CAIRO: The Ministry of Education has stipulated that education sector administrators sit assessment exams before granting them a promised 50 percent salary increase. The decision heightens tensions between the ministry and education sector administrators, as they continue to stage protests demanding better government housing facilities, and a 50 percent pay increase which was approved by the People's Assembly (PA) as part of the amended teachers' law in 2007. The education administrators will be tested on the material they used to teach before assuming administrative positions, some over 20 years ago. "Those tests do not prove anything, Ali Laban, member in the PA's education committee, told Daily News Egypt. "The education sector is deteriorating due to wrong policies and decisions taken by the Minister of Education [Yousry Al-Gamal], he said. Laban added that the minister's decisions thus far should have led to his discharge. Unrest between the ministry and education sector administrators is reminiscent of protests staged last year by teachers who were also forced to sit assessment examinations linked to pay raises. Controversy is still ongoing as teachers complain that the ministry is refusing to allow registry on its website by teachers who want to take phase two of the exam this month. Laban also criticized the teachers' assessment exam questions. "One of the questions was to state the number of metro stops from Helwan to Ramsis. Is this a valid question to assess a teacher? Laban asked. Laban also claimed that some teachers' names were on the list of those who passed, even though they hadn't even taken the exam. He said that he filed several investigation requests into the matter in the PA. The new teachers' law indicates that teachers who decline to attend the exams or fail them will not be granted the 50 percent raise. In related news, the Cairo University Teachers' Club put off a protest scheduled for Sunday in front of the campus, demanding a financial raise equal to that of school teachers. Last year, the Ministry of Higher Education issued a law increasing the salaries of university professors. The first phase of the law was implemented last November, and the second phase was implemented last month. After the new raise, university professors' salaries reached LE 2,000 per month, assistant professors' reached LE 1,600 and lecturers' reached LE 1,200, according to a press statement by the Ministry of Higher Education.
