as well as those of the People's Assembly and Shura Council, which have been dissolved. Parts presenting the development of the National Democratic Party (NDP) have also been scrapped. Chapters including accomplishments made by women including Aisha Rateb, Dorreya Shafiq, Hekmat Abu Zeid, and Amal Othman in political life have also been removed from school textbooks. The achievements of the former first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, have been taken out of the curricula. Religion, Arabic, social studies, mathematics and science have been revised by specialists in each field. Curricula annulment will not be restricted to government schools but will extend to language and advanced learning courses at private and experimental schools. In relevant context, of Egypt's 1.2 million school teachers, 800,000 will be receiving training on teaching the new school curricula. Training for the remaining teachers will take place during the next school years. "School textbooks will reflect the changes by the beginning of the 2011- 2012 academic year and beyond," said Abu Serie. According to Abu Serie, training is being conducted in cooperation with national and international agencies, including the Ministry of Administrative Development and UNESCO. "Teachers have been trained on the scientific material itself, and the use of advanced technological aids in their teaching," said Abu Serie. School teachers agree with the changes made to the curriculum. According to Mohamed Saad, a social studies teacher at the preparatory stage, the chapters removed were redundant, difficult for students to study and not useful. "What has been deleted from the curriculum is equivalent to at least three weeks of teaching," Saad said. Yet, there are parents along with students and teachers complaining about reducing the class time allocated for each lesson from 45 minutes to 30 minutes. They say reducing lesson time is inconvenient for teachers as well as parents. Mahmoud Gad, an Arabic teacher at a private school, pointed out to the importance of keeping the original time of lessons. "Lessening the time makes us as teachers speed up while explaining. Several students might not understand the lesson well due to the shortage of time," complained Gad. Hoda Mustafa, an employee at the Ministry of Social Solidarity and a mother of three, is having hard times juggling her work and that of her children's school. "My children used to finish at 3pm; now they finish at 2pm. I have to leave work at 1pm to get home before they do but this is impossible. So they have to wait for me on the street and this is not safe, especially these days," complained Mustafa. Abu Serie denied that the ministry had instructed any of the country's schools to end the day early. "Parents as well as teachers can send their complaints to the ministry. A specialised committee has been assigned to study people's complaints in order to rectify any malpractices."
