CAIRO: Parliament speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour criticized educational policies in Egypt as the People's Assembly discussed a report by the education committee on Thanawiya Amma, Egypt's Secondary Certificate. Sorour, who is a former Minister of Education, said that during his tenure a decree was issued to eliminate a year out of elementary school and add one year to Thanawiya Amma, which is three years. However, he added, the succeeding ministers have disregarded this decree and went a head with their own strategy. Therefore, he explained, decrees and policies should be bound by the state and not a particular minister or government so that the policies wouldn't change with the minister or government, disrupting the set strategy for the education system. “We want to change the current memorizing culture in the Egyptian education system to a culture of creativity and innovation,” said Sherif Omar, head of the education committee at the People's Assembly. “In addition, the Thanawiya Amma certificate should become an entity through which the student is prepared to either enter the job market or go on to pursue a higher university degree,” he added. Furthermore, MPs have called for education reform following UNESCO's initiative “Education for All, Education for Excellence and Excellence for All,” as well as an increase in education funds and choosing projects that are focused on a certain objective. Former Minister of Education Yousri El-Gamal has announced while in office that the Thanawiya Amma will be revised, bringing an end to a system where the future of high school students depends entirely on a single grade. The new system was planned to be executed starting with the graduating class of 2013, who will enter high school in 2010. However, as El-Gamal was replaced earlier this year, it's likely that these plans will fall through. Current Education Minister Ahmed Zaki Badr said during the PA session Monday that the government has allocated LE 2.6 billion to reform approximately 1770 schools over the next three years. This amount is separate from the state's budget for education, local press reports said.
