Like many things that are wrong with Egyptian life, the mushrooming private lessons are taken for granted. Almost no family today in this country of 80 million does not pour its hard-earned money into the pockets of private tutors every month. This has been the case for almost two decades now, though successive education ministers, including the incumbent Minister Zaki Badr, have branded these after-school classes as unlawful and vowed to uproot them. One reason why this ‘illegal' business is thriving is that the national education system is in decline. Another reason is the common belief that the ultimate aim of schooling in Egypt is to pass gruelling exams with the highest possible score. Our respected readers may remember seeing images of tearful girls every June in the local media, complaining about the tough pre-university Thanawiya Amma (General Secondary School Certificate) exams. Egypt may be the only country in the world, where this perennial absurdity drags on. While the pockets of the private teachers keep swelling with money, schools no longer live up to their reputation. “What have you studied at school today?” I asked my ninth grade daughter the other day. “Nothing serious,” she answered. “Why not? Don't your teachers teach you inside the classroom?” I asked. “They do it half-heartedly. They know we all have private lessons. So no-one [teachers or pupils] is serious. Several of these teachers themselves give private tuition. Therefore, they save their energy for the after-school classes.” “Why do you go to school then?” I asked angrily. “Because of the compulsory attendance. According to the Minister's directives, we have to attend classes and that's all there is to it, dad! “A senior education official may show up unexpectedly at any school and check the attendance reports. So, both the pupils and teachers have to be around,” she explained. “It does not matter whether the lessons are taught properly or not. They only need us to be there in body and in the classroom and not in spirit, so that's what we go to school for!” As I listened to my daughter's hard-nosed explanation, I recalled the raging debate gripping the nation at the moment after a recent court ruling obliged the Government to raise the minimum monthly wage for civil servants to LE1,200. The Government, citing a dearth of resources and inflationary apprehensions, looks unwilling to comply. But even if the Government did actually depart from the line, any increase in wages would be devoured by automatic rises in prices and private tuition fees. And enough of the talk about education development!
