Cairo - THE new legislation to turn the two-year General Certificate of Education final into a single-year stage indicates that the parliament must have identified some merits that made it possible for the deputies to pass the regulation. On the face of it, the legislation does contain some new elements that confer considerable plausibility upon the change. Primarily, the change that the People's Assembly endorsed on Sunday will help set the majority of families free from considerable financial burdens and make them less exposed to stress and worry over the long-term implications of the exam results of their sons and daughters. Additionally, it permits GCE holders to enrol or apply for academic education at convenience, any year over a five-year grace period. Under the past system, academic enrolment was permissible only for same year GCE holders. In practice, some of them missed for good the chance to enrol in university-level institutes once they faced family mishaps, financial limitations or other difficulties that prohibited them from abiding by the same-year regulation. Thirdly, by allowing same-year re-exams in two courses, the new system helps give hope and provide a reasonable extent of relief for parents and students. So far, so good. However, the ease and speed with which the new system has passed parliamentary scrutiny and public debate might give the impression that some politics might have been present somewhere. As a parliament that is the direct produce of a revolution and ensuing democratic transformation, it can and should be entitled to push ahead as expeditiously as it can for such substantial and desirable adjustments that would reflect the spirit of the political change under way. That is quite understandable and justified for any such legislative anywhere across the globe. But in such an area of direct impact upon the life of each and every family in the society as education, the matter could be altogether different. For the system of education is one of those very few societal concerns that is intertwined with the social philosophy of the society, its blueprint for the immediate future and its vision of both the medium-term or foreseeable future and long-term future. It follows therefore that the introduction of adjustments and amendments to an educational system should be a subject of the most intensive expert examination and the widest possible public debate. In the case of an educational system, again, it does not suffice to sound out the views of the education ministry, the educators and random samples of parents and students. Since it is a primary societal concern, ALL state institutions, specialised research centres, think-tanks, social action establishments, intellectuals, historians, economists should be invited to contribute their thoughts and ideas to the process of formulating a new system of education. To cite just one case of the reasons underlying this argument, the Foreign Ministry should be actively involved in the process; for it is the one state department where the nation's future relations with other countries of the world are under constant review. They know, for example, which foreign languages we need to start teaching in schools or universities, the approximate number of specialists in the cultures of other societies that the country plans to enrich relations with, and so on. Only a multiple approach as such would be indispensable for effecting a true change in a system of education. Last but not least, the latest educational legislation addresses only one circle in a complex chain. There has definitely been a long-felt and pressing need for repairing the GCE joint, but action in this direction requires parallel and simultaneous steps to overhaul the entire system of education. Knowing that most, if not all, of the thirteen presidential candidates have incorporated into their platforms special items that call for educational reforms, which means that a broader revision of the existing educational system will be conducted whoever wins the presidential race, the parliament should have seized of the opportunity to introduce all-inclusive modernisation of the entire educational structure – a task that will have to be accomplished one day.
