Fluctuations in the thanaweya amma examination reflect the failings of the education system as a whole, writes Shaden Shehab The thanaweya amma, or secondary school certificate, is having an extraordinary year. Normally 350,000 students would be sitting the examinations, a figure that has shrunk to 35,000. And while in previous years 75 per cent of students could expect to pass, this year only 50 per cent made it. The results of the exam determine which university faculty students can enter. But whereas in the past the scores demanded by faculties for students to enter have been contingent on demand -- the more applications a faculty receives the higher the average score it demands -- this year minimum entry requirements were determined before hand, based on the average score demanded over the last five years. Whereas students were divided into three groups on the basis of their scores, each of which would be allocated separate dates to complete their university applications, the highest going first, this year students applied in the same five- day period, which ended Sunday. So what prompted all the changes? The answer lies in conflicting decisions promulgated by two former ministers of education. Sixth primary was abolished in 1988 by then minister of education Fathi Sorour, now speaker of the People's Assembly. The education budget, he said, was insufficient to provide the classrooms and teachers needed for six years of primary schooling. One year less, it was argued, would not affect the quality of education. The fact that 12 years of school education is deemed necessary across the world was simply ignored. Fifteen years later, then education minister Hussein Kamel Bahaaeddin decided to bring back sixth grade. Bahaaeddin said there had been an improvement in the budgetary situation, and reports had begun to appear suggesting that cancelling a year had left many students ill prepared -- an argument that wasn't mentioned when sixth grade was abolished. The People's Assembly and the government endorsed the change. The re-inclusion of sixth grade in 2003 meant that fifth primary students who were supposed to move on to first preparatory in the academic year 2003-2004 now had to move to sixth grade instead. First preparatory classes, therefore, were confined to pupils who had failed to pass onto the next stage and then others who were obliged to repeat any consecutive year. It is these students who comprise this year's thanaweya amma graduates. Dubbed graduates of the "empty year", their results are the worst in years. Out of 65,000 students enrolled in the third and final year of secondary school, only 35,379 passed. Minister of Education Ahmed Zaki Badr, who was appointed this year, is not overly disappointed by the figures. "It is not the worst thanaweya amma," he argues. "At least there wasn't any leaking of examination papers or group cheating." This year's graduates, he points out, comprise students who had failed at exams in the past, and expectations were not high. Of the 35,379 students who passed, 664 achieved results of more than 95 per cent, though unlike previous years no one got 100 per cent. A total of 1,916 students scored between 90 and 95 per cent; 1,875 scored between 85 and 90 per cent; 2,025 got 80 to 85 per cent; 2,414 scored between 75 and 80 per cent; 3,254 between 70 and 75 per cent; 4,251 between 65 and 70 per cent; 5,262 between 60 and 65 per cent; 5,823 between 55 and 60 per cent, while 6,477 scraped a pass, scoring between 50 and 55 per cent. Half of the students who passed got less than 65 per cent and only 2,580 managed to get 90 per cent or more. A further 1,418 students were excluded from the statistics because they were pardoned from taking language examinations for different reasons. Amid arguments that the low grades would give this class an unfair advantage in college admissions, since there would be far less competition for access to "top" colleges that typically require more than 95 per cent, Minister of Higher Education Hani Hilal decided that the minimum score for college enrolment would be based on an average of the last five years. Abdel-Hamid Salama, general coordinator of the admissions office, says faculties of medicine over the last five years have required an average score of 95 per cent, pharmacology and dentistry a minimum of 92 per cent, economics and political science 95 per cent, mass communication 94 per cent and engineering 88 per cent. These are now the scores students must have to be accepted this year. Since 2006, graduates of the thanaweya amma exams have applied for university places over the Internet. No major problems have afflicted the system so far, though this year students are complaining. "I was trying to fill in the form specifying that I want engineering, but I kept getting a message saying I could not apply for it. What is this nonsense?" Abeer Nour told a satellite TV station. Asked what percentage she scored, she said 72 per cent. Many students appear not to have understood that there are limits on each faculty and students cannot apply to them regardless of their score. Before 2006, students queued at the Maktab Al-Tansiq, the Enrolment Coordination Office. For decades this Cairo office has been the scene of chaos as students fought for application forms listing their choice of 48 faculties in order of preference. They would have a nerve wracking wait for replies which would arrive through the post by the Ministry of Higher Education. Students with adequate means can, of course, escape the whole dilemma by applying to one of Egypt's 18 private universities, where fees begin at LE25,000 a year. Although they are private institutions, in 2005 the Ministry of Higher Education set minimum entry requirements: students seeking to enrol in science faculties at private universities need an overall score of 80 per cent or more, those seeking places on humanities courses 60 per cent or more. Piecemeal changes of the education system highlight the lack of any comprehensive plan. Just as sixth grade was cancelled, then brought back, final secondary school exams ware scheduled to change in the academic year 2014-2015. The plan, which is nearly final, will see the thanaweya amma constitute only 50 per cent of each student's total score. The rest will be determined by university examinations at the end of third preparatory, the last school year. A new thanaweya amma system was introduced in June 1997, with the aim of "upgrading secondary school education and giving students greater opportunity". The new system spaces the secondary school certificate examinations over a two-year period, instead of one. This will all change again in 2014.
