Schools began the new academic year amid parental concerns over teachers on strike and security on the streets, Reem Leila reports The ongoing lack of security on the country's streets as well as striking teachers have left many parents clueless as to the fate of their children when going back to school. More than 17 million students returned to school on Saturday after almost four months off. This is the first academic year since the 25 January Revolution which toppled the regime headed by former president Hosni Mubarak. All of Egypt's 45,773 schools kicked off the new academic year as scheduled on 17 September, negating rumours that schools will be postponed until 1 October like the universities. The instability and confusion have led to inflamed opinions. "Everyone is worried. We don't know what will happen to our children, whether they will be safe. Will teachers go to class? Math, Arabic and science teachers have not started teaching although five days have passed." This common fear was voiced by Mahasen Mustafa, a mother of two, who responded to reports about the recent strikes of teachers seeking higher pay and attacks on people on the streets in the wake of a police security vacuum following the revolution. Mohamed Qotri, a father of a high school student in Al-Saydia School complained about the absence of teachers. "My son went to school from the first day but until now none of his teachers showed up. He's in a critical year. I don't give him private lessons. What am I supposed to do? Wait and watch my son's future go in vain?" Qotri asked. Teachers are demanding the dismissal of Minister of Education Ahmed Gamaleddin, an increase in their salaries to LE3,000 instead of the current LE500, and the 200 per cent in reward incentives they were promised, in addition to the cancellation of the cadre proficiency exams. According to teacher Rasha Ahmed, "since we began our protest officials have been very evasive. Promises, promises without anything being kept. This is all we get," complained Ahmed. Deputy Minister of Education Reda Abu Serie said that all the parents' fears are groundless. The ministry, Abu Serie said, reached agreement with the Ministry of Interior to allocate a police patrol for all of the country's schools to protect students. "Security measures in all schools will be extremely tight to guarantee their safety," confirmed Abu Serie. The number of schools on strike is small -- only 1,197 or slightly more than three per cent of the nation's total. "This small percentage can never affect the educational process. Soon the strike will come to end. There are compromises being studied, and hopefully everything will turn out all right," said Abu Serie while maintaining that the minister of education had held several meetings with the minister of finance in an attempt to solve the problem. According to Abu Serie, teachers do not have the right to strike, at least at present, after the minimum wage level was increased in July, asserting that all of the ministry's teachers and employees have benefited. "Recent raises are not expected until the beginning of the new fiscal year. However, there could be incentives paid to teachers which will be taken from the ministry's current budget," Abu Serie added. According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Education, the ministry is planning to set up 8,162 more classes this year in schools throughout the country. This will provide more opportunity for children to join schools, decrease their numbers in classes and provide more job opportunities for teachers. Dalia Mohamed Hegazi, a university professor and a mother of two primary school children, raised one worrying point. Hegazi fears the Muslim Brotherhood's success in Teachers' Syndicate elections, after they won 85 per cent of the seats of teachers' sub-syndicates. "This is a worrying percentage. When the Muslim Brotherhood dominate teachers' sub-syndicates they will impose their ideologies which are most of the time adamant and extreme. They will raise a whole generation of narrow minded people." Abu Serie allayed Hegazi's concerns, saying there is a general policy and plan set by the Ministry of Education which all school teachers, headmasters and supervisors are to abide by. "There is no place for imposing any ideology which contradicts with the ministry's general policy," Abu Serie added. The first semester for public schools will end on 26 January 2012. The mid-year holiday will begin on 27 January to 9 February. The second semester will start on 10 February through 7 June.
