By Ramadan A. Kader The question is no longer if, but how. In recent years, Egypt's education system has gone into a tailspin, a decline that has taken its toll on the quality of graduates. Owing to a system based on learning by rote, the principal aim of students has become to obtain the highest possible marks mainly in the dreaded secondary school certificate exams to secure a place in the so-called top faculties. The result is that millions leave the school and the university without remembering what they have committed to their minds and regurgitated on exam sheets. Many graduates are ill-qualified for a tight job market. Over the past few years, there have been increasing calls for reforming education and pumping more money into its revamp. Since he took office in early 2017, Education Minister Tareq Shawqi has projected himself as a reformist. He has since disclosed a string of overhaul formulas. The other day he went public with his latest plan aimed at drastically changing the education system from the bottom. The scheme, greeted with parental fury, targets the state-run languages schools, officially called Experimental Schools. These institutions are favoured by middle-class families for their children because they provide good education in return for affordable fees. Shawqi's plan envisages stopping teaching math and science in English at these schools in favour of the Arabic language with the aim of making schoolchildren have a better command of the mother tongue. At the same time, English is to be taught as a separate language. While the math and science are taught in Arabic, their terminology would be provided in English. This set-up would be in place until the end of the primary education stage. Starting from the seventh grade up to the end of the secondary schooling, the English instruction of the math and science would be reinstated in these schools. There is also room for teaching students a second language. The proposed system, according to the minister, is to be introduced as of the new school year. The disclosures have raised the hackles among parents. Some of them rallied outside the Education Ministry, denouncing the plan as ill-thought and a reflection of class distinction. The scheme excludes private languages schools. In defence of his plan, the minister has argued that the objective is to upgrade education at government-run schools and put it on a par with the private ones. He also said that the new system will apply only to children who are enrolled in the Experimental Schools starting from the new year. His argument has left the majority of parents unimpressed. In theory, the ministerial plan sounds good and imperative. In practice, it looks doomed. While focusing on languages – Arabic and English, the proposed system obviously lacks the tools for success. Government-run schools are marred by big-sized classes and a shortage of efficient teachers. Workers in the government schools say they are poorly paid compared to their counterparts at private institutions. The ministers did not say how these shortcomings will be overcome. A grave mistake is that parents were not engaged in fleshing out the revamp plan. Hence, their angry and skeptical reaction. In recent years, schoolchildren have become like guinea pigs for changes, euphemistically labelled "education development". Therefore, parents understandably question any bid to reform education. Very few Egyptians are satisfied with the present shape of schooling. It psychologically and financially saps families, who struggle in order to make both ends meet amid soaring costs of living. Desperately trying to cope with the exam-orientated education system, families heavily depend on private lessons, which have become a sine qua non for education in Egypt. The way the latest reform plan was disclosed has given the impression that it is a ministerial decree that should be obeyed without discussion. This is a non-starter.
