CAIRO - The new school year has been disrupted by the teachers' strike. Some pupils haven't actually gone to school yet and their parents are obviously very unhappy about this. Meanwhile, their teachers are calling for Minister of Education Ahmed Gamal Moussa to be sacked; they also want a pay rise and a better educational system. Many teachers also want those teachers and administrators who represent the remnants of the toppled regime to be sacked, as well as those heads of educational directorates who belonged to the dissolved National Democratic Party, in order to rescue the educational process. At the same time, some headmasters of schools in Cairo, Giza and Fayyoum have threatened to refer striking teachers to a disciplinary tribunal. Many teachers want a leadership change like that happening in local universities. Mona Mohamed, who teaches maths at a preparatory school, is one them. “We urgently need change, as the schools and directorates are corrupt,” she notes, stressing that only the most competent people should be appointed to senior posts in education. “Moussa should be replaced, not because he's unqualified, but because he is unable to organise the educational process and solve the teachers' problems. The Government need to choose an official who can solve the problems, improve teachers' conditions and stamp out private lessons.” Maher Ibrahim, an Arabic-language teacher, agrees that senior education officials, especially those who belonged to the NDP, ought to be given the sack. He also calls for getting rid of elderly officials who've run out of ideas, explaining that some officials get important jobs and earn lots of money, although they know nothing about education. Ahmed Adel, a science teacher, says we need new blood in senior posts, officials who can go out there and solve the problems of both the teachers and pupils, rather then relaxing all day in their air-conditioned ivory towers. Medhat Mossad, formerly a senior official in the Ministry of Education, agrees that change is urgently needed, noting that the Ministry has started to create a 'second row' of very experienced officials, who will be asked to do courses in leaderships at the Training City in 6th October City, supervised by senior education specialists. “According to the law, every headmaster must work as an ordinary teacher for at least four years before being appointed,” he says, adding that headmasters are selected on the basis of an interview with the head of the concerned directorate and a ministerial undersecretary. “We want headmasters who have experience and have already achieved much; they must also have ideas for improving the school they're going to be appointed to. This is already happening at the experimental schools.”
