CAIRO: On Saturday and Sunday, some 13,400 teachers and 40,100 student-activities' supervisors and social consultants will sit for the second stage of the new teachers' law exams. Also known as the cadre exams, they are given by the Ministry of Education to evaluate the teachers. Only those who pass the exams will be eligible for the pay raise stipulated by the news teachers' law. On Saturday, exams will be administered to teachers who either failed or did not attend the first round of exams that took place last May. On Sunday teachers who were on vacation or were working abroad along with activities' supervisors and social consultants will take the exam. On the other hand, teachers who work in the Al-Azhar educational institutions will take the exams on Sept. 5 and 6. According to a statement by the Ministry of Education, some 2,200 Azhar teachers who failed the test in May will retake it on Sept. 5. On Sept 6, some 16,600 teachers from Al-Azhar, will take the exam for the first time. Although the Ministry of Education has announced that activities' supervisors and social consultants will be included in the new teachers' law, it maintained that administrators of the education system are not eligible. The administrators have been protesting, demanding to be included in the law among other members from the different education sectors. In 2007, the People's Assembly (PA) approved a new law that will provide teachers with a pay increase equivalent to 50 percent of their current salaries, provided that they pass certain exams. Since May 2008, the ministry has been giving exams on two rounds per year, in May and August. Exams are divided into three parts: the specialization of the teacher, general questions on education field, and Arabic language tests. The exams are three hours long, one hour for each sector. Last July, Minister of Education, Youssry Al-Gamal announced that the percentage of success in the teachers' law exams last May is 95.4 percent. In a previous statement to the press, Al-Gamal also indicated that teachers can take the exams for as many times as they wish. Last May, the Ministry of Education announced that it has granted LE 3.5 billion from its financial budget for year 2009/2010 to the second stage of the teachers' law. In the same statement, the ministry announced that it has received a budget increase of LE 7.5 billion to finance the teachers' raises. Divided by the number of teachers eligible for the raise - there are around 60,000 teachers, according to the Ministry of Education's report presented to the PA in 2007 - this budget increase would roughly translate to LE 100 per teacher.
