So the education system is being overhauled. What's new, asks Reem Leila While few would deny Egypt's education system is in urgent need of an overhaul the answer is not to turn it into a site for endless experimentation, cancelling the sixth grade one year, reinstating it the next, turning the thanaweya amma (GSC) into a two-year programme rather than one and then as quickly announcing that the new system is itself to be revised. So is the three-day conference on reforming Egypt's secondary education system held at the Al-Azhar Conference Centre and which began on 10 May going to end this state of seemingly perpetual flux? Inaugurated by President Hosni Mubarak and attended by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Hani Helal and Minister of Education Yosri El-Gamal, the conference certainly had a high-powered list of attendees. Mubarak described the National Conference for Developing Secondary Education as "a new phase of national dialogue on all issues of importance and relevance for comprehensive development". On Sunday the president told his audience that the end product of Egypt's current education system leaves much to be desired. Curricula, teaching methods and teaching skills must all be improved; educational administration must be decentralised; a culture of scientific research must be supported; services for special needs students should improve and the university system be revamped either by creating new facilities or restructuring the largest ones into smaller, more specialised campuses. Mubarak identified 11 criteria to develop secondary education via the curriculum, teaching methods, examinations and admittance to universities so as to qualify secondary school and university graduates for the job market. He spoke of the need to increase young people's competitive ability in a knowledge-based society, enhance their sense of belonging and create a vigorous and interactive environment in which students can pursue their education. He stressed the importance of focussing on providing young people with salable skills in order to bring down unemployment, pointing out that currently 27 per cent of secondary students join the science section while the rest study liberal arts. He also underlined that reforms should be undertaken on the basis of a partnership between the private sector and civil society on the one hand and the government on the other. "The government, education boards, civil society and the private sector must all work together to achieve our shared goal of raising the standard of education," Mubarak said. Education Minister El-Gamal provided conference participants with an overview of progress thus far. He said the secondary school certificate would now be awarded on the basis of a single, final year exam, and that university admittance will be dependent upon passing separate tests. Mirroring Mubarak's comments, El-Gamal argued that society as a whole must take responsibility for education but this can only happen if there is decentralisation which in turn requires the creation of a monitoring body to ensure consistency. Restructuring general secondary and technical education, applying a comprehensive evaluation system and the admission policies to higher education were all discussed by the conference, said El-Gamal. He pointed out that a consensus had emerged during pre-conference hearing sessions with education experts that elements of the general secondary and technical curriculums should be shared. Positively changing general attitudes to technical education was essential, he said, given that the more than 13,000 technical schools in Egypt produce two million graduates annually, many of whom remain jobless even though the industrial and agricultural sectors need skilled workers. The answer, argued El-Gamal, is to upgrade technical education and offer skilled workers more competitive salaries. "It has been agreed that common subjects [between secondary and technical schools] should cover English language, mathematics and social studies, and that the validity of the GSC in terms of university entrance be extended to five years." The latter change, says El-Gamal, would enable young people to join the job market for few years and then return to higher education. "In addition, more than 40,000 teachers and 5,000 school managers and administrators must be trained in order to implement the new system successfully." The GSC itself is also to be changed to include a far greater continuous assessment component that will take into account performance in the classroom over three years. Students must successfully complete a portfolio of tasks and have an attendance record of 75 per cent or above to be awarded the GSC. Helal told the conference that reform was being planned to take into account the specific needs of limited income families, setting realistic goals and continuously following up on them, as well as in light of the belief that education and scientific research are an essential bridge to an information society capable of producing graduates who are competitive in the international market. Successful GSC students will in future have to sit additional tests in order to determine which universities and faculties they enter, said Helal. The final decision on placements will be made on the combined results of the GSC and entrance exams. The new system will begin to apply to first secondary classes in school year 2010/11, second secondary by 2011/12 and third secondary by 2012/ 13. Admission exams to university will be applied by 2013/14. Omar Sherif, head of the People's Assembly Education Committee, asked the ministers of education and higher education about funding the proposed changes. Changes to the GSC, he argued, can only be implemented once the funding is in place otherwise it is simply a case of putting the cart before the horse. "The state's education and higher education budget for 2007-2008 was LE14 billion. All requests to increase the budget have been turned down and are likely to continue to be turned down as long as the government's top priority is to feed, not educate, the people," says Sherif.
