The start of the new academic year, the looming Egyptian parliamentary elections, the challenges facing direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and the volatile situation in Lebanon were all the preserve of Doaa El-Bey Newspapers were keen to pinpoint the negatives in schools in the first week of the academic year. Al-Akhbar quoted the minister of education as saying that under-secretaries would have to pay surprise visits to schools to make sure there are no problems in any field. Al-Ahram noted that schoolbooks have not reached some schools. Al-Wafd read 'Bad start to the year, primary and preparatory students have no textbooks' and Al-Masry Al-Yom wrote, 'Confusion overwhelms the first day of school: timetables are not complete and maintenance work not finished'. The editorial of the official daily Al-Ahram stated that education should be the prime concern of the nation. It read that by the beginning of the new academic year, issues related to developing education had come to the limelight anew. The controversy about education will never stop unless a clear strategy for all levels and types of education is outlined. All modern renaissance experiments in major countries, the edit added, put education together with scientific research on top of their priorities. But, in Egypt, controversy on ways to develop the educational curriculum to suit society's needs continues. Another issue, according to the edit, is the teacher. Raising his scientific and educational level to be able to deliver and interact with the students socially and educationally should be the primary means to develop students' skills. Other factors include building more schools and preparing them to accommodate students and using modern technology in the educational process, whether computers and the Internet or by providing modern laboratories. The edit did not ignore the problem of supplementary books which emerged at the beginning of this year. It suggested developing the ministry's textbooks in form and content to meet the needs of students as the only means to resolve the problem. "Providing a clear strategy that addresses all the details of the educational process is the only way towards the nation's renaissance," the edit concluded. Taher Qabil wrote that the academic year started with problems including private lessons and supplementary books. He remembered his own school days when schools were attractive to students because they used to learn something new every day, practice hobbies like crafts and music and play sports. The teachers then used to exert every effort to deliver an educational message rather than do a job in return for a monthly salary. This new academic year is different, Qabil continued in the official daily Al-Akhbar. It started with the supplementary books bomb. "Although we are the only state that offers supplementary books, students need them because they provide ample explanation, questions and answers and the final exams from previous years. I wish the ministry books would provide these things one day. In that case students will not need supplementary books," Qabil wrote. Amani Sadeq wrote that another academic year started with all its problems including traffic jams, private lessons and truancy. However, in spite of these problems, she wrote in the official weekly Akhbar Al-Yom she sees a glimmer of hope that this year will be better than last year because the swine flu soap opera had ended. She praised Minister of Education Ahmed Zaki Badr for starting his surprise visits to school from the first day to make sure they are ready for the students. "I am sure that Badr's policies will return the respectable role of the school after all these years of leniency and laziness," Sadeq summed up her column. The decision of the opposition Wafd Party to take part in the parliamentary elections later this year was welcomed by many officials in and outside the party including Moufid Shehab, the minister of parliamentary and legal affairs. Nabil Rashwan focussed on the fight between the wave for and that against taking part in the elections. He wrote in the independent daily Nahdet Masr that the Wafd's decision to participate reflects the viewpoint of Egyptians in general. One group rejects the elections and considers it a farce and another group thinks it is the role of the party to snatch some seats from the ruling party, Rashwan explained. Inside the Wafd's headquarters, the voice of the two trends can be clearly heard. The first sees that participation in the farce demeans the party while the other believes that political parties are not charity organisations and should take part in the elections, gain votes and parliamentary seats, try to gain the trust of the people and participate in resolving their problems. The latter trend won with a tiny majority, something that the writer considered as posing more of a challenge to the leader of the party El-Sayed El-Badawi. However, Rashwan added, it is clear that the difference between the two trends is more or less like the difference among Egyptian in general: a tiny majority believes it is necessary to take part in the elections so as not to leave the arena to the ruling party while a large minority calls for boycotting the elections in the hope of exposing the ruling party. Wagdi Zeineddin described El-Badawi's call for the party's general assembly to vote on whether to participate in the parliamentary elections as a sign of genuine democracy that started with a democratic vote that led to his election. It also teaches a practical lesson to the present regime and the other opposition parties to follow suit. The absolute freedom that the Wafd members enjoy at present, Zeineddin explained, reveals that Egypt is in dire need of genuine democracy rather than the fake democracy practised by the ruling party. "The democratic scene that the world witnessed in the Wafd's Doqqi headquarters is a clear call for the present regime to start the first steps towards reformation by organising a free and fair election," Zeineddin wrote in the daily Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd Party.
