Egypt's Minister of Education Tarek Shawky has clarified the process that will take place during the Thanawia Amma (school leaving) exams, adding that the exam will be available electronically. Speaking at a press conference, on Saturday, Shawky also said that a hard copy of the questions will be available alongside the digital version, to remove any concerns about access to electricity or a suitable network. He explained that a trial exam will take place in June, prior to the final exam in July, and a printed question booklet and a bubble answer sheet will be distributed for students to record the answers. Students will be able to access the digital version through tablets at their school, with the tablets only able to access the school server, rather than the Internet. Students will also be required to place their answers on both the hard and digital versions at the same time. "The student is free to read the questions from the tablet or from the question paper, and we advise the student, when they are ready to solve a question, that they circle the appropriate answer on the bubble sheet," Shawky said, "Before moving onto the next question, the student puts the same answer on the tablet, so that the ministry has two copies of the questions, in case there is any problem." The minister pointed out that, in addition to their attendance being registered once they open up the tablet, students will be given a set time in which to complete the exam, which is enough for them to do so. Shawky said that there are no questions on the exam that have not been covered by the curriculum, and added that a large group of professors have prepared the questions. He also said that the questions do not have to be from the textbook, as the goal of the new assessment system is to measure the ability to understand, and educational outcomes. The minister explained that the new evaluation method depends on measuring the understanding of the prescribed lessons.
